Will your breastfed baby take a bottle? Babyfood?

Maureen - posted on 03/07/2010

i do also breadtfeed with a 10 mon old boy,, and i started to give him food when he was 6 mon,, i give him vegetables and i cook him soup when he 9mon i started to give him 3.5% formula and i was ok until now swicth to breadtfeed,, inow i just breastfeed him 3x a day except in the night,, i give him milk all day and yogurt for his snack mid morning and afternoon and when i'm eating i make sure his with me in the table then i give him my food atleast even a little his eating,, until now we eat together,, just play with her everytime to eat or she's eating just njoy your time together, is hard but happy all day long

Dawn - posted on 03/07/2010

my daughter is nearly 10 months and has never took to a bottle. I tired at 7 months and was told by the health visitor that at that age i should be using a cup. I tried this too at 8 months but she only wants milk from me! when she can have cows milk at 1 year i'm going to try her again with a cup. i don't mind wasting a bit of cows milk but formula is so expensive so for the moment i'd rather feed her myself.
as for feeding, we started baby led weaning at 6 months. basically this is just finger feeding. now 4 months later we do mostly finger food and the odd bit of spoon feeding for yoghurts and other sloppy foods. just like with breastfeeding my daughter is in control of how much she eats. some days she will eats loads and others not so much. its easy to do as she just eats what we eat, and she also eats with us at the table. this means we can get on with our food while she has hers. its really good to see her feed herself and enjoy different foods.

Susan - posted on 03/06/2010

I did... my boy is 10 1/2 months old. and now will eat maybe 2 - 3 tablespoons of peas or avacado or oatmeal a day... takes a bottle when he needs to, but can wait for me to get home most of the time. Keep doing what your doing... she'll take to food eventually.

Malinda - posted on 03/06/2010

I don't think you need to worry. The Dr. is probly right she will eat when she's ready.. I tried baby food with my 31/2 month old 2 weeks ago (she was exclusively breast fed) and she was not interested, so I waited a few more days but she was wanting to nurse more frequently and was waking twice in the night to nurse. I realized she was not liking the change of spoon and baby food all at one time, SO- I cut one of the bottle nipples (Dr Brown bottles) open a little more and spooned the babyfood in the nipple she took it right down...Then 3 days ago I changed to the spoon and she does not seem to care,,just eats it right up...Her pediatrican said she would let me know when she was ready and she did. Maybe your baby is not ready for food,,,.GOOD lUCK

Kasey - posted on 03/05/2010

Thanks everyone! It feels kinda good knowing that I am not alone, lol. I have also tried the Playtex Drop-Ins and all she did was chew on them. Sarah, I will def let you know if anything works and hope you will do the same for me. Good luck!

Simone - posted on 03/05/2010

It took trying several brands of nipples before my daughter would take a bottle so I could go back to work. As for food, she will eat when she is ready. I knew my daughter was ready when she wanted to eat what we were eating.

Andrea - posted on 03/05/2010

honestly - there is no "normal time" for food - it's when they are ready. food before one is just for fun :)

Lindsay - posted on 03/05/2010

My daughter is 8 months old and has taken a bottle since I went back to work when she was 2 months old. I have never given her one, but my husband and our daycare provider have. She is just starting to eat solid food. She will take a pacifier, but only when SHE wants it.

Sarah - posted on 03/05/2010

I have the same problem as well. My daughter is 6months old and we've been trying the cereal for 2 weeks now. She has eaten about 1/8tsp at the most! She spits everything right out or makes a "raspberry" and blows it all over me! Same thing - she took a bottle when she was around 2mo-4mo but now refuses all bottle (I've tried at least 6). I've bought a few Sippy cups - none have worked yet, I think I'll try the Nuby brand next. Good luck - please let me know if you find anything that works.

Jacquelyn - posted on 03/05/2010

Mine all went straight to finger foods and didn't like baby food, if she can pick up small pieces of soft foods she can eat them even if she doesn't have teeth (their gums are hard) maybe she just doesn't like the purees, as for a bottle try making sure it is warm enough BF babies are often picky about temp. and try the playtex latex bottle/nipples

Jaime - posted on 03/05/2010

My little guy won't take a bottle, and just started to like baby food. some babies just aren't ready for babyfood at the "normal time" it really isn't a big deal if she doesn't eat baby food right now anyway. Whatever you do, don't try to force her, cause then she will associate an unpleasant experience with eating!!! Give her a break for a few days, and eat in front of her, and by all means, please enjoy your meal (act like you are just having a great time!) also my oldest wouldn't take a bottle until my husband and I acted like we LOVED sucking on bottles! it took a few days to get him to actually try it, but it eventually worked! good luck

Vicky - posted on 03/05/2010

my son is 6 mths. i struggled at first finding a bottle he wld take with breast milk in it. The only thing i found was the bottles with the drop ins. The nipples r alot larger, its a wide mouth more like what they are formular with, and easier ive always heard for breast feeds babies 2 convert 2. good luck!

Celeste - posted on 03/04/2010

I know that must be frustrating! I'd just keep on what you're doing-just keep offering and offering. I bet eventually, she'll get it. It took my boys awhile to finally get the hang of the sippy cup.

As far as solids, I can attest with my boys, that they do fine with food (they are now 3). We've had no problems with them eating despite them eating solids later.

Kasey - posted on 03/04/2010

I appreciate everyone's advice. Problem is, I have already tried everything you all have said, except for the shot glass. And this weekend im gonna try to see if daddy can give her a bottle, but he gets stressed out with her crying and it worries me. I did start giving her a bottle around a month old and she took it fine. Now she wont. I have used gerber Nuk, I also try giving her a Gerber Nuk sippy cup with milk, water, apple juice. I try letting her play with the spoon. I even let her dip her hands in her food once. She just wont eat it, lol. So, I don't know what to do! Dr says she will eat when she is ready but I fear that she will NEVER be ready.

Celeste - posted on 03/04/2010

My twins refused all bottles. One of them did take a paci and the other one didn't. They really didn't get into babyfood until about 8 months. I really wasn't worried about it though, since most of their nutrition came from breastmilk until they turned one.

Have you thought about using a sippy cup? I used the Nuby ones, the ones with the soft spout.

Debbie - posted on 03/03/2010

its really hard for babies 2 transition from the breast 2 the bottle what u could do is try to get the gerber nipples that r shaped like the breast nipples n see if it works it did with my 3month old!

Francesca - posted on 03/03/2010

Sounds like my little monster. We started introducing food at 6 months. Ella is ten months now and only two weeks ago finally started to eat more than a mouthful every meal. She still won't take a bottle or pacifier, but man does she eat now. Still not baby food, but she loves to eat steamed veggies, pastina, mini ravioli, turkey, cherios and such. Do you have a deadline to go back to work? I was worried at first and my doctor said that "food for fun until their one" so I just waited it out and kept trying to introduce foods to her at every meal. And with her meals, she used a sippy cup a few times, but once the novelty wore off she didn't seem to try anymore. She has always prefered her water with a straw since she was 4 months.



Good Luck

Jessica - posted on 03/03/2010

My daughter won't take a bottle either. I haven't given her any formula, just breastmilk in bottle but she wasn't interested. She would cry and cry so I just stopped. She has been taking a sippy cup with breastmilk once a day for about month (she's 6 months old) and is doing well with that. I use the Nuby kind and she likes the soft spout. She also doesn't like pacifiers.

She does ok with baby fod, but it depends on the day.

I say try a sippy cup.

Ericka - posted on 03/03/2010

well if you didnt introduce the bottle between 2 and 4 weeks of age she doesnt know what it is so that could be the problem so try a sippy cup. it sounds weird but it might work. generally that is how it has to be if you dont give them a bottle of breast milk by a month old.

did you start with baby cereal in the bottle and progressively increase to an oatmeal thickness? there are directions on all cereal boxes and its basically a liquid state for a bit, try it in a sippy since she wont take a bottle.

hopefully that will work and then she should take baby food too since it is the same consistency as the cereal once you work it up to a oatmeal like thickness.

i hope this helps message me if you have any questions :) and good luck

Shaina - posted on 03/03/2010

I had to have my husband give our son a bottle at first. He wouldnt take it from me for about 3 months. You can also try cup feeding. We used a shot glass. Its small enough so its easy for them to drink from and if some spills its only a little bit. As far as the baby food, she may not like the spoon. When I started my son I'd let him play with the spoon (without food) so that he could play with it. I would also give him small pieces of pear or banana o that he could pick it up and do it himself. I hope that helps. Good luck!

Shobitha - posted on 03/03/2010

I have also had the same problem. But i used to ask my hubby or my mom to give the bottle. Try asking somebody else bottle feed...and during that time dont be anywhere close to them as babies can smell you and might know that you are around. Might be difficult in the begining but they will get used to it.