On Jan 10, 12:41 pm, Sarah Vaughan
wrote:
Well, I've been trying Katie with practice bottles of pumped milk every
so often. I gave her the first one a week and a half ago, when she was
five weeks old, and, although she wasn't too happy, she took it. I gave
her the second one a week ago, and she took that but was quite upset
about it, not helped by the fact that there were various things going on
- doorbell ringing in the middle of me feeding her, etc. - and the feed
kept getting interrupted and she was getting quite worked up, which I'm
worried may have given her an aversion to the whole business. Anyway, I
tried a third bottle yesterday, and she flat-out refused it. Tried
again today, and same thing.

Now, I know it's too early to get too worried about this, and there are
still loads of things I can try to persuade her to take it (I've been
Googling), but it's stressing me out like crazy, because if she doesn't
take a bottle easily then it's going to create huge problems.

You might dig through the google archives of this groups for more
suggestions
but this is what I wrote to CJRA a while ago:

DD1 really didn't like the bottle. What worked for us
(to some extent) was using the playtex nurser bottle
with the disposable linings, so we could squeeze the
milk out into her mouth to get her started. Distracting
her while giving the bottle (this is where those baby
einstein videos came in handy). Actually, not holding
her worked best - DH or the nanny would prop her up
in her carseat, turn on the video and then sneak the
bottle to her.

Other things to try including varying the temperature
(quite a bit warmer than you'd think, or even try it cold),
covering her eyes with a burp cloth. Try when she's
hungry but not starved.

Once you find something that works (if you do), giving
a small bottle (1-2 ounces), topped off by nursing,
every day 5 times a week will keep her in practice.

DD1 never took more than 5-7 ounces while I was gone.
She reversed cycle nursed, which meant she nursed all
night long, but she didn't starve. Things improved when
we started solids and she got those from the nanny. If
there is anyway you can nurse her during the day that
might really help.

**********

Other standard advice is to try different nipples/bottles.
For some reason, they will sometimes prefer one over
the other. DD1 never took the Avent nipples, but that's
all we ever used for DD2. Also, DH should give the
bottle and you shouldn't be around. Make sure she
is hungry but not too hungry.

The best piece of advice (which I used with DD2 and
got from Nikki) was to give small frequent bottles
topped off by nursing (1-2 ounces, daily, at least
4-5 times a week). So when you find something
she likes, keep her in practice!

Hope this helps. Congratulations on your new baby!

Mary W.