How to introduce bottle to breastfed baby???

Question

My little girl is 2 weeks old and the lactation consultant said at 2 weeks its ok to introduce a bottle and pacifier....thats wonderful except my little girl wants nothing to do with either! I went to Babies R Us and bought the new bottles that are for breastfed babies but tried once and havent had the chance to try again and the pacifiers I have ALL of them and just bought the soothie ones they give in the hospital....any ideas thoughts or what not is appreciated.....fiance and i want to escape for dinner or a movie or something at some point and cant until she drinks from a bottle just in case she needs to eat while we are out (eventhough id feed her first).....thanks

i will be giving her breast milk in the bottle NOT formula

Answer 1

I had the same problem with my son, he refused to take the bottle at the beginning, so I never kept on trying. But it was getting a little out of hand, I was not able to leave him with anyone, and sometimes I needed it. So I tried every single last nipple I could find, until my mother bought me one from Gerber, it's called NUK. It has a funny shape to it, but it was the only one he accepted.
I was having the same type of trouble with my now, 6 1/2 month old, I wasn't going to make the same mistake, when she was around two months, I tried with different bottles, just because I thought the bottles where cute, but she didn't accept any. I again tried the NUK nipple, and she accepted it. Same thing with the pacifier, NUK, but I also managed to get her to accept the Ortho-pro Pacifiers by Playtex. Just make sure you start out with the latex ones, not the silicone, latex is softer and tend to like it more.
One more thing, not all bottles fit well with the NUK nipple, I can recommend the Ventair by Playtex or the Nuby bottles, you can find all that I mentioned in Babies R Us.
Good luck, hope this helps!
Congratulations! God bless!

Answer 2

First of all, a baby who is breastfed will always prefer the breast to a bottle any day. You didn't say whether you intend on giving her expressed breast milk or formula but I would suggest trying the breast milk first. Secondly it's best that someone else be the one to feed her from the bottle while you are no-where to be seen, preferably not even in the house as babies can sense when their Mum's are near. Thirdly, if you intend to keep breastfeeding, you'll need to express while bub is not with you so that you're supply doesn't decrease. Good-luck and I hope that you & your hubby have a great night out.

Answer 3

introduce 1 bottle per day as soon as you can, i think the best bottles are Avent. Schedule a time in your day ( breasts are usually fuller in the morning)to express some milk. 60 ml at your babys age should be enough for 1 full feed. When you feel the letdown reflex get the pump and pump some milk. give baby the rest of the milk in that breast so she gets the hind milk and then offer her the second breast. its good to express from an early age so your milk supply is increasing for her growth spurt around 3 weeks. offer her the bottle when he is the hungriest, he will be more likely to take it.
it is absolutly fine to give her a dummy, babies love to suck and at that age she cannot keep her hands in her mouth long enough. aslong as you dont get into the habit of giving it to her to get her to sleep otherwise you will develope a sleep association and she wont be able to sleep without it.
Cherry shape dummies are easier for them to hold in their mouths. my little boy ( i have 3) was given a dummy when he was in special care unit and it stuck. sometimes they look like they are gagging when you put a dummy in their mouth, make sure it is the smallest one you can find.
hope this helps.
one thing i have had sucess with was putting my little one into a routine and he is a magical little boy. Buy the book
" The contented little baby book" by Gina Ford. It has been an absolute godsend in my home.
good luck

Answer 4

oh....Good Luck. Mine gave me problems with this. I nursed for the whole first year, but sometimes I had to be away. I tried every kind of pacifier, and he would not take any of them. I tried most bottles and finally found the Gerber Nuk nipple worked. I had to special order the stage one ones, I called 1 800 4 GERBER to get them. Once he took this nipple it was fine. But getting there was really really tough. I was lucky though, I know some babies who never ever took a bottle. GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 5

Pick a bottle that you like and then be consistent and give her a bottle of breastmilk at the same feeding every single day- I always gave my babies a bottle for their last feeding of the day. OR you can try giving the bottle for a few minutes at the beginning of each feeding when she is hungriest, then switch to the breast- just so she gets used to a bottle. Time off is really important so keep it up!!!

Answer 6

you shouldn't try giving him the bottle. your fiance should. it confuses the baby if you do it unless you want to quit breastfeeding all together. i would try it at the second ot third feeding at first, because she might reject it even more if it is the first or the last feeding because it is a comfort thing. start introducing the bottle then make it a mandatory thing for at least one feeding a day, don't give in for that one feeding. she will eventually accept it. and as for the pacifire, i wouldn't force it on her because by the time you get her hooked on it, you're going to be trying to get her off of it, unless you only give it to her to sleep

Answer 7

We had a hard time with the bottles. We had one of every brand- except for the Dr.Brown's bottles. She refused them. We finally tried Dr. Brown's and she took right to them!

I would have someone offer the bottle to her other than yourself.

We didn't introduce a bottle until 6 weeks of age because I was on maternity leave until she was 10 weeks old- but it was hard until we got the right bottle.

Good luck to you!

Answer 8

Pump your milk for the bottle. When the baby is hungry enough she will eat. Patients is a wonderful thing to remember even when your may wear thin. Been there done that 4x