Need help with giving my son a bottle of EBM.

[Jennifer]

Hello,

I am a lurker who has a question that I hope you can help me. My son was
born on September 30 and he has been breast fed since he was born (except
for one bottle of formula in the hospital). At around 4 weeks of age, we
(my husband and I) started trying to give him a bottle of EBM. He would not
take it. He will gnaw on the nipple a couple times, smile, dribble the milk
out of his mouth and then eventually after a few minutes of that start to
scream. We have tried everything; I have left the room so DH could do it,
I have even left the house, we have tried many different bottles and
nipples, sippy cups weren't any better, spoons, fingers, syringes, hot,
cold, room temp - nothing. I even tried formula to see if it is the taste
of the EBM from a strange nipple. He won't take that either. I read in a
recent post about mixing a little bit of juice in with the milk. I have not
tried this yet. Now, this may not be a problem for some but he needs to eat
while I am at work - he gets REALLY fussy and DH gets frustrated. We have
tried to get him to take the bottle on and off for the last several weeks
and it just makes him mad. The doctor didn't really have any suggestions
except to keep trying and see if he will eventually give in and take the
bottle. He did say that he doesn't usually suggest starting solids until at
least 6 months but we could try solids (if we wanted to) in the morning and
in the afternoon for the feedings he misses once he is four months old. He
said that he didn't feel that we needed to give solids, but if his crying
got too bad we could try solids. I am not sure I want to start solids that
early though.

My questions - Do any of you have some other ideas on how to get him to take
the bottle. Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM and
then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?

I am sorry this is so long. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Jennifer

[Mary W.]

Jennifer wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am a lurker who has a question that I hope you can help me. My son was
> born on September 30 and he has been breast fed since he was born (except
> for one bottle of formula in the hospital). At around 4 weeks of age, we
> (my husband and I) started trying to give him a bottle of EBM. He would not
> take it. He will gnaw on the nipple a couple times, smile, dribble the milk
> out of his mouth and then eventually after a few minutes of that start to
> scream. We have tried everything; I have left the room so DH could do it,
> I have even left the house, we have tried many different bottles and
> nipples, sippy cups weren't any better, spoons, fingers, syringes, hot,
> cold, room temp - nothing.

What worked for my daughter was to have baby mozart on TV so
she was distracted. Prop her up in her car seat and feed her that
way. She took very little while I was away, but didn't get too cranky.
Have you tried a syringe or eye-dropper for just 0.5-1 ounce to get
him primed to eat, and then try the bottle? And you shouldn't be
around. He will probably give in and eventually take the bottle.
Oh, and I vaguely remember someone having success by covering
thier baby's eyes, holding baby in the nursing postion and then
feeding.

Good Luck.

Mary

[Phoebe & Allyson]

Jennifer wrote:

> Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM and
> then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?

It's not too long for him to go, but he might make up for it
with more night nursings. If he were sleeping a 4.5 hour
stretch and a 5 hour stretch at night, you wouldn't need to
wake him.

I'd keep trying the bottle (no formula, no juice), though.
One day he may decide to like it. Some people have better
luck with different bottles and/or nipples.

Phoebe :)
--
yahoo address is unread - substitute mailbolt

[Irish Marie]

"Jennifer" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I am a lurker who has a question that I hope you can help me. My son was
> born on September 30 and he has been breast fed since he was born (except
> for one bottle of formula in the hospital). At around 4 weeks of age, we
> (my husband and I) started trying to give him a bottle of EBM. He would
not
> take it. He will gnaw on the nipple a couple times, smile, dribble the
milk
> out of his mouth and then eventually after a few minutes of that start to
> scream. We have tried everything; I have left the room so DH could do it,
> I have even left the house, we have tried many different bottles and
> nipples, sippy cups weren't any better, spoons, fingers, syringes, hot,
> cold, room temp - nothing. I even tried formula to see if it is the taste
> of the EBM from a strange nipple. He won't take that either. I read in a
> recent post about mixing a little bit of juice in with the milk. I have
not
> tried this yet. Now, this may not be a problem for some but he needs to
eat
> while I am at work - he gets REALLY fussy and DH gets frustrated. We have
> tried to get him to take the bottle on and off for the last several weeks
> and it just makes him mad. The doctor didn't really have any suggestions
> except to keep trying and see if he will eventually give in and take the
> bottle. He did say that he doesn't usually suggest starting solids until
at
> least 6 months but we could try solids (if we wanted to) in the morning
and
> in the afternoon for the feedings he misses once he is four months old.
He
> said that he didn't feel that we needed to give solids, but if his crying
> got too bad we could try solids. I am not sure I want to start solids
that
> early though.
>
> My questions - Do any of you have some other ideas on how to get him to
take
> the bottle. Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM and
> then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?
>
> I am sorry this is so long. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks.
>
Jennifer, have you tried to give your baby the bottle yourself? We had
problems when my DS was about 13 weeks with him not taking bottles for my dh
and were starting to panic, then we realised that we hadn't tried me giving
him the bottle. He took it from me really well, I guess he was used to the
familiar smile, face, smell and way of being held. Once he had accepted the
bottle from me a few times, then he went on to take it from dh.
These days he guzzles bottles for dh and holds out for the good stuff from
me.
--
Marie
Mum of 3
DD born 03/98, DS1 born 11/99, DS2 born 08/03

[Larry McMahan]

Jennifer > writes:
: Hello,

: I am a lurker who has a question that I hope you can help me. My son was
: born on September 30 and he has been breast fed since he was born (except
: for one bottle of formula in the hospital). At around 4 weeks of age, we
: (my husband and I) started trying to give him a bottle of EBM. He would not
: take it. He will gnaw on the nipple a couple times, smile, dribble the milk
: out of his mouth and then eventually after a few minutes of that start to
: scream. We have tried everything; I have left the room so DH could do it,
: I have even left the house, we have tried many different bottles and
: nipples, sippy cups weren't any better, spoons, fingers, syringes, hot,
: cold, room temp - nothing. I even tried formula to see if it is the taste
: of the EBM from a strange nipple. He won't take that either. I read in a
: recent post about mixing a little bit of juice in with the milk. I have not
: tried this yet. Now, this may not be a problem for some but he needs to eat
: while I am at work - he gets REALLY fussy and DH gets frustrated. We have
: tried to get him to take the bottle on and off for the last several weeks
: and it just makes him mad. The doctor didn't really have any suggestions
: except to keep trying and see if he will eventually give in and take the
: bottle. He did say that he doesn't usually suggest starting solids until at
: least 6 months but we could try solids (if we wanted to) in the morning and
: in the afternoon for the feedings he misses once he is four months old. He
: said that he didn't feel that we needed to give solids, but if his crying
: got too bad we could try solids. I am not sure I want to start solids that
: early though.

: My questions - Do any of you have some other ideas on how to get him to take
: the bottle. Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM and
: then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?

: I am sorry this is so long. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
: Thanks.

: Jennifer

OK. For us it was a control issue. I had to feed our daughter twice a
week while Monika was taking some classes. This happened with both Clara
and Niel when they were between 3 and 5 months old.

I never got Clara to take the bottle well, but she would eventually take
it when she got hungry enough. But just enough to take the edge off. In
3 1/2 hours she would take less than 2 oz.

Niel started out the same way, but after a while, I decided to let him
start holding and playing with the bottle himself. After he decided
that he had "control" of the bottle he was much more willing to take it.
I could get him to take 3 to 4 oz.

Larry

[[email protected]]

Irish Marie > wrote:

> "Jennifer" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am a lurker who has a question that I hope you can help me. My son was
>> born on September 30 and he has been breast fed since he was born (except
>> for one bottle of formula in the hospital). At around 4 weeks of age, we
>> (my husband and I) started trying to give him a bottle of EBM. He would
> not
>> take it. He will gnaw on the nipple a couple times, smile, dribble the
> milk
>> out of his mouth and then eventually after a few minutes of that start to
>> scream. We have tried everything; I have left the room so DH could do it,
>> I have even left the house, we have tried many different bottles and
>> nipples, sippy cups weren't any better, spoons, fingers, syringes, hot,
>> cold, room temp - nothing. I even tried formula to see if it is the taste
>> of the EBM from a strange nipple. He won't take that either. I read in a
>> recent post about mixing a little bit of juice in with the milk. I have
> not
>> tried this yet. Now, this may not be a problem for some but he needs to
> eat
>> while I am at work - he gets REALLY fussy and DH gets frustrated. We have
>> tried to get him to take the bottle on and off for the last several weeks
>> and it just makes him mad. The doctor didn't really have any suggestions
>> except to keep trying and see if he will eventually give in and take the
>> bottle. He did say that he doesn't usually suggest starting solids until
> at
>> least 6 months but we could try solids (if we wanted to) in the morning
> and
>> in the afternoon for the feedings he misses once he is four months old.
> He
>> said that he didn't feel that we needed to give solids, but if his crying
>> got too bad we could try solids. I am not sure I want to start solids
> that
>> early though.
>>
>> My questions - Do any of you have some other ideas on how to get him to
> take
>> the bottle. Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM and
>> then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?
>>
>> I am sorry this is so long. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>> Thanks.
>>
> Jennifer, have you tried to give your baby the bottle yourself? We had
> problems when my DS was about 13 weeks with him not taking bottles for my dh
> and were starting to panic, then we realised that we hadn't tried me giving
> him the bottle. He took it from me really well, I guess he was used to the
> familiar smile, face, smell and way of being held. Once he had accepted the
> bottle from me a few times, then he went on to take it from dh.
> These days he guzzles bottles for dh and holds out for the good stuff from
> me.

I had the same experience. We spent weeks trying to get DS to take a
bottle from DH. I finally tried and he took it. It took him a while to get
good at it and he'd only take a 1/2 oz or so at a time for a while. I used
the same distraction technique that another poster used. I had him in his
vibrating seat and I sat on the floor next to him and talked and smiled at
him while I slipped the bottle into his mouth. He just kind of babbled
around the nipple for a while and then sort of caught on a little. I got
him to take a bottle every day like that in the last couple of weeks. It
took a little while longer to get him to take a bottle while being held -
he'd only take it while sitting in one of his seats for a while.

Manda

[[email protected]]

Larry McMahan > wrote:
> Jennifer > writes:
> : Hello,

> : I am a lurker who has a question that I hope you can help me. My son was
> : born on September 30 and he has been breast fed since he was born (except
> : for one bottle of formula in the hospital). At around 4 weeks of age, we
> : (my husband and I) started trying to give him a bottle of EBM. He would not
> : take it. He will gnaw on the nipple a couple times, smile, dribble the milk
> : out of his mouth and then eventually after a few minutes of that start to
> : scream. We have tried everything; I have left the room so DH could do it,
> : I have even left the house, we have tried many different bottles and
> : nipples, sippy cups weren't any better, spoons, fingers, syringes, hot,
> : cold, room temp - nothing. I even tried formula to see if it is the taste
> : of the EBM from a strange nipple. He won't take that either. I read in a
> : recent post about mixing a little bit of juice in with the milk. I have not
> : tried this yet. Now, this may not be a problem for some but he needs to eat
> : while I am at work - he gets REALLY fussy and DH gets frustrated. We have
> : tried to get him to take the bottle on and off for the last several weeks
> : and it just makes him mad. The doctor didn't really have any suggestions
> : except to keep trying and see if he will eventually give in and take the
> : bottle. He did say that he doesn't usually suggest starting solids until at
> : least 6 months but we could try solids (if we wanted to) in the morning and
> : in the afternoon for the feedings he misses once he is four months old. He
> : said that he didn't feel that we needed to give solids, but if his crying
> : got too bad we could try solids. I am not sure I want to start solids that
> : early though.

> : My questions - Do any of you have some other ideas on how to get him to take
> : the bottle. Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM and
> : then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?

> : I am sorry this is so long. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> : Thanks.

> : Jennifer

> OK. For us it was a control issue. I had to feed our daughter twice a
> week while Monika was taking some classes. This happened with both Clara
> and Niel when they were between 3 and 5 months old.

> I never got Clara to take the bottle well, but she would eventually take
> it when she got hungry enough. But just enough to take the edge off. In
> 3 1/2 hours she would take less than 2 oz.

> Niel started out the same way, but after a while, I decided to let him
> start holding and playing with the bottle himself. After he decided
> that he had "control" of the bottle he was much more willing to take it.
> I could get him to take 3 to 4 oz.

On the opposite side, we actually have to sort of trap my son's arms while
he's taking a bottle. He keeps trying to jam his hands in there with the
nipple and that doesn't work very well. ;) Once we keep his hands out of
the way, he starts eating well.

Manda

[Jennifer]

Thank you for all of your responses. We will try your suggestions and see
what happens. Hopefully he will eventually take a bottle for the sanity of
my DH. The good news is, last night he played with the bottle (he would
suck on it, wait for my DH to say "Good job", smile and laugh and then do it
all over again) for about 1/2 hour and drank 1/2 oz. It is not much but it
is a start. I think what helped is that he had just eaten so he wasn't
really hungry.

Jennifer

[Cantrall family]

"Larry McMahan" > wrote in message
...
> Jennifer > writes:
> : Hello,
>

>
> : My questions - Do any of you have some other ideas on how to get him to
take
> : the bottle. Is it too long for him to go from 7:30 AM until 12:00 PM
and
> : then until 5:00 PM? Will he eventually give in and take the bottle?
>
> : I am sorry this is so long. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.
> : Thanks.
>
> : Jennifer
>
> OK. For us it was a control issue. I had to feed our daughter twice a
> week while Monika was taking some classes. This happened with both Clara
> and Niel when they were between 3 and 5 months old.
>
> I never got Clara to take the bottle well, but she would eventually take
> it when she got hungry enough. But just enough to take the edge off. In
> 3 1/2 hours she would take less than 2 oz.
>
> Niel started out the same way, but after a while, I decided to let him
> start holding and playing with the bottle himself. After he decided
> that he had "control" of the bottle he was much more willing to take it.
> I could get him to take 3 to 4 oz.
>
> Larry

My husband is a SAHD. He had troubles with the two younger ones WRT
bottles. Niether one of them really went for bottles too well. They would
hold off as long as possible, which sometimes meant a very long time (esp
when I traveled for work) They would finally give in, and drink when it
seemed apparent that I wasn't coming in the door anytime soon. I would say
that 4-5 hour stretches shouldn't be to difficult, just expect that the baby
will make up for it before and after, and you might be nursing a little more
in the middle of the night...At least that was the way it was for me.

None of my children were ever low on the weight side, so if your little one
is low on the charts maybe that is a different wrinkle to consider...But
maybe baby is just little..I'd watch the usual signs in that case: diaper
count and all the rest.

Suellen, mom to
Gabby (almost 5F)
Bobby (just turned 3)
Marcus (9 months today)