Won’t Take the Bottle?

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Won’t Take the Bottle?

When Sarah was just six weeks old, I had to return to work. At the time, I was working in a school district as an early intervention teacher. I had already used up all the time that I could, and we needed the money. So, off to work I would go…

Now, I was breastfeeding Sarah. I had managed to nurse my son a full year and pump when I returned to work. He was such an even tempered baby…didn’t mind who fed him or how. I planned to continue to pump, and with summer break approaching, I would be able to return to strictly nursing. We just had to get her to take a bottle! Seems easy enough. Joey was simple. WRONG! She refused…bigstock-Mother-Breastfeeding-her-newbo-37467004

Has anyone else had this happen? You go out and buy the fanciest bottles, or the one that is “most like the breast” and the baby still refuses. I tried EVERYTHING! At least I thought I did…

We tried having Daddy feed her. We tried having Grandma feed her. We tried going out and buying new bottles! What a waste of money. She also wouldn’t take a pacifier. Sarah had a ONE TRACK MIND! She wanted ONE thing, and ONE thing only. The REAL THING. Period.

Remember this is the kid that also refused to come out…and was two weeks late…

With her continued refusal, and my heavy burden of guilt for returning to work so soon, my emotions were a mess! I was mad! I was feeling guilty, sad, burdened, upset…everything you could think of. And the more upset I got, the more upset she got, and the more upset she got, the more she wanted to nurse! TIP #1: remain calm. Make it a positive experience no matter what.

In the end, I finally got her to take a Gerber newborn nipple on a regular old cheap bottle…and it was sheer determination…she finally drank from it the DAY BEFORE WORK STARTED! Halleluiah! I didn’t go out and BUY this bottle…no…it had been filled with candy as a baby shower favor! It was my last resort. So, TIP #2: you don’t have to buy anything fancy. Try a few different nipples. See which one your baby responds best to.

Over those next six weeks, she was in the care of her Grandmother while I was teaching. I pumped during the day, and Grandma gave her the bottle.

Funny part was…Sarah has a mind of her own…and here’s what she did: Sarah slept in a co-sleeper attached to my bed, for easy nursing at night. Sarah decided to nurse basically ALL NIGHT LONG, and then sleep most of the day away at Grandma’s, only drinking what she ABSOLUTELY HAD TO from the bottle! What a little stinker!

Well, summer arrived, and we were back to normal, back to nursing, and back to Mommy being home. So, TIP #3: You will survive. You will both survive. You will get through this. And that leads me to another tip, TIP #4: it doesn’t have to be a bottle! With a little patience and some research, babies can actually drink from a spoon, a modified cup, or even a syringe.

If you had a similar situation, how did you handle it? Or are you currently in the midst of it? Share with us!