Refuse to drink from bottle

[chocbuzz]

My baby is now 2 mths old and refuses to drink from bottle. She was fed from both bottle and breast in her 1st month, then subsequently fully latch on in her 2nd month. Now as I tried to re-introduce bottle with ebm, she refuses to drink from bottle, and will cry non-stop to be breastfed.

Anyone with same problem? Any solutions? Feeling worried as I will be going back to work in a month's time. :embarrassed: I'm using avent bottles btw....

 

[bibiluvr]

Hey.. U r not alone.. I experienced the same thing.. my ger suddenly refused to.. She cried n fell asleep rather than drink from bottle. I changed several teats, n ended up with nuk premium latex teat. But I took 6 mths unpaid leave. Still training her now...

 

[allycat]

When she refused the bottle, were you the one feeding her? Try getting another to try the feeding and it will work.

I was equally desperate when quan started to refuse the bottle one week before I returned to work. But I noticed then that he will take the bottle when I'm physically not around. I did that for the rest of the days and he was fine thereafter.

 

[adelynn]

could be several reasons:
- if you are the one feeding her she may reject. try leaving the room and get somebody else to feed her. Babies may think 'hey mummy u got boob why i need to drink from this artificial one'
- the teats you are using does not suit her. i understand that avent teats are quite hard, try a softer teat (personally pigeon works for my girl, others say NUK's not bad too)
- temperature of milk. when u warm up EBM try to match the temperature of fresh EBM; not too hot, room temperature
- fresh EBM and frozen EBM. some babies don't take frozen EBM as the taste/smell changes slightly after you freeze it. mix frozen with fresh EBM for a start and then slowly decrease the amounts of fresh EBM & increase frozen EBM amounts.

hope this helps

 

[Mummy to Baby V]

Yours is a common situation.

My boy drank from the bottle a few times a week from about 2-4 months old. After being fully latched on for 1 month, he rejected the bottle, no matter who fed him. Cup-feeding worked for him.

I know other babies fed through cup too. Even newborns can drink this way. Or try syringe or spoon-feeding.

The cup we used is reviewed at Medela Disposable Baby Cup Feeder |

 

[cmeilim]

tommy tippee teat is also soft and like mummy's nipple, i heard. if teat is the problem, u may wish to try this brand. my baby is happy with the b-free plus bottle and teat, although he likes tommy tippee pacifier.

i agree with the other moms; try to get another caregiver to give him the bottle. till today, i have never fed my nearly one-yr-old boy anything thru the bottle, so to him mummy means boobs and grandma or daddy means bottle.

 

[xue]

I'm having the same problem too... i realise my baby totally reject drinking my frozen ebm... same thing happen..she would rather cry till she slp then drinking it... and the smell of the frozen ebm is totally different frm those freshly expressed.. But when im not home, my domestic helper said she will drink those that i refrigerate.. but she will have to rock n feed her...
I'm really worried that there will not be enough ebm as im returning to work in 1mth's time and she is refusing those frozen ebm(i have abt 40pkts in my freezer nw).. Do i really need to supplement with fm when im back to work?

 

[adelynn]

I'm having the same problem too... i realise my baby totally reject drinking my frozen ebm... same thing happen..she would rather cry till she sleep then drinking it... and the smell of the frozen ebm is totally different frm those freshly expressed.. But when im not home, my domestic helper said she will drink those that i refrigerate.. but she will have to rock n feed her...
I'm really worried that there will not be enough ebm as im returning to work in 1mth's time and she is refusing those frozen ebm(i have about 40pkts in my freezer now).. Do i really need to supplement with fm when im back to work?

yes the smell/taste of EBM is more rancid as compared to fresh EBM.
My girl has this problem too, so what i did was to mix.
I started out mixing frozen & chilled and then slowly reduce the amount of chilled to get her 'used' to the taste

For example: each feed is 120ML
So for the first few days, i start by giving her 100ML fresh EBM + 20ML frozen EBM for her to get used to the taste. Once baby drinks well with this mixture, then decrease the amount of fresh EBM (say 80ML) then increase the amount of frozen EBM (40ML) and progressively reduce the amount of fresh EBM.

Some babies then progress to take full frozen EBM (like mine) but others still prefer a mixture - my nephew is stuck onto 5 portions frozen, 1 portion fresh.

Hope this helps

 

[cmeilim]

I'm having the same problem too... i realise my baby totally reject drinking my frozen ebm... same thing happen..she would rather cry till she sleep then drinking it... and the smell of the frozen ebm is totally different frm those freshly expressed.. But when im not home, my domestic helper said she will drink those that i refrigerate.. but she will have to rock n feed her...
I'm really worried that there will not be enough ebm as im returning to work in 1mth's time and she is refusing those frozen ebm(i have about 40pkts in my freezer now).. Do i really need to supplement with fm when im back to work?

i found that the smell/taste of EBM got worse the longer I kept it frozen after trying out with a few bottles. So I experimented and found a 'solution' in maintaining a fast turnover of EBM at maximum one month of frozen storage. from tuesdays to fridays, the EBM that my boy drinks is actually relatively fresh, just pumped out the day before at work and chilled in the fridge. On Mondays, the EBM is from my frozen stash. Although this means I don't have a huge storage of bags and bags of EBM, my daily supply is enough to sustain him thus far. most importantly, he has never had any problem being transitioned from BM to EBM.

i think adelynn mummy's method may work too, if u dun want the 40 bags of EBM to all go to waste. try it! =)

 

[xue]

yes the smell/taste of EBM is more rancid as compared to fresh EBM.
My girl has this problem too, so what i did was to mix.
I started out mixing frozen & chilled and then slowly reduce the amount of chilled to get her 'used' to the taste

For example: each feed is 120ML
So for the first few days, i start by giving her 100ML fresh EBM + 20ML frozen EBM for her to get used to the taste. Once baby drinks well with this mixture, then decrease the amount of fresh EBM (say 80ML) then increase the amount of frozen EBM (40ML) and progressively reduce the amount of fresh EBM.

Some babies then progress to take full frozen EBM (like mine) but others still prefer a mixture - my nephew is stuck onto 5 portions frozen, 1 portion fresh.

Hope this helps

Probably i will try this method n see if it works.. but my frozen ebm is kept in the same freezer as the raw food.. I was thinking if my frozen ebm has turn bad..

 

[xue]

i found that the smell/taste of EBM got worse the longer I kept it frozen after trying out with a few bottles. So I experimented and found a 'solution' in maintaining a fast turnover of EBM at maximum one month of frozen storage. from tuesdays to fridays, the EBM that my boy drinks is actually relatively fresh, just pumped out the day before at work and chilled in the fridge. On Mondays, the EBM is from my frozen stash. Although this means I dont't have a huge storage of bags and bags of EBM, my daily supply is enough to sustain him thus far. most importantly, he has never had any problem being transitioned from breast milk to EBM.

i think adelynn mummy's method may work too, if you dont want the 40 bags of EBM to all go to waste. try it! =)

Cmeilim, you mean for tues to fri you manage to pump enough at work for the next day feed? which means how many times you pump at work and how much ml each time? Cause my baby is still drinking milk at 2hourly..I dont mind using your method cause she will be getting fresh ebm but im afraid i wont be able to meet her demand this way.

 

[cmeilim]

Cmeilim, you mean for tues to fri you manage to pump enough at work for the next day feed? which means how many times you pump at work and how much ml each time? Cause my baby is still drinking milk at 2hourly..I dont mind using your method cause she will be getting fresh ebm but im afraid i wont be able to meet her demand this way.

yup, thankfully so far enough. i started off pumping three times in office, each time abt 160-180ml. Then I would pump another once to twice in the middle of the nite. Together they made five feeds. This was before my boy started on semi-solids and slowly started dropping a couple of milk feeds during the day time. Now I only need to pump twice in office, and once at abt 5am as his daytime number of feeds has halved. But the number of times I latched him at home remains more or less the same.

 

[adelynn]

Probably i will try this method n see if it works.. but my frozen ebm is kept in the same freezer as the raw food.. I was thinking if my frozen ebm has turn bad..

hmms, if u stored it well, shouldn't be a problem. why not unfreeze a pack and try it urself to see if it has gone bad?

 

[chocbuzz]

Thanks mummies for all the suggestions! :tlaugh:

Yup I now disappear when she is being fed from bottle. Got Hubby or MIL to feed. Also switched to pigeon bottle. She managed to drink 20ml of ebm just!! Got progress! But that's after many sessions of struggle and crying and coaxing.... Really heartache to hear her cry so loud and pitifully, but I guess no choice. :embarrassed:

 

[adelynn]

good job! slow and steady, she'll need time to get used to it too.

 

[xue]

hmms, if you stored it well, shouldn't be a problem. why not unfreeze a pack and try it yourself to see if it has gone bad?

i tried before and it tasted horrible.. But i tried your method las night n it worked!! I mixed 20ml of frozen ebm and 125ml of fresh ebm she actually drank 135ml of milk frm the bottle!! This was the first time she drank sooo much and of cause it was my domestic helper who feed her. Probably i will try again tonight.. Hopefully it wasnt just concidence. :001_302:

 

[xue]

yup, thankfully so far enough. i started off pumping three times in office, each time about 160-180ml. Then I would pump another once to twice in the middle of the nite. Together they made five feeds. This was before my boy started on semi-solids and slowly started dropping a couple of milk feeds during the day time. Now I only need to pump twice in office, and once at about 5am as his daytime number of feeds has halved. But the number of times I latched him at home remains more or less the same.

Wow, means you slept very little.. I not too sure if i can be so hardworking like you.. =x

 

[cmeilim]

Wow, means you slept very little.. I not too sure if i can be so hardworking like you.. =x

after a while the body will adjust to the new routine. it helps that i am not someone who slept early or needed a lot of sleep to function to begin with. =) also thankfully, the number of night feeds has also dropped to just once or twice every night when i need to wake up and latch him.

 

[megtan]

Yours is a common situation.

My boy drank from the bottle a few times a week from about 2-4 months old. After being fully latched on for 1 month, he rejected the bottle, no matter who fed him. Cup-feeding worked for him.

I know other babies fed through cup too. Even newborns can drink this way. Or try syringe or spoon-feeding.

The cup we used is reviewed at Medela Disposable Baby Cup Feeder |

Hi MieVee,
Do you know where can I buy the Medela Disposable Baby Cup Feeder in Singapore?

 

[adelynn]

i tried before and it tasted horrible.. But i tried your method las night n it worked!! I mixed 20ml of frozen ebm and 125ml of fresh ebm she actually drank 135ml of milk frm the bottle!! This was the first time she drank sooo much and of cause it was my domestic helper who feed her. Probably i will try again tonight.. Hopefully it wasnt just concidence. :001_302:

taste horrible in what sense? is it cuz of the rancid smell/iron-ish taste?

Good that it works for you, once she gets used to the mix, decrease the amount of chilled EBM.