One step forwards, two steps back.

Over the last week we’ve been trying to get Gavin to take the bottle. The first time, I expressed the milk while he was in the room and gave the bottle to my SIL to feed him. Although he was a little confused by the change in nipple, he still managed to drink two ounces.

The second time I gave him the bottle, I made the biggest mistake of my life - I tried to feed him. As soon as the nipple went into his mouth, he cried.

We tried again the third time and I made sure I was out of the room. I peeked through a slit in the door but Gavin still cried when the bottle came near him.

I decided it was time to do some research. I found the following recommendations on Baby Center for introducing breastfed babies to the bottle:

• Initially, replace only one feed a day with a bottle feed
• Mum should not be in the room (or in the next room because baby can smell Mums up to 20 feet away - amazing!)
• Get the person who will be feeding baby in Mum’s absence to give the bottle
• Make only three attempts to feed the bottle at any one time and if baby doesn’t take it, call it a day. You don’t want to turn feeding time into a battle ground because you’ll be fighting a losing battle
• Do not give baby the breast for at least 5 minutes after he has been given the bottle so that he does not associate receiving the breast as a reward for rejecting the bottle
• Do NOT use starvation tactics to encourage baby to take the bottle
• Introduce the bottle before it’s time for baby’s next feed - a hungry baby is more likely to reject a cold, artificial nipple
• Change baby’s feeding positions until you find one that he is comfortable with

If none of these work, they recommend trying:

• Use a bottle nipple that is similar to the baby’s pacifier (which wasn’t relevant to us because Gavin doesn’t use a pacifier - in fact, he rejected the one we tried to give him)
• Put a drop of milk on the bottle nipple so baby can taste the milk when it enters his mouth
• Feed baby with a cup

So the fourth time we tried to give Gavin the bottle, I went upstairs to hide, while my SIL tried to feed him. It broke my heart to hear him crying but I didn’t dare come down in case my SIL was making any progress. In the end, she called me to come back down. It seemed that whenever she took off the lid of the bottle, he would cry.

We gave him a day’s break before trying again. The fifth time he saw the bottle, he cried. My SIL said she couldn’t even get the bottle near him without him bursting into tears.

Well, we still have a month and three weeks before the hubby and I have to leave for China. Most books recommend introducing the bottle at least two weeks before Mummy has to disappear. Somehow I’m not so sure if two weeks is enough for Gavin…

Popularity: 5% [?]