4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

I know Sweet Caroline mentioned this topic a few weeks ago, but can we re-visit it?
Even though I EBF DS, I pump extra milk every morning for my freezer supply and for nights I want to have some wine, go out, etc. We introduced the bottle when DS was 2wks, and he's been fine until now (he's 3 mos tomorrow). He's taken the bottle from me, from DH, from in-laws, from my parents, almost everyone. Two days ago, I had to give him a bottle just before we left for his ped appointment and he refused it. I didn't think anything of it, nursed him, then DH gave him the bottle later that night.
I mentioned it to DH yesterday and we had plans to go to dinner and have ILs watch DS so we tried to give DS a bottle before ILs came over. DS screamed bloody murder and turned the bottle away. SCREAMED AND SCREAMED like someone was torturing him. I couldn't leave he house with him screaming like that so I nursed him before we left for dinner. When we returned, DS was screaming again and MIL said he refused the bottle. DH and I both tried to give it to him, but again he was crying and fussing. I got him to take a little bit from the bottle (I think he was just too exhausted to fight it anymore), fell asleep for 10 min., then woke up screaming and wouldn't finish the bottle. I had to nurse him again to get him down.
He's been sleeping through the night since week 8 (Thank God), but now he's waking around 4am fussy. My gut feeling is that he's starting his teething phase, but what's the best way to address his refusal of the bottle? I'm feeling apprehensive about day care - could he be picking up on this and wants the comfort from nursing? (I'm shamefully putting this on my list of reasons for me to stay home... )

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Welcome to my world for the last month!!! I returned to work when DS was 8 weeks old. We started the bottle at 5 wks and he was fine. By 11 weeks, he started struggling with the bottle and just wanted me to nurse him. By 12 wks, he didn't want the bottle nor did he want to nurse. That was the hardest week.

It was a mix of two things - one was he was starting to teeth. He had all the signs. The next was that I needed to switch the nipple on bottle to a faster one. I realized that when he nursed, it was only when I was REALLY full. He was getting tired of sucking on the bottle and getting the milk slow.

At 15 weeks, he is back to normal. He nurses in the morning with me and gets the bottle the rest of the day and evening.

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

No advice since I bottle feed...just some

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

here are two tips from getting ella to feed from the bottle that really worked for us after we'd tried EVERYTHING. i am not sure if they will apply to you since she is much younger, but hey we'll try anything, right?

1) let dc suck on your finger and then release. shove the bottle in fast.

2) wrap the bottle in something that smells like you (nightgown, t shirt, etc.)

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

This has been our situation for the last, oh, 6 1/2 months! Just when I think, "okay, she takes the bottle no problem.", she goes back to refusing it. It's been so bad the last few days. At the end of the week last week, she was taking the bottle for most feedings, and my milk supply dwindled. Now she wants the breast back and it's operation get my milk back
Anyway, my suggestions: try a faster nipple flow, try different nipples, make sure the milk is nice and warm, don't wait until he is extremely hungry. I've also done the old bait and switch where she starts nursing and then I'd stick the bottle in her mouth.

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Thank you! I know it will be a work in progress!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Another question.... which bottles are you using?

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Dr. Browns....
today we tried some Avent and some Playtex, too.

Still not taking the bottle - I'm very nervous about next week. Ugh.

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

I'll go to BRU today. He took a little bit from a Dr. Brown's 4oz nurser this morning, but he was distracted by the TV so I don't know if it counts.


Should we let him CIO until he's so hungry he wants to take the bottle? This is killing me. DH is scheduled to stay home with him for the first four days I go back to work. What will he do if DS won't eat?

And what happens when DS goes to day care? Can he get kicked out of daycare for disrupting everyone else - DS SCREAMS really loud....

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

does your DS use a pacifier?
DD refused the bottle 2 wks before i went back p/t and it killed me. took a good week of trying out different nipples til we figured one out. in her case she uses the nuk latex binky and we were trying silicone bottle nipples which she did not like at all.
anyway, i wound up buying nuk latex bottle nipples which strongly resembled her binky and that did the trick. i know that is a long shot but you never know.
keep trying! good luck! i know it is SO hard!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

He used a Soothie pacifier for 3 days when he was 2-3 weeks old - has refused it ever since...

We had no problems with bottles until this week - this is killing my confidence in my own parenting skills - what else is going to change so quickly like this did?

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Maybe this is a sign that you shouldn't go back
I would let him CIO until he is hungry enough for the bottle. At least he will be home with daddy for the first week and hopefully he will get used to it in time for daycare!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

I personally don't believe in letting them CIO enough until they finally take a bottle. But people will say, when they get hungry enough, they'll eat. I never let it go that far and eventually give in and give her the breast. My dd will take the adiri bottle when she does take the bottle. I think I mentioned in my above post that she also likes it VERY warm. Good luck and keep us posted!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Posted by julz33

Maybe this is a sign that you shouldn't go back

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Good news - I went to BRU this afternoon and spent $60 on various nipples and we tried the Playtex nurser and WOO HOO he ate 2oz....

Thank goodness. Let's see if he does it at his next feeding. I'll keep you posted!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

Just thought I'd chime in and say that my DD didn't take a bottle when I returned to work. We literally fed her with a DROPPER for 6 weeks (thank God for my patient nanny and parents!) until one day she just took the bottle.

I could not bear to let her just cry and cry until she took the bottle. We tried that for a couple of hours and it was just too torturous.

This was probably one of the MOST stressful times of my life. I'm still amazed that I survived it. BUT - the good news is that it DID pass.

Good luck ... and I'm glad to hear your DC took 2 oz. in the new bottle!!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

I went back to work last on Monday and DD refused the bottle. It got better as the week went on but it still isn't perfect. Today, at the suggestion of someone on this thread, I bought medium flow nipples, and although she fought it for a few minutes, once she started eating she ate 4 oz. Dh, who does all the bottle feeding, said she normally fights the bottle the entire feeding when it is the slow flow, so today was really good! Medium flow are for 3-6 mos so since your DS is 3.5mos, it may just be time to move it up a level. Good Luck!!!!!

Re: 4 days before I return to work - now DS won't take a bottle!

He took two feedings last night at 8oz each with the new bottle and nipple. It took some fighting and a LOT of patience but I think the Playtex nipple resembles my body moreso than the Dr. Brown's nipples so we either have tricked him really well or he's so tired that he's giving in.
Either way, he's eating and I'm not crying right now so it must be a good day.

Thanks everybody for your supportive posts. Now onto the challenge of leaving him for 9 hours everyday this week.