I'll even beg.
Please, please, please someone have a great idea for me.
M is currently in the middle of a bottle strike. She's taken a bottle before, for me and a friend who was babysitting her, but only about 10 times in her 15 weeks. This is our first child and yes, I am breast feeding. I just read in my "What to expect the first year" book, month three, that it is recommended that all breast feeding mothers give their baby one bottle a day from week 6 on. WTF? Why are they just now telling me this in month THREE??? Why didnt someone tell me this earlier? My siblings and I were not breastfed, so my mom didnt have any breast feeding advice to give me when we started this whole thing and unfortunately, none of my breastfeeding friends told me this either.
So now what? What do we do?
She SCREAMS like we are trying to torture her when we try to give her a bottle. We've tried Doctor Brown's, Medela, Avent and Ventaire bottles. Wide nipples, narrow nipples. Inserts, no inserts. All to no avail.
So, does anyone have any advice for us? Id really like to be able to leave her with someone for longer than 2.5 hours. (She eats every 3 right now). I feel so tied down and I really dont know what else to try.
Thanks for any helpful suggestions!
Oh, and Happy New Year! =)
9 comments:
I don't have any advice about bottle feeding for you, but what I would suggest is find another baby book and see what it says about that. What to expect is far from being the authority on the right way to breastfeed. Maybe find a few breastfeeding books you like. I'm sure they will have some advice. I have 3-4 breastfeeding books and they have a ton of info- I'm sure that will be covered.
We're bottle feeding, as you know, so I have no experience to go on... However, one of the ladies in my Mommy & Me class tried going straight to a sippy cup, with the valve thingie removed. I'm not sure how it worked for her, but maybe that is a thought? I've also heard trying to give her VERY small sips from the lid of the bottle, like using a regular cup. AND another mommy could never get her baby to take the bottle, so she lets her husband feed solids when she's at work and then the baby nurses like crazy once she's back home.... If I hear of anything else, I'll let you know! Good luck!
I've never read the What to Expect books... or any other parenting books. most exclusively breastfed babies won't take a bottle. If she's hungry enough she'll take a bottle, but is it worth that struggle right now to try and make her take a bottle? The only bottle either of my kids would take as babies were the Breast Flow bottles.
What to Expect is not the Magna Carta of parenting.
While it might not be pleasant for those caring for her, keep in mind that she won't starve. If she gets hungry enough, she'll take the bottle. She may cry and fuss, but she won't starve.
I say this because I had to go back to work when my second baby was seven weeks old. I had tried to occasionally use a bottle, but she wouldn't take it from me (and hubby was in AIT). She had a rough few days at first, but she eventually figured it out. I kept the morning, evening and middle of the night breast feedings.
Are you trying to give her the bottle or someone else? Are you giving her pumped bm or formula? I don't think there's any magic trick to make them take a bottle unfortunately. But like damsel said, if she's hungry enough she'll take the bottle. Just Don't give up because it'll only be harder later on! Good luck!
we recently had to switch from BFing to Bottle feeding and Lyla had the hardest time with it. ANd you know angry baby=sad mommy.
There was a few things that we tried: I had to stay out of the room the first day and J had to feed her. If she could smell me she would refuse the bottle. Also, she would fight J for a bit until she got enough of the BM out of the bottle to realize what it was. Another thing was if we werent holding her close to us and snuggling her good ((Like how they eat while they are breastfeeding)) she would flip. out.
Its been a couple weeks and she still prefers the boob but she's not as grumpy about it as she was the first few days.
Like Monica says there is no magic trick. JUst keep trying and know that this too shall pass.
XOXO
I am obviously no expert as my baby hasn't hatched yet, but I've been asking around about this because it's one of my biggest concerns. (I want to go back to my volunteer gig around 6-8 weeks.) The best advice I'd heard mirrors the one above, about how you need to leave the room (or the house entirely) at feeding time and let someone else do it. And then they'll just have to deal with the screaming.
Best of luck, and please let us know what ends up working for you.
No idea, Momma! H loved the bottle and the breast. I don't think he cared, as long as it came out fast and there was a lot of it :)
I do remember the first time I gave him a bottle and then breastfed him after and he pinched down on my nipple with his little gums so hard I screamed.
You mentioned a long time ago that you had an excess milk production. Do you think it also comes really fast (fast let down included)?? Maybe whatever # of bottle nipple you are using, go up to the next # or poke an extra hole in one of them so it comes faster? Maybe that's what is pissing her off? :)
I personally disagree that breastfed babies should be given bottles from week six on -- or any week for that matter. Introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby can cause nipple confusion, or in the case of some babies (my daughter included), nipple preference - artificial nipples do not make a baby "work" for the milk like real babies do.
Instead of a bottle, why not an eyedropper or one of those small medication dosing spoons? No sucking needed - baby simply needs to open his or her mouth. This is what my husband and mother did with my son, and it worked perfectly. :)
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