Refusing the bottle

[Anonymous]

I’m new to the site and just posted under the “Introduce Yourself” section, but I have a question. My 5 m/o son is breastfed exclusively, but had been taking a bottle of expressed milk from my husband without a problem. He recently had an upper GI/barium swallow, and every since the barium he has absolutely refused to take a bottle. (The swallow test was miserable, since he screamed like crazy and did not like the barium initially. He eventually settled down and took it, but he’s now sworn off all bottles.) He would rather go hungry than take a bottle, which is not a good thing since he is not gaining weight. I have tried switching bottles and nipples, but nothing helps. I feel trapped, since I can’t leave the house without him, and of course I want him to eat. Has anyone had this trouble? What did you do? I have considered trying formula in a bottle, thinking that perhaps he is objecting to the breastmilk/bottle connection, but have yet to try it. The doc gave us a sample of Nutragamin to try, since it is easy to digest.

Thanks,

Heather

[Anonymous]

What bottles have you tried? Have you tried having someone other than yourself give him the bottle? Some times the know mommy has milk in other places so they won’t take a bottle from the mommy? Other than that I am not sure. Hopefully someone else can chime in about this. I only bf for 3wks as my little guy only gained 2oz in those 3wks (didn’t get back to his birthwt until he was 10wks old)

[Anonymous]

Hi Beth,

I’ve tried the regular Medela bottles and the freebies from the hospital (I have some Avent bottles as well, but I’ve avoided them because of the BPA issue). I’ve tried the Gerber and Nuk nipples, in both silicon and rubber, with both the traditional and orthodontic shape. I’ve had my husband offer him the bottle (for the reason you mentioned), as well as myself. I was thinking about the formula for much the same reason (if he knows it’s b-milk maybe he’d just prefer the original source). I’m just at a loss here.

Heather

[Anonymous]

Did they use a bottle to feed him the barium? That’s how they did my dd’s. He may have created negative associations with the bottle itself, if the test was difficult for him and if he was force fed with the bottle. If he’s rejecting the bottle itself, then switching to formula won’t solve your problem. Will he cup feed the EBM? Just curious…

[hellbennt]

I never tried these but have read that babies like them?

http://adiri.com/

also: can you nurse him right before you go out and then when you come in? I had to do this for a bit when there were times when Ari wouldn’t take a bottle- I was also concerned about his weight, but I *think* he made up for lost time by nursing a lot when I returned home…after a bit he took the bottle again- I think I tried a faster flow nipple? I wish I could remember…

[Anonymous]

I guess my only other thought would be to try something like the Dr Browns’ bottles or the borne free ones (they are pricey) we used the dr browns and they did wonders for gas and I think the borne free are very similar. But Lori might be right about the aversion for the barium swallow. Maybe just give it alittle more time or even try a sippy cup?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the input. It’s hard to say what might be the root cause of the refusal. Maybe the negative association, or maybe just a coincidence of timing. I think I’ll try the sippy idea and skip the bottle altogether. I’ll let you know how he does.

Heather

[Anonymous]

I tend to agree with Lori that maybe he associates the barium with it now. That is so tough. I think that b/c you mentioned that this started following the Upper GI.

when I switched from breastfeeding to bottle feeding, we had lots of luck with these bottles for the actual transition itself, although they did not work for us long term b/c the flow just didn’t work for my refluxer, he really needed a very very slow flow for a long time, so we wound up with Dr Browns using stage 1 nipples til he was 7 mos old….anyway, here is the breastflow bottles:

http://www.target.com/First-Years-3-pk-Breastflow-Bottles/dp/B000SBIMTM/sr=1-2/qid=1210816380/ref=sr_1_2/602-7480469-1492661?ie=UTF8&rh=k%3Abreastflow%5Fbottles&page=1

jilly782008-05-14 21:56:15

[Anonymous]

Hi Heather,

I’m not the best person to give advice here, LOL, because neither of my boys ever took a bottle well…grrrr.

My older son was 5 months old, like yours, when he decided to refuse the bottle completely. Prior to this, he had been taking one bottle a day from Dad while I worked part-time. Then he just stopped and would rather go hungry. It was due mostly to the fact that we had just traveled for the holidays, I was off work, so I just nursed him for a few days instead of giving the bottle. That was all it took! These little ones can be SO determined SO young!

Anyway, so instead of trying every bottle under the sun, we just started with the sippy cup like you mentioned. Nuby makes a great one at Wal-Mart that has a very flexible spout, like a nipple. It took awhile, but both my boys got the hang of sippy cups really early because of their refusal of the bottle. Until then and until they started solids, I had to stay closeby!!! Sorry, maybe you can find a better solution!!!

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