Baby doesn’t like bottle

ncmc

Hi folks, I have a 7.5 month old baby. He was breast fed up to 6.5 months and would have had occasional bottles of expressed milk in that time (which he took fine) So he has been on formula roughly a month and he just doesn’t seem to like it. It’s a battle to get him to take every bottle. I’m finding it very hard to get the recommended 21oz into him daily. I’ve tried a few different brands of formula but there’s no change. My next step I suppose is to try different teats/bottles, but to be honest I’m reluctance to throw good money after bad at this stage.

He has three good meals a day, porridge or weetabix for breakfast, fruit for lunch and a full dinner. He’s sleeping through the night (touch wood!) and is happy and content. I’d say he takes about 14/15oz per day. My question is, how important is it that he take the full recommended amount of milk? I know milk should be their primary source of nutrition at this stage, but he just much prefers his grub than bottle and I’m demented trying to coax bottles into him!

ThunbergsAreGo

Dont stress it

We had the same with ours at about 5 months. In the end we decided not to fight it and he came around

I think it is also natural for babies to reduce their milk intake at 7.5 months as they are eating more

Foweva Awone

Will he take water?

Might be worth trying a beaker instead of different bottles, I've read that breastfed babies for some reason seem to prefer them.

Also the teat size definitely makes a difference - it's frustrating for them trying to drink from a teat if the flow is too fast or too slow.

ncmc

Thanks for the replies, I haven’t tried water, I figure he’s getting enough fluids with what he’s drinking plus the fruit and veg he’s taking. Haven’t tried a beaker either, but that could be a good plan as he likes to hold on to the bottle but can’t really manage it. I tried him on faster teats but he didn’t like them, so I went back to the medium flow. It’s painfully slow trying to get the bottle into him!

lazygal

Milk is supposed to be the main form of nutrition until 12 months.
My second child refused all bottles. Tried different teats, bottles, combinations of expressed milk, formula, mix of the two. It was easier just to breastfeed.

ThunbergsAreGo

ncmc wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I haven’t tried water, I figure he’s getting enough fluids with what he’s drinking plus the fruit and veg he’s taking. Haven’t tried a beaker either, but that could be a good plan as he likes to hold on to the bottle but can’t really manage it. I tried him on faster teats but he didn’t like them, so I went back to the medium flow. It’s painfully slow trying to get the bottle into him!

We changed to the MAM ones and he was much happier (still not great)

You sound exactly like us

ncmc

lazygal wrote: »

Milk is supposed to be the main form of nutrition until 12 months.
My second child refused all bottles. Tried different teats, bottles, combinations of expressed milk, formula, mix of the two. It was easier just to breastfeed.

He was very fussy when I was breast feeding too, constantly fighting me, pulling off the boob etc. I persevered from 4 months to 6.5 and just gave up at that stage. I thought maybe my flow was too slow for him or he wasn’t getting enough. Now he’s the same on the bottles and I think he might just not like milk!

catrionanic

Can you mix formula in with his food? Porridge, mashed spuds and veg, sauces etc? We are having problems getting my 12 month old on to cows milk (he is breastfed but I’m pregnant again and my supply has fallen a lot), but can squeeze an extra couple of ounces in each day this way.

ax530

Dont worry I think that is normal.
My baby is similar age (8 months) and up until 2 months ago breastfed now takes formula bottle during day and breastfed bed\night time.
He takes no where near 21oz a day from bottle. 2 bottles during day 1-4oz at a time sometimes 2oz night or morning. much prefers eating food than drinking bottle.
Remember when my other children starting creche around 6 months old I used to send in 2x4oz bottles for the day and rarely finished.

spottybananas

Could he have tongue tie, seeing as he was fussy when breastfed too? Definitely try a soppy cup or normal cup or any form of baby cup there is, it doesn't specifically have to be a bottle they drink from and some never like them.

shesty

Definitely use formula or expressed milk in his porridge if you can, be one less feed to think about.What's the timing of the feeds?As far as I remember, we had breakfast, then a bottle round 10am, then lunch, bottle round 3pm, then tea, and then bedtime bottle.I presume you aren't trying to get a bottle in directly after meals, because he definitely won't want it then......?
Otherwise, I would just go with whatever you can get into him, and maybe try sippy cups.He's small yet but he will get the hang of them eventually.