Going back to work soon and dd won't take bottled breastmilk!

[lunarcleo]

I'm wondering if any of you out there have tips on how to get dd to better take a bottle. She has always taken the Soothie pacifier well, so I ordered some of the "the first years" bottles with Soothie nipples, and started trying her with bottles of pumped milk around 4 weeks. At first we did things right by the book - having dh give a bottle with me out of the room, and it was going great. She seemed to take the bottle no problem and go back to the breast without issue. I could even be in the room and she would calmly take the bottle.

Then over the next few weeks I was tired and busy trying to take care of her and get some rest myself, so I wasn't always good about pumping regularly and I think a whole couple weeks passed where she only got one or two bottle feedings.

Now comes the problem. When dh tries to give her a bottle, she screams and fusses no matter what he does. She's calmer for me (not crying) if I try to give the bottle, but she really doesn't latch on properly to it, more just mouthing at it, so that after 20 minutes she's only had an ounce or two.

A friend suggested that she had switched early on with her ds to the faster flower nipples because she had a natural fast flow rate - he was apparently frustrated with how slowly the milk was coming. I think my milk also comes out fairly quickly, so I tried switching to the stage 2 nipples with little difference. She might be taking a bit more from the bottle, but still won't latch onto it well.

She's now 10 weeks old. I'm going back to work in a few weeks and dh will be a stay-at-home dad with bottles of pumped milk. I know at some point if she gets hungry enough, she'll have to eat from the bottle, but I'm worried and hate seeing her so unhappy especially when dh tries to give her the bottle.

Any suggestions on how I might help this transition would be really appreciated. Thanks!

[californiagirl]

Try different styles of nipple; kids aren't terribly predictable about which ones they like. Playtex worked for DD. Try different temperatures of milk (DD liked it cold, I don't know why). Try leaving DH, the baby, and an experienced bottle-feeder (DD took a bottle much better for my father than for DH, and with no trouble for the people at day care; some of it was in the feeder's experiences).

[nupe]

I had a similar problem. Baby would take bottle from me but not from anyone else initially. I spoke with a few LC who were very helpful. They told me it didn't matter what I tried, baby knows the difference between Mom and bottle. Bottom line was that baby will not starve himself. Baby eventually took the bottle, but still prefers Mom. I only tried one bottle/nipple combination, which is what LC suggested to me. I think he had to be good and hungry initially before he was going to have anything to do with the bottle.

[elephantmeg]

DS initially took well to 1 nipple (the wide mouth ventair) but then did horrible, turned out he liked the Dr Brown's then (and I had tried them initially too). So try again. Also having it warm enough sometimes helps. Good luck! There are a list of suggestions in "nursing mother working mother" which is a great book for all working moms who BF!