2 Month Old Won't Take Bottle

I had the same problem with my third son at around 3 mos. He went from 100% breast fed to completely refusing me and the bottle! After many trips to th pediatrician and discovering he was allergic to EVERYTHING we were finally prescribed a 100% hypoallergenic formula that he would only drink if being held completely upright and drinking believe it or not from a sippy cup with a straw top. It did eliminate the transition of breast/bottle to cup but I can still remember the frustration. Good luck and I hope you find a solution that works best for her quickly.

if she is breastfeed.. i noticed the breastfeed babies like wideneck bottles/nipples. Adiri, hope it works!

I assume you were nursing up until now right? Did you wait until now to try the bottle? They say and I agree to try giving a bottle at least one time by no later than 6 weeks but no earlier than 3 weeks. I gave my son a bottle at 3 weeks (only one) & he took it fine it was the Dr. Brown's bottle too! So I would suggest that one or the NUK brand. But be careful if you want to also continue breast feeding because once my son had the Dr. Brown's bottles more frequent than nursing he refused to go back to nursing!
Other than that I don't really have any suggestions sorry, I just wanted to let you know Dr. Brown's worked great for our nursing son.

Hi,
I'm going through the exact same thing with my 4mth old son. He refuses to drink from a bottle. I spoke to my pedi about it and he suggested trying juice in it and then adding milk/formula to the bottle as he learns to take it. He also said that it's not that he can't take a bottle, it's that he choosees not to. Nursing is much more difficult then bottle nipples. So, what he says is that he's got to learn to drink from another nipples just as he learned to nurse. I've tried so many bottles. I even spent $12 on the adiri bottle. I must admit, it didn't help. Stick to one bottle, keep practicing, and it's probably best if your hubby trains him. good luck!

hello K.,

my 4th child wouldn't take a bottle either. We went with "Nuk" ....just stick with one thing....she will eat when she finally realizes she has no choice. best of luck.

N. p.

Hi K.,

The same thing happened to me with my 6 month old when I went from nursing to formula/bottle feeding. It is very frustrating when they turn their head from side to side and cry when you know that they are hungry. Here is what finally worked:

We gave her bottle before bedtime (around 7:00) and she refused it so we put her down without food (I loading her up with beast milk all day in case this happened). After some crying she fell asleep and woke up at 5:00 a.m. to eat and still would not take a bottle. At 7:00 a.m. she was SO hungry that she took the bottle. Since then, she has been great with the bottle feedings. (It all sounds a bit harsh but if the baby is starving, she'll take a bottle eventually). Good luck!!!

tips: Be consistent. Do not give your baby an option of bottle or breast. Have your husband give as many bottles as he can since your baby won't associate him with nursing. I really do not believe it has anything to do with the type of bottle/nipple/formula (we tried them all)

Hi,
When I was breastfeeding my daughter she too refused to drink froma bottle. The only nipple I found that worked was the Playtex Natural Action. It is different from the Naturalatch (the ones that come with the drop in bottles). Most of the breastfeeding moms I know use those nipples due to the same problem. They are latex nipples that have a wide base and a long nipple that acts more like a real nipple.
Hope that helps you. Good luck!
-M.

I assume she's breastfed? Have you tried having your husband/partner offer the bottle when you aren't in the house?

I had this problem too...and what finally worked was just sticking with it and I kept trying to give the bottle at every feeding. He would take just an ounce at first but he added onto this as time went on. I also just have pumped so he has not tried taking formula and I have heard that some babies reject the different taste of formula.

I had this problem myself with my youngest. To tell you the truth, I got all sorts of horrible suggetions that just made me sick to my stomach - mostly, either let her scream for hours until she was so hungry that she finally took the bottle (my instincts told me "no way") and also just let her starve all day and feed her when I got home from work - it's been done before (but when I heard of all the "real" cases, these kids were eating solid food during that time). One lactation consultant that I went to promoted these kinds of ideas - I couldn't stomach it. However, I found another wonderful lactation consultant, who told me to try things from my heart. And that if it was making me sick to try things - that was Mother Nature's way of telling me I should not be doing it. This is what I did - and I'll be honest, I actually had to take an extra month of maternity leave because it took so long - which was a financial hardship to say the least. Anyway, this is what I did. First, I shopped for nipples that looked the most like my own physical anatomy. It is different for each person. Somewhere - I think maybe One Step Ahead - even used to sell a bottle that looked like a whole breast. (These didn't work for us, but they didn't really look like me anyway). Then, this is what I would do. I would put the nipple crack cream (what is that called? I can't even remember, it was 6 years ago - but it's like Vaseline sort of) on my nipple whenever she fed - so she sort of got that initial taste and texture. After doing that for a few days, I would put it on the bottle nipple and only at those times when she got drowsy and was practically asleep when she was feeding - I would do the "quick switch" - pull my breast out and stick the bottle in FAST. If she woke up too much and got all fussy, I'd quickly switch back. In the beginning, the bottle was probably only in her mouth for five seconds, eventually we worked up to maybe a minute. I just kept switching back and forth, until she was used to the sensation of it being in her mouth. Eventually, I worked my way up to maybe the bottle staying in for 1 minute and she'd take maybe 1 or 2 sips before she realized. I think around that point, I started working with the daycare provider - she was WONDERFUL. She let me visit with the baby (and my older child) and we'd hang out until it was feeding time. Then I'd breastfeed, try the "quick switch" - then hand her over to the daycare provider (who had been previously holding her, etc.). After probably 2 weeks of trying that, one day I left the scene, to see if she could get her to take a bottle if I wasn't around. She called me so excited - to say that while it wasn't much - she had taken 1/2 ounce from the bottle. It was then I knew that she would be fine, she could at least drink enough to hold off starvation, and that she really was only being stubborn. And truth-be-told it has proven true the rest of her life. She is both extremely shy AND the most stubborn-when-she-wants-to-be child I've ever met. Previous to this whole thing happening, I had been trying to give her a bottle occasionally, maybe once per week, and she had been willing to take it. Then we went on vacation, and when we came back, she refused to take the bottle. The "good" lactation consultant said it was the baby's way of controlling things and saying she didn't like change. I think that was true.
GOOD LUCK and try things FROM YOUR HEART!
L.
Update - just wanted to say it just popped into my head what the nipple crack cream is - Lanolin!

If she's two months old, you might want to try a sippy cup - my daughter was the same way with bottles but she would do sippy cups. We started when she was around 2 months old and used the Avent magic ones with the soft white top. They worked well and we never had to do the transition from bottle to sippy cup.

Good luck!

Hi K.,

This question was posted in May too. Try to search this site from the home page for the same question. Here's the link:

How to make a two month old drink from a bottle
http://www.mamasource.com/request/4279250929640800257

This was my advice: Try this tip from the La Leche book on nursing: stand and hold the baby upright facing out away from you, hold the bottle up for her to drink from and walk around.

Worked for us after 2 months of trying. We used Dr. Brown's bottles. Our breastfed daughter took bottles fine from weeks 4-8, then zero bottles for two months of trying. Tried many tips, this one worked. She let me feed her and others too this way.

The same thing happened to me when I returned to work a month ago. I called the daycare and asked for suggestions, because I figured she would have dealt with it before.
She said to stick with the playtex nurser with the laytex nipple and not to worry about it. She said she would get it eventually. She was right, by the end of the first day my little one was taking the bottle.

I started with all breast-milk, then did 3 oz of breast milk and 1 oz of formula. We gradually have moved on to 3 oz of formula and 1 oz of breast milk. I have stopped pumping and am just using my frozen milk.

Through this process we discovered that she is an all or nothing kinda girl. I had to stop nursing her at night too. As soon as I did that, she started drinking more than just a couple of ounces from each bottle. I am still mourning that loss, because I thought I would get to nurse her in the evenings, mornings and on weekends. It didn't work for her.