She won't take the bottle

[loveslucylee]

Here's the background.....My lo is 9 months old. I started working part time after 3 1/2 months and it took her about 2-3 weeks to take the bottle from my dh and mom. She had been doing fine and taking the bottle (with bm) until about 2 weeks ago....now she shakes her head no and won't open her mouth.
She is nursing great but will go all day without drinking her bottle and that makes me worried.
What should I do?

[Carolina Kel]

You might want to try using a nipple shield as a way to get your LO used to the plasticy feeling of the bottle. Have you tried different nipples? She might not like the feel of the particular nipple you've chosen for her to use.

When DS came home from the hospital - we had 3 Adiri natural nursers ready for him to use... Nope... the little ham poo-poohed them, as well as the Dr. Brown nipples, Soothies, Avent, and about 6 others. We ended up purchasing the same type they used in the hospital and he was happy.

Maybe it's as simple as changing the nipple to something more to her liking!

[CEVmommy]

My first LO never took a bottle. She reverse cycled and nursed at night instead. Some babies can sleep all night without milk, and others can go all day instead. That's what mine did and it worked out fine.

At 9 months old, have you considered trying a cup instead of a bottle?

[mommyv]

My DD has never taken a bottle. I went back to work at 4 months and ended up starting her on solids early because I was freaking that she wouldn't take a bottle.

She will be 7mos tomorrow, and I have found our solution - girlie has started taking a sippy cup!! And cheap ones at that! The ones she likes, and I haven't tried many, are by Learning Curve, the brand they sell at Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot. She will not suck on ANYTHING (except mommy) until on a whim I tried them. YAY!

She has also been reverse cycling as PP mentioned. I read the book "Nursing Mother Working Mother" and it talked about cosleeping and reverse cycling and some of those issues. So I didn't feel too bad about frequent night nursings when I started back to work. I think I might have panicked with all the "sleep through the night" pressure/questions I get if I hadn't read that book.