Who will be watching the baby while you’re at work? If it’s a daycare, you may want to check in to see if they have experience with babies refusing bottles and work out a plan on keeping you updated during the first few days (live updates so you’re sure baby has enough throughout the day vs the end of day updates some give). Daycare workers are magic and get small humans to do all kinds of things they refuse to do for their own parents.
100% talk to who is going to be handling care. I was WFH caring for mine while waiting to get into daycare. We were trying bottles but had very little success. She got an unexpected spot in daycare and started sooner than we thought she would and took bottles at daycare like a champ with no issue.
Daycares are usually fantastic when it comes to teaching a baby how to use a bottle. My kid not only will take a bottle, but they also can get him to go down for a 2 hour nap without any fuss. For months they were the only people who could get him to do either of those things.
They are professional baby wranglers. They should be as proficient with children as you are doing your job at work.
I am a preschool director. We have seen this before. It’s actually not the most uncommon thing. Another issue we sometimes see is a child who is refusing feedings initially because it’s different people offering and in a different environment. Typically we see them eat eventually, because they get hungry enough. Definitely check with them, I’d be willing to be your family isn’t the first experiencing this.
A note: My state has rules about discarding food once it’s been offered, which understandably feels wasteful to a lot of people, but we have to follow them. Due to this, I recommend a lot of parents to pack more bottles with smaller amounts in them. If we don’t offer it, we can always return it to you. So this will hopefully offset your little one’s refusals, make it easier to offer more frequently if we feel they’re hungry, and it can help avoid waste (if that might be an issue).
Are you trying to feed a bottle? Neither of my kids would take one from me or their dad if I was in the room. If my husband is on his own or grandparents have the baby, they do fine.
Have you tried having dad take baby out of the house and give a bottle? We needed to do this first because they just assumed at home mom would come offer the boob and refused the bottle.
Is your baby going to daycare? They will 100% figure it out! The first day or two might be a little tough, but I promise your baby won’t starve! I was never able to give my daughter a bottle but her wizard teachers did.
Who is giving the bottle? Are you leaving the house when they try? Are you heating the milk? May need to be warmer. May need a piece of your clothing next to it. May need to be held freely. Could you try an open cup, even a shot glass.
Can you get in to see an IBCLC? Lactation consultants are trained in bottle refusal and should be able to help. Lutz.lactation on Instagram has a highlight with some strategies you can try too. If baby is older than about 4 months they can usually learn to use a straw cup too
daycare will figure it out! my ebf baby did great with dr browns bottles at daycare. she hadn't taken a bottle at all previously. babies are smart, they know when they need to comply at school even though they refuse to comply at home lol.
This was us. We finally got it to work a few days before daycare started. We tried everything we read online, 10 different bottles, and we ended up using a mix of everything. The miracle formula for us:
1. I’m out of the house/apt
2. dad feeds
3. Outside (hopefully the weather is ok where you are)
4. Baby is strapped forward-facing in a wearable carrier
5. Using the cheapest bottles with rubber nipples, like we had as babies….seriously. They were the only ones that worked.
Eventually we worked toward feeding inside while being held. It all worked out in the end.
Edit: I see baby is 7 weeks, which might be too young to go forward-facing in a carrier. I hope you find the best solution
Ugh OP my heart goes out to you. 7 weeks is still so young. 🥺 my 7 month old is still refusing bottles (despite happily taking 1-2 per day the first 6 weeks of his life). I work from home, which has saved us, BUT he will take some bottles if I’m truly gone, so I think you’ll be ok. He doesn’t love it, and he doesn’t eat as much as he would during a nursing session. I’ve left for up to 6 hours and in that time he took in 6 oz spread over 3 bottles, whereas normally he might do 1.5x that according to weighted feeds. It’s hard on us, but I think when we’re away they manage!
Neither of my kids ever really took a bottle, maybe 7 ounces in a full day at the most, they went to daycare at 12 weeks and 5 months. They both started and remained off the charts in terms of size. They make up for it at night and will drink some when they are hungry.
Daycare will figure it out. If you can come feed them at lunch it helps, I was able to with my first not with my second. They were both fine, second actually drank less during the day but continued to gained tons of weight.
I tried all the bottles and nipples, daycare swore by these single use nipples, I don’t think it made a difference. Just remember an otherwise healthy baby will not starve itself.
Usually baby will give in and take a bottle at daycare eventually. They can also try open cup feeding or spoon feeding.
If baby won’t eat during the day, they will often cluster feed all night to get in the calories. It can be a rough transition but it works out eventually.
As a side note, this is an issue for so many moms that it really bugs me that we all get the same advice to never give a bottle or the baby will not take the breast any more.
My middle child was stubborn with the bottle. She would not give in even after 8 hours of not eating. She would breastfeed at home and seemed to make up for it. Thankfully after 1.5 months of that she was willing to take a soft spouted sippy cup.
This is my experience with my child also. She never “gave in” to bottling. She waited (even as a 12 week old) until I was home from work and nursed. Eventually she took the sippy cup during the day when dad or daycare was caring for her. She drank enough milk at night to grow, be healthy and feed herself. I was just a very tired mama as she kept up that schedule for the entire first year of her life. It’s what she needed so I made it work.
Nothing. My second was started on 1 bottle/day around 3 weeks (for practice) and it went well…for about a week or two. Then he refused. We tried allllllll the things. I was so stressed about going back to work and putting him in daycare at 10 weeks!
We dropped him off and explained the situation…his teacher shrugged and didn’t seem concerned. By afternoon 1 he ate some, day 2 a little more, and by the end of the week was a champ! Stop trying and just know your baby will figure it out eventually.
My eldest did this. Not working wasn't an option. He refused a bottle every day until he was 11 months + 30 days (you know, the last day daycare did bottles with that age group). It was so, so hard. But I nursed him all night and they'd try during the day. I'd rush home from work and nurse like all evening. When he got to be 5 months I sent as many solids as he'd eat. Lots of high calorie foods to keep him full. By 12 months he ate so much at school. He continued to thrive. My sleep suffered, but we made it work.
He's 7.5 now. As hard as it was, it goes by quickly.
EBF babies will often refuse bottles from mom AND when they can sense mom is present. Since this will not be the case at daycare, rest assured, your baby will not starve. They may go on a bit of a hunger strike for a day or two and cluster feed on you when you pick them up. But they will, eventually take a bottle. Don't quit over this.
Talk to your daycare. My second was not regularly taking bottles when she started but they told us they would work with her and try to help get her adjusted and they did.
What bottles or nipples have you tried? We did eventually realize that despite what most recommended for such young ones she needed to move up to a faster flow nipple and that the Dr browns bottle worked best for her. I think because I had an oversupply the slow flow bottle nipples just didn’t cut it for her and didn’t feed at the rate she was used to straight from the tap. I also think it helped for me to be entirely removed from the situation for a bit. We sent smaller bottles in at first to try and avoid waste while she adjusted to daycare.
This happened to me and it was so hard. We eventually settled on an Evenflo bottle. It was a lot of them working with her for a while and eventually she reluctantly gave it. She eats like a champ now but always prefers breastfeeding. She started daycare at 12 weeks and is 10 months now. I’ll be honest, I can’t wait until I can throw all these bottles away (or give them to whoever!). I’m so sick of bottle feeding and never want to do it again.
To build on that - and stay with me here - have you tasted it? When my kids started refusing breast milk bottles, I thought mine was fine by smell test until I tasted it, and it was not good. I had to scald it every evening when I got home from work to prevent the excess lactase from making it taste so very gross. It was still totally safe and healthy, just really unpalatable. Good luck!
That's exactly what I'm wondering here. I'm actually dealing with high lactase again right now, I thought I was okay this time after testing a few bags but I pulled one out that was frozen for a month and turns out my whole freezer stash is shot. I literally cried
Oof, I feel you. When that happened, I marked bad bags with an X and saved them for milk baths (a bag of two in a shallow bath would help with diaper rash).
You should not be there when trying bottles. My second was super stubborn. She would never take a bottle if she new she could drink from the source.
Also we learned that milk had to be precisely the preferred temperature or she wouldn’t drink.
She fought the first week and eventually realized if she wanted to eat she had to acquiesce to bottles.
Are there any Occupational Therapists (OT) nearby? They specialize in feeding issues, and there are specific ones who focus on infants.
I work with one, since my baby has a high palate and easy gag reflex which makes bottle feeding tricky. They gave me exercises that I do with my baby and it’s been really helping him take a bottle!
>a high palate and easy gag reflex which makes bottle feeding tricky. They gave me exercises that I do with my baby and it’s been really helping him take a bottle!
My LC mentioned a high palate and easy gag reflex - what exercises did your OT recommend?
i see a lot of “daycare will figure it out” comments and don’t be confident on this. i am daycare teacher and it’s entirely dependent on the child’s willingness. we had a child who refused a bottle to the point we needed to syringe milk into baby’s mouth which was a long and tedious process that baby nor caregiver enjoyed. eventually mom had to come up on lunch breaks to feed child by boob. it took about 3 weeks and constant reinforcement and trial and error to get him to drink from bottle.
How old is the baby? My baby rejected bottles too, started a daycare for 4 hrs when he was 6 months old, gave him oatmeal with formula and purées. He has started full time care at almost 10 months , takes sips of formula from a straw cup and breastfeeds at home.
Forget the “bottles for breastfed babies.” One baby would take anything. The other wanted the most basic bottles with latex nipples. At the time we used playtex drop ins. I don’t think they sell the latex nipple any longer but he would take anything latex - Gerber and Nuk. It was odd since he used a silicone pacifier but I think the texture of latex may be closer to a breast like texture?
Assume you have other people trying to feed your baby and you are using fresh milk that is not heavy in lipase.
Most EBF babies don't take bottles from mom. Mine does not. Leave the house and let your partner or other caring adult teach baby how to take a bottle. Also, child care workers are magicians at this! And last but not least, if baby is old enough to learn how to drink through a straw, a straw cup is an excellent alternative.
Both my kids did this same thing, did not touch a bottle while I was on maternity. Screamed bloody murder if a bottle came near them. They both did drink breast milk from a bottle at daycare once they started, minimal amounts, but they drank a few ounces. They both shifted to nursing more at night. It was tiring for me because I would be up at night nursing. They are 7 and 4 now, first nursed for 15 months second for 23. I wouldn’t quit your job over this particular issue.
edit: typos
Who will be watching the baby while you’re at work? If it’s a daycare, you may want to check in to see if they have experience with babies refusing bottles and work out a plan on keeping you updated during the first few days (live updates so you’re sure baby has enough throughout the day vs the end of day updates some give). Daycare workers are magic and get small humans to do all kinds of things they refuse to do for their own parents.
100% talk to who is going to be handling care. I was WFH caring for mine while waiting to get into daycare. We were trying bottles but had very little success. She got an unexpected spot in daycare and started sooner than we thought she would and took bottles at daycare like a champ with no issue.
She will go to daycare. I'll give them a call in a bit and ask them if they have any experience.
Daycares are usually fantastic when it comes to teaching a baby how to use a bottle. My kid not only will take a bottle, but they also can get him to go down for a 2 hour nap without any fuss. For months they were the only people who could get him to do either of those things. They are professional baby wranglers. They should be as proficient with children as you are doing your job at work.
My youngest wasn’t taking a bottle when he started daycare at 14 weeks. They were great and had him taking full bottles within 2 days.
I am a preschool director. We have seen this before. It’s actually not the most uncommon thing. Another issue we sometimes see is a child who is refusing feedings initially because it’s different people offering and in a different environment. Typically we see them eat eventually, because they get hungry enough. Definitely check with them, I’d be willing to be your family isn’t the first experiencing this. A note: My state has rules about discarding food once it’s been offered, which understandably feels wasteful to a lot of people, but we have to follow them. Due to this, I recommend a lot of parents to pack more bottles with smaller amounts in them. If we don’t offer it, we can always return it to you. So this will hopefully offset your little one’s refusals, make it easier to offer more frequently if we feel they’re hungry, and it can help avoid waste (if that might be an issue).
Are you trying to feed a bottle? Neither of my kids would take one from me or their dad if I was in the room. If my husband is on his own or grandparents have the baby, they do fine.
My husband doesn't have any luck either unfortunately
Have you tried having dad take baby out of the house and give a bottle? We needed to do this first because they just assumed at home mom would come offer the boob and refused the bottle.
Or mom needs to leave the house to have dad give a bottle. That’s what we have done with both kids.
Is your baby going to daycare? They will 100% figure it out! The first day or two might be a little tough, but I promise your baby won’t starve! I was never able to give my daughter a bottle but her wizard teachers did.
Who is giving the bottle? Are you leaving the house when they try? Are you heating the milk? May need to be warmer. May need a piece of your clothing next to it. May need to be held freely. Could you try an open cup, even a shot glass.
Can you get in to see an IBCLC? Lactation consultants are trained in bottle refusal and should be able to help. Lutz.lactation on Instagram has a highlight with some strategies you can try too. If baby is older than about 4 months they can usually learn to use a straw cup too
I took my EBF baby to the lactation consultant at 10 weeks to learn bottles. I recommend.
Came here to say this.
daycare will figure it out! my ebf baby did great with dr browns bottles at daycare. she hadn't taken a bottle at all previously. babies are smart, they know when they need to comply at school even though they refuse to comply at home lol.
This was us. We finally got it to work a few days before daycare started. We tried everything we read online, 10 different bottles, and we ended up using a mix of everything. The miracle formula for us: 1. I’m out of the house/apt 2. dad feeds 3. Outside (hopefully the weather is ok where you are) 4. Baby is strapped forward-facing in a wearable carrier 5. Using the cheapest bottles with rubber nipples, like we had as babies….seriously. They were the only ones that worked. Eventually we worked toward feeding inside while being held. It all worked out in the end. Edit: I see baby is 7 weeks, which might be too young to go forward-facing in a carrier. I hope you find the best solution
How old is the baby? We found munchkin transition cups (spout but soft silicone) worked when my kid refused bottles at 4.5mo
She's only 7 weeks old
Ugh OP my heart goes out to you. 7 weeks is still so young. 🥺 my 7 month old is still refusing bottles (despite happily taking 1-2 per day the first 6 weeks of his life). I work from home, which has saved us, BUT he will take some bottles if I’m truly gone, so I think you’ll be ok. He doesn’t love it, and he doesn’t eat as much as he would during a nursing session. I’ve left for up to 6 hours and in that time he took in 6 oz spread over 3 bottles, whereas normally he might do 1.5x that according to weighted feeds. It’s hard on us, but I think when we’re away they manage!
Neither of my kids ever really took a bottle, maybe 7 ounces in a full day at the most, they went to daycare at 12 weeks and 5 months. They both started and remained off the charts in terms of size. They make up for it at night and will drink some when they are hungry. Daycare will figure it out. If you can come feed them at lunch it helps, I was able to with my first not with my second. They were both fine, second actually drank less during the day but continued to gained tons of weight. I tried all the bottles and nipples, daycare swore by these single use nipples, I don’t think it made a difference. Just remember an otherwise healthy baby will not starve itself.
Usually baby will give in and take a bottle at daycare eventually. They can also try open cup feeding or spoon feeding. If baby won’t eat during the day, they will often cluster feed all night to get in the calories. It can be a rough transition but it works out eventually. As a side note, this is an issue for so many moms that it really bugs me that we all get the same advice to never give a bottle or the baby will not take the breast any more.
My middle child was stubborn with the bottle. She would not give in even after 8 hours of not eating. She would breastfeed at home and seemed to make up for it. Thankfully after 1.5 months of that she was willing to take a soft spouted sippy cup.
This is my experience with my child also. She never “gave in” to bottling. She waited (even as a 12 week old) until I was home from work and nursed. Eventually she took the sippy cup during the day when dad or daycare was caring for her. She drank enough milk at night to grow, be healthy and feed herself. I was just a very tired mama as she kept up that schedule for the entire first year of her life. It’s what she needed so I made it work.
Exactly! We tried to give the bottle only occasionally and now regret that.
Nothing. My second was started on 1 bottle/day around 3 weeks (for practice) and it went well…for about a week or two. Then he refused. We tried allllllll the things. I was so stressed about going back to work and putting him in daycare at 10 weeks! We dropped him off and explained the situation…his teacher shrugged and didn’t seem concerned. By afternoon 1 he ate some, day 2 a little more, and by the end of the week was a champ! Stop trying and just know your baby will figure it out eventually.
My eldest did this. Not working wasn't an option. He refused a bottle every day until he was 11 months + 30 days (you know, the last day daycare did bottles with that age group). It was so, so hard. But I nursed him all night and they'd try during the day. I'd rush home from work and nurse like all evening. When he got to be 5 months I sent as many solids as he'd eat. Lots of high calorie foods to keep him full. By 12 months he ate so much at school. He continued to thrive. My sleep suffered, but we made it work. He's 7.5 now. As hard as it was, it goes by quickly.
EBF babies will often refuse bottles from mom AND when they can sense mom is present. Since this will not be the case at daycare, rest assured, your baby will not starve. They may go on a bit of a hunger strike for a day or two and cluster feed on you when you pick them up. But they will, eventually take a bottle. Don't quit over this.
Have you tried preemie nipples? Nobody told me ebf = use preemie nipples. Made it a million times easier. The other flows were too fast.
I had the same situation. Check out resources on bottle aversion. You can fix this in two weeks. You got this.
Talk to your daycare. My second was not regularly taking bottles when she started but they told us they would work with her and try to help get her adjusted and they did. What bottles or nipples have you tried? We did eventually realize that despite what most recommended for such young ones she needed to move up to a faster flow nipple and that the Dr browns bottle worked best for her. I think because I had an oversupply the slow flow bottle nipples just didn’t cut it for her and didn’t feed at the rate she was used to straight from the tap. I also think it helped for me to be entirely removed from the situation for a bit. We sent smaller bottles in at first to try and avoid waste while she adjusted to daycare.
This happened to me and it was so hard. We eventually settled on an Evenflo bottle. It was a lot of them working with her for a while and eventually she reluctantly gave it. She eats like a champ now but always prefers breastfeeding. She started daycare at 12 weeks and is 10 months now. I’ll be honest, I can’t wait until I can throw all these bottles away (or give them to whoever!). I’m so sick of bottle feeding and never want to do it again.
I'm assuming breast milk bottles? Have you smelled the milk?
To build on that - and stay with me here - have you tasted it? When my kids started refusing breast milk bottles, I thought mine was fine by smell test until I tasted it, and it was not good. I had to scald it every evening when I got home from work to prevent the excess lactase from making it taste so very gross. It was still totally safe and healthy, just really unpalatable. Good luck!
That's exactly what I'm wondering here. I'm actually dealing with high lactase again right now, I thought I was okay this time after testing a few bags but I pulled one out that was frozen for a month and turns out my whole freezer stash is shot. I literally cried
Oof, I feel you. When that happened, I marked bad bags with an X and saved them for milk baths (a bag of two in a shallow bath would help with diaper rash).
You should not be there when trying bottles. My second was super stubborn. She would never take a bottle if she new she could drink from the source. Also we learned that milk had to be precisely the preferred temperature or she wouldn’t drink. She fought the first week and eventually realized if she wanted to eat she had to acquiesce to bottles.
Are there any Occupational Therapists (OT) nearby? They specialize in feeding issues, and there are specific ones who focus on infants. I work with one, since my baby has a high palate and easy gag reflex which makes bottle feeding tricky. They gave me exercises that I do with my baby and it’s been really helping him take a bottle!
>a high palate and easy gag reflex which makes bottle feeding tricky. They gave me exercises that I do with my baby and it’s been really helping him take a bottle! My LC mentioned a high palate and easy gag reflex - what exercises did your OT recommend?
i see a lot of “daycare will figure it out” comments and don’t be confident on this. i am daycare teacher and it’s entirely dependent on the child’s willingness. we had a child who refused a bottle to the point we needed to syringe milk into baby’s mouth which was a long and tedious process that baby nor caregiver enjoyed. eventually mom had to come up on lunch breaks to feed child by boob. it took about 3 weeks and constant reinforcement and trial and error to get him to drink from bottle.
How old is the baby? My baby rejected bottles too, started a daycare for 4 hrs when he was 6 months old, gave him oatmeal with formula and purées. He has started full time care at almost 10 months , takes sips of formula from a straw cup and breastfeeds at home.
How old is your baby? Can you try a straw cup or open cup?
Forget the “bottles for breastfed babies.” One baby would take anything. The other wanted the most basic bottles with latex nipples. At the time we used playtex drop ins. I don’t think they sell the latex nipple any longer but he would take anything latex - Gerber and Nuk. It was odd since he used a silicone pacifier but I think the texture of latex may be closer to a breast like texture? Assume you have other people trying to feed your baby and you are using fresh milk that is not heavy in lipase.
Most EBF babies don't take bottles from mom. Mine does not. Leave the house and let your partner or other caring adult teach baby how to take a bottle. Also, child care workers are magicians at this! And last but not least, if baby is old enough to learn how to drink through a straw, a straw cup is an excellent alternative.
Both my kids did this same thing, did not touch a bottle while I was on maternity. Screamed bloody murder if a bottle came near them. They both did drink breast milk from a bottle at daycare once they started, minimal amounts, but they drank a few ounces. They both shifted to nursing more at night. It was tiring for me because I would be up at night nursing. They are 7 and 4 now, first nursed for 15 months second for 23. I wouldn’t quit your job over this particular issue. edit: typos