What To Do When The Baby Rejects The Bottle?

As we know, specialists recommend exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months of the baby’s life; however, in some cases it is necessary for the little ones to take their bottle. Not only those who for different reasons are fed formula, also in cases where it is necessary to feed them with breast milk but in a bottle.

Whatever the reason, babies sometimes have to be fed by means other than the mother’s breast. The mother may have to go back to work or have to go out and leave the baby for a few hours, but during that time the little one must eat, so the use of a bottle becomes essential.

However, sometimes the baby is unaware of this instrument and may reject it completely, in these cases an immediate solution is urgently needed. But, by the time this moment arrives, it is convenient that the baby has been prepared previously; If you are trying to stop breastfeeding permanently, it is advisable to do it little by little.

How to help him if he refuses the bottle?

Not all babies are reluctant to switch from breast to bottle, but most find it a bit difficult to adjust and indeed some find it very difficult. The longer the baby has been breastfed, the more difficult it may be to dislodge the breast, but the idea is that it is not a sudden change.

There is a good time for the baby to completely leave the breast, but sometimes it is a matter of urgency; We need to leave the baby while we go to work, but he does not want to eat through a bottle. To avoid this situation, it is advisable that we try it on previous occasions, so that the baby recognizes the texture of the bottle and the change does not surprise him.

With simple experiments we can ensure that the adaptation process is not so violent, specialists recommend that we help ourselves with another person, so that the child relates the absence of the breast with that of the mother. That is, let someone else give the bottle to him, so that the little one is not waiting to be breastfed.

Helpful tips for going from breast to bottle

This is not an easy task, sometimes the problem is not that the baby does not want to stop breastfeeding, but that he rejects the bottle. Some mothers advise that we let him starve for a reasonable time, but with this we may only be able to cause him gas, because if he does not want to drink his milk from the bottle, he will have to breastfeed anyway.

Specialists recommend that the mother’s presence be restricted when we try to train the child to accept milk from the bottle. Therefore, if we already know that at some point we will have to leave it, it should be prepared in advance.

Other useful tips are as follows:

• The main thing is to find a method that balances the baby’s nutrition; that is, their food can be balanced so that it does not present nutritional deficiencies. For this, the breast must be removed very slowly, with reasonable periods of time
• Alternate her feeding with traditional breastfeeding and the new method, sometimes we give her breast milk in a bottle and back to the breast. Remember that the important thing is to avoid emotional trauma to the baby, so everything must be done calmly; We also want to avoid problems due to milk retention in the breasts.
• If the baby feels your presence, he can see you or hear you, the main reason why he rejects the bottle is the main reason; that is why pediatricians suggest that someone else give it to them and that you are not present

• Part of the rejection of the bottle is also the food we give it, perhaps it has to do with the taste of the milk, its preservation or other characteristics of it; for example powdered cow’s milk are difficult to digest
• Other times it may be the pacifier that causes rejection, let’s try to change it, we can also feed him by teaspoons or in a glass with a spout
• An effective method of training him is to wait until he is showing less interest in the breast, then to suddenly stop feeding with the bottle. This will tell you how willing they are to switch modes.