Please HELP! What is the best bottle for babies who refuse the bottle?

[Anonymous]

We have tried Dr. Brown's, Evenflow, Playtex drop ins (both silicone and latex), avent, and nuk.

My baby is 3 months old and I just started back at work and she won't eat anything during the day. It is so stressful to know my baby is starving all day long. I'm thinking of purchasing and trying Adiri...any other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Sorry that you are going through this stressful situation. We went through something similar, though not nearly as upsetting, when my DW thought her supply was drying up. Our DD was 3 mos and we really had not given her a bottle up until that point. Like you, we tried them all, without much success. DD just seemed to prefer the breast and didn't want anything to do with the bottle. Luckily my wife's supply bounced back, and the need to bottle feed wasn't quite so urgent. We continued to work with DD, focusing mainly on the Playtex drop-ins with latex nipple, and the nuk. I would give it to her in the evenings after work, and usually in the afternoon on weekends. She finally got it around 4 - 4.5 months, and it was like a switch had gone off: she just started accepting what she had always cried and fussed over before. I wish I could tell you what the difference was; we've never figured it out.
If your baby seems less hostile to one or another of the bottles you've tried, you might stick with that one for a while. Another thing to consider is what's in the bottle. Our DD was more receptive to expressed breast milk than to formula. Finally, when you can, have the baby's Dad give her the bottle while mom is out of the room. We always heard that it's harder to get a baby to take a bottle from her mommy because the goods are right there for the taking.
Hopefully other posters will have more suggestions for you. I just encourage you to keep trying. It does seem that the change is dramatic and abrupt -- one day they just decide that the bottle is their friend and not their enemy. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I use Sassy Mam bottles, which are bpa free. They've been great. They don't leak and are easy to clean. You can find them at Target.com or Babies R' Us.

[Anonymous]

14:07's DW here. The only thing I would add is that, as others have said on this board, I don't think there is necessarily a magic bottle or nipple out there that will make your baby drink from the bottle, although some might be better received than others. Our DD does seem to care a lot about what is in the bottle - she clearly prefers milk to formula and some formulas to others - and responds better when she's not already worked up and crying (i.e., hungry). You might try feeding DC (or having someone else feed DC) about an hour after s/he eats to see if that helps. However, others will tell you to try when s/he is starving. I think babies are all different and what works for one will not work for others, so you just have to keep trying - sometimes repetition is key. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Our DC never drank from a bottle (well he did when he was very young, but not when I actually needed him to). And I don't think there is one type of nipple that will necessarily work for ALL breastfed/refusing bottle babies - it's just trial and error, unfortunately. There are also other feeding systems beside the bottle you may want to look into and when he gets a little bit older (around 6 months) you can try using a sippy cup/modified straw cup/popsicles instead of bottle. There's more information about this on kellymom: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html

I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

I think there was a thread on this last week, you might want to check the archives for some additional info. Good luck

[Anonymous]

echoing previous posters - there really isn't a magic bottle; better to just find one that isn't horrible and start with some consistency. we finally stuck with the playtex drop-ins (having tried dr browns, born free, avent, medela/nuk, etc.), but I dont think that was what made DS take the bottle by any stretch.

Definitely try when mom's not in the room - out of the house is even better - and also try him in different positions. My DS is a champion nurser but wont take a bottle in the cradle position - he is much happier sitting in his bouncy chair with dad in front of him, or sitting up on his lap. Also warm the bottle - or, even better, give freshly expressed (e.g., not even refridgerated yet) milk to start with. Also, I learned from watching our nanny who is an infant wrangler, if DC pushes the nipple out with his tongue, put it back in and jiggle it a little bit. It could be he's just having a hard time grasping it, or is playing with it, rather than rejecting it. And make sure you try the bottle when he's not starving or upset. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

This thread shows up every two months or so (just returned to work, baby refuses bottle, approx 3 mos old). It is scary, but you will get through it!

There is no magic bottle that will make a difference. This has come up time and time again. Many people have suggested trying different nipples, and I kind of think that it's luck more than anything else when a baby takes to one. But nipples are cheap. You can buy one or two of everything and try over and over. The bottle is just the container. At least some of the nipples have different shapes to them. Try to avoid the urge to buy those super-expensive bottles. I only say that because eventually your baby will start drinking from a bottle, it will probably be luck that they took that one vs. any other, but you will forever buy them because you are worried that a change will spell disaster.

But really, it comes down to patience and waiting for the baby's hunger to take over. It will come.

Best wishes

[Anonymous]

we had the same issue, and ended up with the playtex drops ins with silicone naturalatch nipple.

[Anonymous]

We used the Medela bottles mainly because they worked with the breast pump and were just easy for me.

What we found is that my DD would take the bottle from me (mom), but not anyone else. I guess she just associated me with feedings. We did end up feeding her in the bouncy chair with the person feeding her being behind her so that she could not see them. HTH!

[Anonymous]

We had total success with the playtex drop ins-slow nipple. Now DD takes fast nipple. Having bottle given by others besides mommy helped too (mom had to be away). Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

the nuby nursery has a silicone bottle - so you can squeeze milk into the baby's mouth - my dd didn't take the bottle at all when i went back to work and this was what we used to try to get some nutrition into her... she never really took to it, and eventually starting drinking from some super-cheap cross-cut nipples in about 2 weeks - what we realized was that my milk came reaaaally fast, so the slow nipples and even the mediums were annoying to her and she would give up - we poked extra holes into a bunch and finally settled on a cross-cut... goos luck, it'll happen eventually.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will keep trying. I am putting breastmilk in the bottles but I haven't tried faster nipples yet.

I hope next week goes better because I feel emotionally and physically drained by the week.

[Anonymous]

adiri bottles..expensive, but worked

[Anonymous]

OP here -- freaking out...just tried adiri and it doesn't work . We tried to feed him from the bottle for 3 screaming hours this weekend and he won't take it. He screams like we are torturing him.