A common question that we get asked, from mums desperate for
some help.
A mother writes "I'm trying to get my baby used to a bottle
with not much success. She's 8 weeks old and has always been pretty
fantastic at breastfeeding. I'm planning on going back to work when
she's about 6 months but it could be sooner. That's the main reason
I wanted her to be able to take expressed breast milk from a
bottle. But also I've been told it might help settle her in the
evenings, rather than wearing me down with frequent cluster
feeding. Also, it would be great if someone else could feed her if
I need to go to an appointment etc.
We initially tried her on a bottle with a tommy tippee slow flow
teat (number 1) when she was about 6 weeks, and she drank it really
quickly. I was probably falsely reassured because we didn't try it
again for a couple of weeks. We've tried it every day for about the
last 5 days, and it seems to be getting steadily worse. We've
tried using the
chuchu teat as well, and at
different times of the day. She seems to have figured out that she
prefers breastfeeding, and that she will get this option if she
decides not to take the bottle. Any suggestions?"
It is such a common thing and those little babies can get quite
picky! There certainly are some babies that know that its easy to
get breast milk from a boob rather than a bottle. Its good
that you've got the ChuChu teat, that was the first thing we were
going to suggest.
Try getting her use to the teat. Perhaps put in some cooled boiled
water in a bottle, and just let her use the teat and get used to
it, more like a play thing, rather than getting stressed at feeding
time.
You might need to squirt the water into her mouth with the teat a
couple of times.
It can get really stressful if you are trying to do the bottle
thing, right when a feed is due. Mum gets stressed and baby gets
stressed, so you just give in and breastfeed.
You could try putting a tiny smear of marmite on the end, just
so that baby is interested in a new taste and puts in her
mouth.
It is so stressful introducing a bottle with your expressed
breast milk, it takes so much work to get that milk, that it can be
soooo disappointing if it goes to waste. So yes, try doing it with
water first at a non-meal time. Then
hopefully, when baby does take the water, you can try with just a
small volume of expressed milk and then increase the volume when
you know she will take the bottle.
We also suggest that you try it after the morning nap. It may
sound hard, but you should perhaps go out of the house for an hour,
and try and get someone else to feed her. It will be stressful for
them, but may be beneficial having you away from home, as baby wont
be able to see you, smell you and your breast milk, and you wont be
able to give in.
Its tough.....