in February 2025 Babies 🇺🇸

BF baby refusing bottles/pacifiers

Has any of your breastfed newborns flat out refused pacifiers and struggled with bottles? I’m exclusively nursing my 8 week old because even though I introduced bottles early (around 3 weeks) because she had a great latch from the start, she has always seemed very disturbed/confused by them and gets frustrated and cries so I just end up nursing her. To be fair we weren’t super consistent with it, one a day for the first week or so then down to once a week or less when partner went back to work. I’ve tried all the things…letting others feed her so she won’t smell my milk and just want boob, giving her snack bottles in between feedings so she’s not hangry, pace feeding, trying 2 different breast-like nipples (evenflo wide neck & MAM) and even just putting the bottle nipple itself in her mouth like a pacifier to get her used to the feeling…but she never shows any interest whatsoever. I love nursing, it has thankfully been very easy and natural for us but I would like to have the peace of mind of knowing she would be able to have some of my freezer stash in a bottle if I were ever sick or unavailable for whatever reason. And so I can have a little more freedom to run errands/have me-time when she’s with dad, without being on a ticking timeclock. If anyone has had the same problem, what did you do to help baby take a bottle after 8 weeks old?? I’m not too worried about the pacifier atm

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Dealing with the same problem too!

Mine never took to bottles but she drinks milk out of a weighted straw cup

@Alicia what age did your baby start drinking from a straw?

If I nurse her for 10 minutes then switch to bottle she does better! You could try to start your way there and eventually work towards her occasionally just taking a bottle. Some people say the lansinoh really helps because it’s soft and flexible and more like the breast!

One thing that helps my LO take the bottle is to squeeze a tiny bit of milk out so it is on the tip of the bottle so he gets a taste of milk and knows it will come from there. Also, we use a low flow nipple - a size 1 Philips Avent, and NUK pacifiers.

Just got the tommee tippee pacifier and she loves it! We tried three others but probably in the wrong size. I use philips natural flow bottles

@Heather I also have the avent but bought the evenflo nipples for them because they were supposed to be more similar to the breast than the Phillips…does your baby still latch on the breast well while using those nipples?

@Mandy does your baby still latch well on the breast while using the avent nipples?

@Trinity yes! And she’s gotten the bottle since week one. My biggest complaint with them is the spill when they’re not screwed on correctly. I always check over the sink now

@Trinity but seriously the paci is a life saver! Bed time is so much easier

@Trinity yes my LO still eats about 95% of the time from the breast. He will get a bottle only 2-3 times/wk. This is the bottle we use: https://a.co/d/4isOnMB .and this size nipple: https://a.co/d/26dWrH6

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