AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

I am trying to get ds to take a bottle and he just will not... tried different bottles/nipples.. i'm not in the room... started 1/2 hour before he is due to eat... even wrapped a used tshirt of mine around it so he could have my scent.. he doesn't even like a paci anymore.. i love bf but I need a few hours to myself and I can't get him to feed with a bottle... any other suggestions? He is 3 months old and does suck on his fingers all the time, may be entering very early teething stage

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

anyone at all?

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

did you try tommy tippee? I didnt BF but I do use them and they are very close to the real thing.. maybe that would work for your DC

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

Have you tried a faster nipple? Since your DS is 3 months old... he's probably really efficient on your breast by now and maybe he is frustrated because the milk isn't coming out fast enough?

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

I have no advise as I BF but never gave or give bottles- I always leave it until they are too old and then they refuse BUT my sister who also BF said it takes her up to 2 months to get her little ones to take the bottle - she just perseveres and eventually they will take to it - she has three kids and this is how she managed with all three.

Sorry that this is probably not what you wanted to hear but I wanted to let you know it WILL work but might take awhile..I also second the tommee tippee and they sell them at BRU.

Good luck

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

Also... have you tried feeding him the bottle when he wasn't too hungry? Like instead of waiting until he was "due" to eat and starving... maybe try it before so that incase he isn't taking it, he won't be screaming from being hungry...kwim? Have you warmed the bottle? Remember that breastmilk from your breast is a warm temperature. Hmmm.... what else... oh, what about beginning the feeding with your breast... then after a minute or so try to "sneak" the bottle in there.... that's all I can think of for now. Good Luck!!

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

With Jack it took a lot of work. I think I've already told you, but the bottles I first got him to take were the Playtex Drop Ins. Try feeding him in car in his infant seat. That worked for Jack. I think it helped that it was such a different scenario than BF and the car is distracting. I also faced him outward and had the TV on to distract him. He never really took more than 3 ounces from a bottle, so even if he only drinks a little that's OK.

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

As PP said, try the Tommee Tippee bottles with the variable flow nipple, it allows for faster flow. DD started with that around 7wks, before that, she would not take anything. Also, does he take a pacifier? DD wouldn't take the bottle until she took a paci, I think it got her use to the different type of sucking (we use Avent). Now she takes the bottle like a champ, even from me. Good luck!

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

I wish I had the secret because I would totally share it with you. DS used to "love" the bottles and then decided to "quit" them last month. DH keeps trying and trying and occasionally he will take it. It is really hit or miss. We have tried every nipple and bottle under the sun and none have "worked". Good Luck!!!

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

Kenny refused bottles around the 4 month mark. I had to BF, pull him off, slip a bottle in and hope it worked. Eventually he would take it directly w/o a switch and with other people besides me. It took a while. One night I was out with friends for dinner and when I came home, I learned he REFUSED to take a bottle for the entire time I was away. Ugh...

Just keep at it and be as persistent as you can be w/o upsetting him. Eventually, I was able to give BM in a sippy cup. It took until about 6 mo before that happened.

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

I wish I could help you, but my DD refused bottles all together and went straight to a sippy/straw cup.

But i know that different bottles worked for others, running the bottle nipple under warm water to make it warm, having someone else give the bottle

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

both mine were terrible.

#2 took it up until 3 mos old, now fights it completely.

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

thanks everyone.. if anything at least I got a little encouragement... I will try the tommee tippies (that is the only one I haven't tried yet) and all your suggestions.. If I can't do it for a while then how do you get to go anywhere or do anything without your dc? i'm going out with friends tomorrow night and gonna have to take him..

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

I wish I had some advice. Chloe took the bottle until 4 months old and then quit. Im not sure if it was because I gave it to her too infrequently or if she just got more attached to me.. either way, I tried a few different bottles and she had nothing to do with it. I was nervous at first, but BFing exclusively worked for us. I went back to work at 12 months, but by that time she was only BFing 2X a day and just starting whole milk. It worked for us... advice that I got from the ped and others was to be persistent and keep offering the bottle. good luck!

Re: AAHHH!!! BF moms I need help please with bottle transition

I def agree with everyone's suggestions! Another bottle you might want to try (if you haven't already) is the Breastflow bottle by Learning Curve. I have met a couple different people who have said it's the only bottle their baby would take- it's supposed to closely mimic the breast. Another thought, if all else fails... when my sister was a baby, my mom said she refused to take a bottle. The ped told my mom to go out for a whole day and leave a couple bottles with my dad. He said no baby would let him/herself starve and once they realize this is what they are going to have to have if they want to eat and they will eventually take it. It worked! GL!