How to get your breastfed baby to take a bottle

At Baby-Thrive breastfeeding cafe last week a parent asked this question.

It’s no surprise that this mother told me that she had heard and read lots of different answers to this question.

I reached for my library of breastfeeding text books and they all say different things! 

🤱🏼Making more milk Lisa Morasco & Diana West “There does seem to be a window of opportunity in the first three months when babies are more willing to take a bottle.” No research referenced 

🤱🏻Breastfeeding & Human Lactation says don't experiment with different types of bottles and nipples and teats, just stick to one.

🤱🏽Breastfeeding Answers says do experiment with different types.

🤱🏼A research study on the subject*: “There is no clear evidence that introducing a bottle early increases likelihood of bottle acceptance among breastfed infants”

Nancy Mohrbacher’s breastfeeding answers second edition sums up the situation:

Many parents are told to start the bottle as early as possible to “get the baby used to it”. Some are warned not to wait too long or the baby won’t take it. At this writing, though many have strong opinions, there is no reliable evidence to guide us.

A recent study from the UK explored 'When a breastfed baby initially or continuously refused to accept a bottle containing either expressed breastmilk or infant formula.’

The researchers recruited 841 UK mothers**. 

59% of the mothers reported that no strategy worked and their babies never took a bottle.

Only 8.8% of mothers tried going cold turkey from breastfeeding, yet 42.4% reported that it worked, so this was the most effective strategy. 

The most common strategy was having a partner or other family member give the bottle, and that worked 21% of the time.

✨Top tips you might explore: ✨

⭐️Get someone else to give the bottle.

⭐️Warm the bottle teat & milk to body temperature.

⭐️Offer a bottle while moving, rocking, patting.

⭐️Offer the bottle when baby is in a light sleep.

⭐️Offer the bottle before baby gets too hungry. 

⭐️Offer the bottle without pressure & allow your baby to play with it or take her time. 

⭐️Try different positions (maybe not a classic breastfeeding positioning). So maybe facing you propped on your thighs as you sit on the sofa with your feet up for instance. 

⭐️Tap your baby’s lips with the bottle and wait for her to open her mouth and allow her to draw the bottle in rather than pushing it in.

⭐️Another option is offering her a smaller volume just to keep her practising, just a “snack” of 15ml or so a day will mean she still has the skill when needed.

I’d love to hear what worked for your family.

If you have any questions regarding anything mentioned in this post, please feel free to get in touch. You might be interested in my “Returning to work while breastfeeding” workshop. Details here.

Sally

*https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mcn.13047

**Maxwell, C., Fleming, K., Fleming, V. and Porcellato, L., 2020. UK mothers' experiences of bottle refusal by their breastfed baby. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 16(4).

Wambach & Spencer  Breastfeeding & human lactation 6th edition

Nancy Mohrbacher’s Breastfeeding Answers 2nd edition