QUESTION:

“My 3 month old baby won’t take a bottle and I’ve tried every bottle and nipple there is. When I leave her with a babysitter, she won’t eat until I get back, and she cries and cries because she’s hungry. I feel like I’ll never be able to leave her anywhere again. What should I do?”

ANSWERS:

Teasaidh A.

Pidgeon wide neck. My little boy was bf until he was 4 months as he wouldn’t take a bottle. I tried litterly 25 brands then some one lent me a pidgeon n he took it no problem.. he will only take their dummies and bottles still to this day at 10 months old.

Cassie A.

My second bub never really took to the bottle. At daycare she would only take about 30ml the whole day, and then make up for it with more frequent breastfeeds at home (I only worked 3 shifts a week and none back to back). Unless you’re needing to go back to work, I’d probably leave it for now and try a sippy cup later. If you absolutely have to leave bub, I tried several different bottles with my son and found medela narrow neck the best. Also, if you’ve been offering formula in the bottle, try expressed breastmilk instead – many bubs don’t like the taste of formula, and introducing formula earlier than 6 months isn’t usually recommended for bub’s health (unless there is some medical or breastfeeding issue).

Mellissa M.

My little one who’s now 1.5 never took a bottle and still doesn’t. He preferred a sippy cup with straw (b box) we tried 9 different bottles, 3 different flow teats, different temperatures, lid on tighter abd looser, different people, my breast milk in bottle and he just never took one. I feel your pain. Perhaps try something other than a bottle?

Jane P.

I have to giggle as the granny who had some awful days and one over night of a child that would not take a bottle . Tried an eye dropper at 3am of BM . Every teat bottle on the market nothing worked ever. EVER. BF till she was over 2 and now at 4 if she gets one of the many hundred that I now have at great cost she will want to play babies and drink out of one …

Tenelei P.

Both my babies took straight to the Pigeon Softouch Peristaltic wide neck with no problems. I’ve found tilting the bottle so the teat touches the roof of the mouth will encourage baby to suck. Good luck x

Kate M.

Give up, we did! We tried them all! EBM and a couple different formulas. No use! When Bub is six months old introduce a sippy cup. Our LO now takes a bbox cup or anything with a straw really. 8 months old and still never had a successful bottle feed! It’s so bloody hard. But it’s the way it is.

Kate J.

Try offering the bottle while the baby is in the bath. Happy, relaxed and distracted

Kate S.

Try swapping to a bottle while breast feeding and put a little bit of your breast milk on the tip of the bottle. Keep persisting with the bottle eventually your baby will take. We use the Tommee Tippee bottles

Do you have a question you would like answered from our FB community?

Message us on Facebook or email mail@cherubbaby.com.au – you can remain anonymous