Bottle refusal at 4 months before returning to work. Need advice.
Hi everyone,
I’m really hoping for some advice because I’m getting increasingly stressed about bottle introduction before I return to work in 3 weeks.
A bit of background: my baby waw induced at 38 weeks because she was measuring ahead plus had a high birth weight. She initially had low blood sugar issues after birth. Because my milk had not fully come in yet, she was supplemented with formula in the beginning plus actually took bottles well at that stage. Since she had accepted bottles early on, I assumed reintroducing one later would be fine but now I’m wondering if I waited too long.
She is now 4 months old plus exclusively breastfed.
So far she has only partially taken a bottle once. She initially accepted the Lansinoh bottle with very warm freshly expressed milk but later refused it. I later realised the milk had been reheated twice plus tasted a bit strange, so now I’m wondering if high lipase or repeated reheating played a role too.
Here’s what we’ve tried so far:
• Lansinoh bottle with both slow flow plus the next nipple size up
• Evenflo Balance+ bottle
• Dad offering the bottle instead of me
• Me leaving the room completely
• Paced feeding
• Offering when calm plus slightly hungry
• Different positions plus movement while feeding
• Very warm milk
The Evenflo was rejected pretty strongly. Lansinoh was initially accepted once but then mostly refused afterwards.
Today we tried the Pigeon slim neck/peristaltic bottle (4m+ nipple) and honestly it looked the most promising so far. She still didn’t properly take it but she seemed noticeably less resistant compared to Lansinoh plus Evenflo. The nipple also feels softer plus more flexible which makes me wonder if she prefers that texture since I have softer elastic nipples.
If your baby eventually accepted a bottle after refusing for days or weeks, what finally made it click?
I’m trying hard not to pressure her or create aversion but I’m definitely starting to panic a little. 😮💨