Okay all you Mommy/bottle experts...
Since Chloe turned 6 weeks last week, I have been trying to get her started on the bottle. Austin would never take the bottle, which was not so fun, so I am determined to get Chloe to take one. This is what we've tried so far...
- Gerber bottle with formula--she wouldn't touch it
- Gerber bottle with formula--she wouldn't touch it
- Soothie bottle with expressed milk--she drank two ounces (which was all I had pumped)
So, we've only tried 3 times...and she took one out of the three. What is the best way to get her to take the bottle and KEEP taking the bottle? Do I need to give her one every day? It seems silly to me to pump and then feed her the bottle, b/c its so much work, but I'll do it if I need to (right now, Nate is only home for one of Chloe's feedings, the one right before bed, and I don't think the bottle will soothe her to sleep, so I'd rather him not feed her then). Is there a kind of formula that seems to work better than others? I have only tried Enfamil, and I can't blame any child for not wanting that stuff...it stinks!
SO, give me your advice! What has worked for you?
15 comments:
Ok, i can share with you what I did with asher and where I'm at with faith but i think i'll send you a message on facebook. It could get lengthy here. :-)
As far as formula goes, Sophie would only take the Enfamil Lactose Free formula (generic brand) and only out of a Gerber bottle. I couldn't find anything she would take and the lactose free stuff was recommended (on MANY websites) for babies who have only had breast milk. Mostly because it doesn't have as strong of a taste as other formulas and it is the easiest of all to digest.
My kids were pretty easy and they would take breastmilk or any type of formula from any bottle so I'm not much help there. I would suggest giving her a bottle once a day though. Pick the easiest time of day and do it every day at the same time.
Simon wasn't very easy to train on the bottle either, but it did help to have him take one bottle a day. We started around 6 weeks too - and during the night, actually. I would pump, and Dave would feed Simon a bottle of expressed milk from the night before. If you can get Chloe to take formula right now, that is great...but Simon wouldn't drink it when he was that young. You can also mix it half and half (with expressed milk) which might help the taste. Anyway, just get a day ahead with the pumping...and honestly, once she gets used to it, you won't have to do it every day anymore.
Good luck!
I agree with Rachel, get a day (or more!) ahead with the pumping. You can also try to express after a feed, either from the other side or both.
The only bottle my finicky two would take was a playtex nurser with a brown n*pple. Buying the liners was annoying, but it was worth it. It is also the bottle that the clinic recommends most when dealing with reluctant bottle baby.
I would probably do one bottle a day until she is taking it well and then you can scale back. Does she take a paci? Usually babes that do are better about going back and forth. (breast to bottle)
No help here. None of mine took a bottle, but I didn't try very hard either. I would next time though.
Hope you have good success!
The way I would stock up on milk is during one feeding I would only have my daughter nurse on one side and then I would pump the other side. I would also add a pumping at the end of the day. This way I had some stocked up. I started giving my oldest daughter 1 bottle a day and she eventually loved a bottle. My youngest wouldn't touch a bottle, which was a problem b/c I was working part time until she turned 9 months. I hope this helps. Mine also liked the Dr. Browns bottles (the wide neck kind, not the long skinny bottles).
My 2 cents.....its best to be informed, but you are free to ignore these links if you do not agree.
If at all possible, feed her your milk.
Formula is not natural, and babies digestive systems are fragile.
and, formula does not have GRAS status.
WHAT'S IN INFANT FORMULA?
WATER: May contain high levels of fluoride.
CORN SYRUP: Contains glucose. Mother's milk contains lactose as the main carbohydrate. Not all brands of formula contain lactose.
SUCROSE: Contains no lactose. The wrong sugar for babies.
SOY OIL: Processed using high temperatures and chemicals, bleached and deodorized. Likely to be rancid.
WHEY PROTEIN: High temperature processing likely to destroy fragile whey proteins.
SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE: Highly processed, contains phytoestrogens that can adversely affect baby's hormonal development and depress thyroid function. Does not have GRAS status.
CARRAGEENAN: Extremely hard to digest. In most ready-mixed formulas, carrageenan is one of the main causes of digestive disorders in formula-fed infants, not lactose-intolerance. Caused liver problems and retarded growth in rats.
SOY LECITHIN: Extracted from the soy oil sludge. Likely to be high in pesticides.
SYNTHETIC VITAMINS: Often have the opposite effect of vitamins naturally occurring in food.
FREE GLUTAMIC ACID (MSG) and ASPARTIC ACID: Neurotoxins formed during processing of milk and soy protein powders. Levels are especially high in hypoallergenic formulas.
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html
when i was trying to wean autumn, she wouldnt take a bottle AT ALL! (around 5 months) So i bought baby yogurt drinks (at target, in the baby food aisle), and started adding that to the formula, first 60%yogurt drink, 40% formula (or breastmilk), gradually adding less and less yogurt drink as she started getting used to the formula. my ped. had no problem whatsoever with the yogurt drink and you could probably make your own. i know this has worked for other mothers too.
I liked the idea of pumping one side while she is feeding on the other. It gets tricky to hold everything, but if you can do it, it won't seem like you're wasting time. Maybe you can freeze some milk. I always loved having a stash in the freezer and it turned out to be very helpful later on. I would also do a bottle a day until she learns to take it easily and then I would pull back and only do a bottle maybe once a week unless needed. Olivia got to where she loved the bottle more than nursing b/c it was less work. So there is a fine line there. Also, as someone suggested, she might take a night bottle easier b/c she is tired and not as aware. Good luck. It gets tricky sometimes doesn't it? : )
-Esther
Hi Ruth- We used the Avent naturally bottles. It helped to have Caleb give the bottle instead of me, b/c Bryson knew with me he had another option!
I don't know if I have any advice, but I can tell you what I did with the boys and will try again with this next one. I always used the old fashion platex bottles with the drop ins, like Shawna. I used formula sooner with Jacob than Joel, but started them both with expressed milk first for quite a while. I just pumped after I fed them, I hated it, but knew it would be so nice later on. I think the drop ins with the playtex bottle really helped eleviate any problems with gas or burping. It's amazing how much sanity you seem to regain with a bottle feeding here and there! I'll be praying you find a good solution soon...I might need to be asking you the same question if my tried and true solution doesn't work for us several months from now!
I haven't had any luck with any of my children taking a bottle, and I haven't even tried with Kinley, so I don't have much advice. But, they do make bottles with the same nipple as her pacifier. They are at Walmart, so you might try those. And, I would pump instead of formula. I believe it is much better for the baby. I tried that with Nate, but he didn't last very long, because he wouldn't take a bottle from me, but he would from his dad or someone else. But, when Nathan was gone for awhile, he stopped taking the bottle and never went back to it.
Aww. I've had a few kids that I've had to bottle train at a few months of age. Honestly, the only reason they ended up being able to take both bottle and mommy is because they had no other option. If she's hungry enough, she will eventually take it. It's hard for mommy to last that long with a screaming, hungry, angry baby, though! It took my nephew an entire week of screaming for half an hour before each feeding before he finally started to just take it. So...if you can put up with the crying for a while (seemingly a looonnnggg while) she will eventually take it when she's hungry enough.
Thank you ALL for you advice! We are still trying things out and will keep you posted!
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