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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Infant's First Day... Won't Take Bottle
Soupyszoo 10:14 AM 04-02-2012
Help! I need a link or advice or something...

It's dcg first day. She's 3 months, breasted, and I just tried to feed her for the first time with the bottle the dcf provided, but she just screams!

I did get her to latch on for about 30 secs and ate maybe an ounce but then she just started to scream again. I decided to take a break... Change her... Then oh my did she BURP! Lol poor little thing!

She's not screaming anymore, oh, and just pooped..

Do I just keep trying? Is there anything to make the adjustment from boob to bottle less traumatic?

Any advice is muchly appreciated!
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sharlan 10:25 AM 04-02-2012
Sounds like my day last Thurs. Baby screamed (4 mo) for over an hour before Mom came. Wouldn't even suck on the bottle.

Friday was pretty good, but today is Monday. So far, the only thing that is really making her happy is to put her in the stroller and walk, walk, and walk.

All you can do is keep trying.
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cheerfuldom 10:44 AM 04-02-2012
Are you sure that she has even been offered a bottle before?
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wdmmom 10:53 AM 04-02-2012
Sounds to me like she's never had a bottle before and definitely hasn't been transitioned over.

My families know if breast feeding is the way to go, the child must be bottle trained. I suggest nursing in the morning and at night. All bottles in between. I would contacr DCM and ask if this is a regular bottle she uses. If not, she needs to bring you what she is ued to. If she's not bottle trained, I would suggest DCM get on board right away.
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nannyde 12:02 PM 04-02-2012
Did the parents SHOW you that she was able to eat off of a bottle?

I require ALL breastfed babies to eat at my house in front of me so I can SEE that they are nipple trained. I don't take anyones word for it because nipple trained is in the eye of the beholder.

I don't do nipple training here at all. I don't offer that. I can't have a kid under my roof that can't eat EASILY.

If the baby isn't nipple trained you are going to be in a serious mess come day three. That's when things fall apart. Three days of fussing and going long periods between eating plus the stress of not eating will come to a head by day three.

I would let the mom know that SOMEONE has to come over and SHOW you how the baby eats on the bottle she gave you. Either she comes and feeds off bottle or someone else who has fed the baby. If she admits that she hasn't switched the baby then she will most likely need to take off a couple of weeks to get her transitioned. The Mom needs to understand that as a parent it is HER responsibility to make sure that EVERY WHERE the baby goes the baby can eat. It can't be turfed over to a child care provider. Mom's job to make sure she NEVER leaves the baby ANYWHERE where the mom isn't 100 percent sure the baby can eat.
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Heidi 12:06 PM 04-02-2012
I'm with Nan on this one. I've had one child over the years who was not bottle trained, and it was a 4 day long nightmare before I said "bye bye". Nice family, just clueless. We had talked about that BEFORE they started, and they promised to make sure it was handled, and then they didn't.
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sharlan 12:09 PM 04-02-2012
Mine has been given the bottle, I fed her a bottle in front of Mom. She's just used to being held a lot. She absolutely LOVES the stroller so we've been doing lots of walking today. Luckily, she's the only one I have today.
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renodeb 12:10 PM 04-02-2012
No not really. But she should of been bottle feeding at home for atleast a month so the baby is used to it. When she is isnt screaming try again. Make sur the bottle is warm enough and maybe advise mom to do a bottle at home so she gets used to it.
Just a note: Often times bf babies wont take a bottle from mom, so maybe another family member?
Debbie
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momma2girls 12:27 PM 04-02-2012
I always make sure and let every Mother know the same thing. I ask, now the baby drinks well from a bottle, correct? If they do not , they will not return until they are drinking from a bottle. I had this happen once as well, DUHH!!!! I can't hardly believe anyone would just show up at daycare, and not be used to the bottle, or have never had a bottle!! You do that transition at home, not at daycare, for the baby to be screaming, not liking the bottle all day!! UGHHH!!
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Soupyszoo 12:50 PM 04-02-2012
I'm pretty sure this is a brand new concept to dcbaby she's having a rough day now. She's hungry but doesn't know how to eat and can't sleep well because she's so hungry
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cheerfuldom 01:07 PM 04-02-2012
Mom needs to take a few days off work and get baby transitioned over to the bottle. It you try this yourself, you will be dealing with a lot of crying this week, possibly much longer.
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Soupyszoo 01:53 PM 04-02-2012
Just got her to take 2oz after a good 15 min scream. She was goin so good I wished I had made 4oz!!
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sharlan 01:58 PM 04-02-2012
My DCM came over and nursed from 12:45 to 1:15. Baby has been asleep since 1:15. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!
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spud912 01:58 PM 04-02-2012
Some babies won't take to the bottle at all, so I will only accept a baby into my care who does so with ease. I know my mom told me that I was one of those babies who would never take a bottle. She tried repeatedly, even to the point of only offering the bottle. After not eating for 2 days, she finally gave it up and breastfed me until I turned 1 (good thing for her was that she was a work at home daycare provider).

My younger dd only took the bottle on 2 occasions, which meant that I couldn't leave her with someone longer than 2-4 hours (depending on her age and the amount of solid foods she was eating at the time). Every other attempt at giving her a bottle (and there were lots since she wasn't very easy to nurse either) resulted in major meltdowns.
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harperluu 02:15 PM 04-02-2012
I have had very difficult transitions with exclusively breastfed babies. Here's what I found in general:

Have the family feed the baby a bottle at home at the same feedings they would take a bottle normally in daycare. This seems to reduce the retraining needed on Mondays when a child is then expected to readjust to bottlefeeding.

Make the bottle very, very warm. This has helped in nearly every instance. If the baby does not seem to want it after a burp break, warm it up again to retry.

A starving breastfed baby is not going to do well at bottle feeding. I've dropper fed a baby to move past the "starving", and have had success with that.

Don't recline the infant as much as she would be reclined to nurse. This can be confusing to a baby's muscle memory causing a situation where the baby is expecting to nurse because they are in the nursing position.

Have the mom sleep with a receiving blanket each night and use during bottle feeding to give the baby a familiar smell.

Hope this helps.
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Soupyszoo 02:17 PM 04-02-2012
Originally Posted by harperluu:
I have had very difficult transitions with exclusively breastfed babies. Here's what I found in general:

Have the family feed the baby a bottle at home at the same feedings they would take a bottle normally in daycare. This seems to reduce the retraining needed on Mondays when a child is then expected to readjust to bottlefeeding.

Make the bottle very, very warm. This has helped in nearly every instance. If the baby does not seem to want it after a burp break, warm it up again to retry.

A starving breastfed baby is not going to do well at bottle feeding. I've dropper fed a baby to move past the "starving", and have had success with that.

Don't recline the infant as much as she would be reclined to nurse. This can be confusing to a baby's muscle memory causing a situation where the baby is expecting to nurse because they are in the nursing position.

Have the mom sleep with a receiving blanket each night and use during bottle feeding to give the baby a familiar smell.

Hope this helps.
Thank you!!! I will try all this!!
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Crystal 02:25 PM 04-02-2012
I would also ask Mom to leave a shirt that she has worn and not laundered. Drape this over your arm that baby is laying on while you feed her. This will give her a sense of being with Mom and may make her more willing to eat. It is possible Mom is the only person who has ever fed her, so smelling Mom sometimes helps.
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MNMum 03:35 PM 04-02-2012
Make sure baby is using a slow flow nipple. Parents may need to bring several different bottle types - they should be working on this at home as well. Mam, Tommee Tippee. Try to be supportive and helpful. Most babies will be able to transition - but not all.

I breastfed all my babies and went back to work when they were 16 weeks old. We introduced the bottle with all three at 2 weeks. Baby #1 and #2 had some hiccups upon my return to work but did well and continued to nurse when I was home, bottlefeed when I was gone. Baby #3 took a bottle initially and then flat out refused. We tried everything. He did take a bottle from the MAM nipple for about a week. Then he just reverse cycled when I was gone. Took one or two ounces total while I was away, and made up for it at night. Some days my husband would drive him into work once, but he would take a few sips from a sippy cup otherwise. He was happy while I was gone for the most part. He was quite fat, so I was not concerned with weight gain, and I did not work fulltime.
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Soupyszoo 04:07 PM 04-02-2012
Originally Posted by MNMum:
Make sure baby is using a slow flow nipple. Parents may need to bring several different bottle types - they should be working on this at home as well. Mam, Tommee Tippee. Try to be supportive and helpful. Most babies will be able to transition - but not all.

I breastfed all my babies and went back to work when they were 16 weeks old. We introduced the bottle with all three at 2 weeks. Baby #1 and #2 had some hiccups upon my return to work but did well and continued to nurse when I was home, bottlefeed when I was gone. Baby #3 took a bottle initially and then flat out refused. We tried everything. He did take a bottle from the MAM nipple for about a week. Then he just reverse cycled when I was gone. Took one or two ounces total while I was away, and made up for it at night. Some days my husband would drive him into work once, but he would take a few sips from a sippy cup otherwise. He was happy while I was gone for the most part. He was quite fat, so I was not concerned with weight gain, and I did not work fulltime.
They sent tommee tippee bottles. She finally ate on the third try!
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Honeyfoot 07:43 AM 04-03-2012
I had a baby like that. She would scream all day. Wouldn't even eat for her dad or grandma- only her mom. I spent a long time searching for ways to get her to eat for me and the only things that worked were softly singing the alphabet to her while she drank and sticking a clean finger in her mouth along with the nipple (it felt weird, but really helped for some reason).
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nannyde 09:09 AM 04-03-2012
Originally Posted by Soupyszoo:
They sent tommee tippee bottles. She finally ate on the third try!
You can end up with a belly full of air doing a tippee cup on a baby that young. They are designed to have a strong attached seal and suck.
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Soupyszoo 09:10 AM 04-03-2012
Originally Posted by nannyde:
You can end up with a belly full of air doing a tippee cup on a baby that young. They are designed to have a strong attached seal and suck.
I've never heard of them. What's makes them different than say Avent or dr brown?
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nannyde 09:43 AM 04-03-2012
Originally Posted by Soupyszoo:
I've never heard of them. What's makes them different than say Avent or dr brown?
Oh I'm sorry... I misread that. I thought it was "cup" not bottle. I've seen many parents trying to hand feed out of a tomme tippee CUP when they won't latch a nipple. Just make sure it's an actual NIPPLE not hard plastic cup lid.

Doing by sips ends you up with a baby in terrible stomach pain.
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Soupyszoo 09:50 AM 04-03-2012
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Oh I'm sorry... I misread that. I thought it was "cup" not bottle. I've seen many parents trying to hand feed out of a tomme tippee CUP when they won't latch a nipple. Just make sure it's an actual NIPPLE not hard plastic cup lid.

Doing by sips ends you up with a baby in terrible stomach pain.
Oh! Ok yeah this is an actual bottle with nipple. The milk does come out a little fast but today she did great with it. But she did have a lot of gas yesterday, but I think it was from all the adorable screaming while attempting to bottle feed her once she relaxed and latched on and ate she farted for several minutes straight!!
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bice99 10:23 AM 04-03-2012
Trying different speed nipples works, too. My DD never used a slow nipple. With me, it was either nurse in under 7 minutes or drown. LOL
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Lucy 11:38 AM 04-03-2012
I may have missed it, but did you say whether you are feeding breastmilk or formula? I've had much more success with breastfed babies taking a bottle if it's breastmilk inside.

Mom pumps, then puts it in sterilized ice cube trays. About 3 trays will fit in a gallon sized Ziploc. Mom dates the Ziplocs and brings them to me. I have a week's worth in my freezer at all times, and carefully watch the dates. I use doc brown's bottles with a doc brown's warmer. (Note: I made a mistake and have corrected it below to Avent bottles because of the large opening) Each cube is about an ounce, so I put however many cubes in the bottle and slowly warm it in the warmer. Sooo easy.
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Soupyszoo 11:56 AM 04-03-2012
Originally Posted by Lucy:
I may have missed it, but did you say whether you are feeding breastmilk or formula? I've had much more success with breastfed babies taking a bottle if it's breastmilk inside.

Mom pumps, then puts it in sterilized ice cube trays. About 3 trays will fit in a gallon sized Ziploc. Mom dates the Ziplocs and brings them to me. I have a week's worth in my freezer at all times, and carefully watch the dates. I use doc brown's bottles with a doc brown's warmer. Each cube is about an ounce, so I put however many cubes in the bottle and slowly warm it in the Doc Brown's warmer. Sooo easy.
Is breast milk! Oh my gosh that's a great idea!
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Lucy 12:13 PM 04-03-2012
Originally Posted by Soupyszoo:
Is breast milk! Oh my gosh that's a great idea!
ERROR---- It was Avent bottles. The reason is because they have a large opening and the cubes can easily fit. Any with the small opening, the 1 ounce cubes won't fit in. Sorry for the mistake!!
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Lucy 07:12 PM 04-05-2012
Is this situation improving?
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Soupyszoo 07:28 PM 04-05-2012
Originally Posted by Lucy:
Is this situation improving?
Lucy, she doing great! Best baby I've ever had! The family is amazing! She eats without a problem now! She's wonderful

Thanks for asking
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Lucy 07:31 PM 04-05-2012
Originally Posted by Soupyszoo:
Lucy, she doing great! Best baby I've ever had! The family is amazing! She eats without a problem now! She's wonderful

Thanks for asking

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Tags:bottle, bottle issues, infant, won't eat
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