Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

and i am about to lose it. she will drink her bottle for me and dh with very little problems. she has a history of being a very fussy eater/drinker.

when i picked her up from day care she had only her 7 am bottle (8 oz at home) and maybe a sippy of water at 10am (another 6 oz at daycare). the workers said they tried but she refused.but when i picked her up at 4 she drank a few oz for me.

this is not a one time occurance this is happening everyday, since we switched daycares.

she typically gets an am bottle, a bottle at 2 and then a nighttime bottle. when i spoke to the ped he said she needed to have that afternoon bottle. i am just about at my wits end. i really do not know what to do anymore.

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Maybe there's just too many exciting things going on for her to stop and drink a bottle. Ava's that way with drinking. I have to basically shut off everything in the house and no one can talk to her during lunch or else she won't drink anything. She'll still eat, but she needs the fluids now that it's summer. I wish I had an answer, but it's partly their age, I think.

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

I was going to say the same thing as Rachel. Perhaps there's too many distractions. I can never feed DD with a TV or music on. I have to sit somewhere where its quiet and calm.

However, lately she won't take the bottle if someone is holding her or if she's on an angle (e.g. leaned back in the highchair). I some how figured out that she will now only take her bottle laying on the floor, flat in her stroller or in her crib. I don't know why, but it works.

Maybe see if its something like that. Perhaps she just wants independence or is uncomfortable.

Message edited 6/26/2007 9:49:05 PM.

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Could it be the temperature of the bottle? I was having the same problem when my parents were watching DS, the bottle was not warm enough and he refused to take a bottle from them.

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Thanks!
We just don't want her to develop any bad habits and or become frustrated/cranky or even worse dehydrated

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Is she eating well? If she is eating well enough, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Other than the distractions & temperature as everyone else mentioned, I can't think of anything else.

I know this isn't ideal but I'm wondering if you were to try to feed her the bottle at daycare, if she would take it? Or if you were to prepare it for them without her knowing you were there, would she take it from them?

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

I agree with the others - instruct daycare to use relaxation techniques before offering her the bottle - meaning, take her into a quiet, dark room. Stroke her hair, sing to her a lullaby, whatever it takes to relax her a little, and then offer the bottle.

It may also help if you leave a t-shirt that you sleep in often - this happened with us with Alex - I was nursing, and she wasn't taking the bottle early on at school so her teacher asked that I sleep in a t-shirt all week, and give it to them. They would wrap Alex in the t-shirt before offering her the bottle, or throw it over their shoulder. I think it helped.

When Alex turned a year old and moved up to the walking class, she was refusing her sippy cup. It sounds crazy, but her teacher started giving her saltines in the afternoon, to get Alex thirsty enough to take the sippy - amazingly enough, it worked!

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Re: Hannah is outright refusing her bottle in daycare

Posted by racheeeee

Posted by Bxgell2
It sounds crazy, but her teacher started giving her saltines in the afternoon, to get Alex thirsty enough to take the sippy - amazingly enough, it worked!

Yes! When in doubt try torture!