Top 3 Things I want You to Know if Your Baby is Refusing the Bottle
Introducing the bottle to your breastfed baby
You might have worked really hard in the first few months to achieve your breastfeeding goals.
You might have also used a bottle when your baby was a few weeks old and she took it just fine, so you figured it wasn’t going to be a problem.
Fast forward to a few weeks before you return to work… and you have your partner try to give her a bottle and NOPE. Not happening.
I have worked with SO many families who have been through this challenging season and there are a few things that I’ve learned over time. Understanding WHY your baby is having difficulty with the transition to a new feeding method and HOW you should move forward is a huge part of the solution. So, here’s what I’ve learned over the past decade+ working with families just like yours.
You didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t your fault. Babies have their own personalities and temperament; on top of that, their feeding reflex integrates at a certain point (usually between 2-3 months) and that is like their cheat code for knowing what to do when the bottle is put in their mouths. If they’ve established that breastfeeding is the way they eat, they just feel blindsided when a silicone nipple is put in their mouth and they have to figure out how to do things differently!
Waiting until your baby is starving will not help them take the bottle better! Have you ever experienced feeling hangry? Are you open to new things when you’re in that state? NOOOOO! And neither is your tiny human. Forcing, waiting them out, or thinking that they are doing this on purpose or to be difficulty are not paths to success. What you need to do is find where they can start and establish positive practice sessions without crying!
The breastfeeding mother does NOT need to be out of the home. Feeding is about trust and communication. If the baby has always eaten with her mother, changing the feeding method AND the feeder can be too much too fast. Sometimes success with a bottle or other new feeding method can happen first with the mother and then generalized to someone new.
Here’s the thing. Babies are born with their own unique personalities and temperament. If you have a sensitive baby, changing the feeding method is going to be challenging. It’s not that there’s something wrong with your baby OR that you did something wrong, it just is what it is. And no amount of pressure and stress are going to get your baby over that hump. Understanding and compassion, as well as a supportive plan to help with the transition are all vital to helping your family move forward.
If it doesn’t feel good for you, it doesn’t feel good for your baby. Follow your instincts.
For more information on bottle refusal, check out my digital resource or contact me today!
