Breast and Bottle
My friend has a daughter who is a little over five months old. She has exclusively breast fed her for this entire time. It wasn’t always easy but she stuck it out and I am proud of her for that.
The problem is now, that she cannot leave the baby for more then 2 hours because she is breast fed. Obviously it is not always convenient to take a baby everywhere you go, so she pumps. The baby will not take the bottle. She will cry herself to sleep refusing that bottle and my friend will have to cut her outings short to come home and feed her.
I assume the baby is so used to her breast that she doesn’t want the bottle, and I suggested she try a different nipple or bottle or even a bigger nipple on the bottle so it flows more like her breast. Trial and error are what motherhood is all about anyway right?
What do you think all wise mothers out ther, what do you suggest my friend does to get her daughter to take a bottle?
parenting, breastfeeding, bottlefeeding, weaning, infants, babies, nipple refusal, bottle refusal, mothers, moms
March 7th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I’m a little surprised that at 5 months her daughter isn’t able to go a little longer than 2 hours between feedings. She could easily remain exclusively breast fed, but I think she needs to expand the timing in between. In a couple of months, she should also be safely able to introduce rice cereal (upon her ped’s approval), which can help with some of the feedings as well.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
DD, She has introduced cereal, I forgot to mention that.
Her concern is that she cannot ever have her husband or babysitter feed the baby.
March 7th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
This may sound strange, but I would do the reverse of what I ended up having to do to GET Alex to breastfeed. Try using a nipple shield to start. You can find one at any baby supply store, and they are fairly cheap. The sheild is a little harder (though still flexible light plastic), but it should help the baby get used to the different texture. After that I would try the Avent bottles, they’ve been the favorites of most of the breast fed babies in my mother’s group. Tell her I said good luck!
March 7th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Because breastmilk is so easily digested it is not at all uncommon for a child to need to eat every 2 hours, especially at only 5 months. I really don’t have any advice. My youngest is 9 months old and I’ve never introduced a bottle. I’ve never really found a place that I needed to go that I had to be gone for that long or that I couldn’t take my child with me. Ensuring that he gets proper nutritian is my number one concern.
There are some bottles out there that claim to be more like the breast, though most babies are smart enough to know the difference. not tomention that because a plastic nipple works differently it can ruin a good breastfeeding relationship.
March 8th, 2007 at 10:24 am
I’ve figured it out! I made a mistake in changing the nipple size on the Advent bottles. I thought that the baby should be on the next level (#3nipple), according to the instructions on the box. That was the biggest mistake ever! The baby is now back on a #1 nipple and is taking the bottle with no problem.
I do take the baby with me everywhere I go but sometimes I just want to go to the supermarket by myself.
I also found that cereal doesn’t hold her off any longer. She still wants to nurse every 2hrs; even after just having some cereal.