Driving myself insane as little one won’t take a bottle

Baby girl is EBF but would happily take bottles of expressed up until 5 weeks. She got run down and refused a bottle and I was like oh it’s ok I will just stick her on the boob. Fast forward to 8 weeks and she will not take a bottle for love nor money.

Week before last, I managed to get her to take a bottle at my parents house which was a huge relief to it meant I could leave her with someone again. Me and my partner went out last week for a few hours in the evening to watch a show whilst my sister had her. Baby refused the bottle all evening and my mum ended up spoon feeding her. I felt like the worst mum in the world leaving my baby in distress.

I’ve tried changing bottles from Nanobebe to the Minibe and now we’re on the latex NUK bottle. I managed to get her to take the bottle yesterday. Once at my parents with me feeding her (even though it took my partner, my dad and then me trying before me) and twice in the evening but only if I put her on the boob for 30 seconds first and sort of trick her into taking it. Fast forward to this morning she’s not having any of it.

I’m really stressing out as I feel like I’ve lost my freedom. Baby girl was having sleep overs at 5 weeks old and I didn’t have to worry about her getting upset if I wanted some free time or even just a bath in peace.

I’m meant to be going to London in 6 weeks (I know this is a long time) for a concert and at this rate I can’t go/won’t go.

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Try not to stress as baby might be picking up on that and might be contributing to her not wanting the bottle ("Mummy is stressed, somethings wrong, this is bad"). Try just having other people give her a bottle, she can smell your milk when you do it so will prefer boob. If you're not in the room, she might be more open to it. I think the younger they are, the more oblivious they are to who is looking after them, as they get older they prefer mum. Take a deep breathe, go with the flow and remember that this won't last forever. You can always go to that concert next year but you'll never have the tiny baby cuddles again. This year is a different pace to normal life and that's fine. It'll pass.

I’m offering the bottle at every feed. I do keep my cool because at the end of the day, it’s not a huge deal. She took it straight away when she woke up from a nap which I’m so happy with but then we stopped for nappy change and she wanted the boob after but that’s ok. I know it’s going to take time.

I love the cuddles that come with it all but I’d just like to share the role sometimes and have a break xx

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