You have worked so hard at your breastfeeding relationship you and baby are finally in sync. You finally feel comfortable leaving your little one with someone so you can get out of the house. You are starting to enjoy walking without a car seat on your arm and you get a phone call from home with your baby screaming in the background and your caretaker says your baby won’t take the bottle. What do you do??
We recommend you start a bottle by 4 weeks of age. By this time breastfeeding is established and you may be ready for a break. You need to start pumping a few days or a week prior to the big bottle day. See my blog “pumping for the first time” for directions.
If you are late to the party and starting after 4 weeks and baby is refusing…here are some suggestions
1. Minimize distractions. Go in a dark room without your cell phone, turn off the TV and put the dog away.
2. Hold baby is a position that isn’t how you hold to nurse.
3. Use motion. Put baby in their car seat or stroller and rock them while you give the bottle.
4. Try different bottles/nipples. Change to a faster flow nipple.
5. Timing is important – don’t have baby be too hungry or too full, too tired or too drowsy
6. Try different temperatures of breast milk
7. Grab someone different to try to give a bottle (grandmother, aunt, neighbor, friend)
8. If all else fails and you can’t nurse your baby…you can cup feed or syringe feed
Most important is if baby refuses, DO NOT NURSE right away…baby will associate their refusal with nursing (what they want) and may never take that bottle.
Stick with it and don’t give up. If you are struggling with this issue, you can always email Maureen Mills our lactation consultant and she can help!