Now that Lucy seems to be building some solid potty-training skills, Rosie has decided to throw us a curve. It looks like she might be a bottle-refuser.
Rosie took a bottle quite easily the first few times we gave it to her. However, for the past few weeks, she has completely rejected it. There are at least two possible reasons for this:
1) We _are_ having spoiled-milk problems, so it’s natural she doesn’t like it! We don’t know what’s going on, but suddenly we’re stumbling upon bag after bag of spoiled milk from our frozen supply. Am I using the pump incorrectly? Is our sterilizer not working effectively? Are the new milk storage bags contaminated in some way? Am I not washing or rinsing the bottles well enough? This is a frustrating mystery to us. We never had any problems with spoiled milk during Lucy’s nursing days, and (as previously established) we’re card-carrying germophobes. What’s going wrong this time?
2) Rosie may simply be a human-nipple kind of gal. I’ve heard of babies who refuse the bottle because they just don’t like silicone nipples. We never had any problems like this with Lucy, and Rosie gobbled down her first few bottles with vigor. So, why now? What has changed? Has it just been too long since we bottle-fed her? And, more importantly, how can we win her back over to the occasional artificial nipple? We do so value our monthly date nights — which require baby-sitter feedings!
We’ve already had to cancel a special outing for tomorrow afternoon because of this, and we’re planning to bring Rosie along to another event Jon and I are going to on Tuesday night. But we would like to solve this dilemma soon so that the option of grown-up time can be a reality once more!
Both of mine weren’t very big on the bottle, but I did find that switching to a different bottle helped. The Playtex nursers (which have a drop-in liner) seemed to suit them best. You might borrow some different kinds of bottles off other people and see if there is one she likes better.
Benjamin was like Rosie – he took it fine for a while then started adamantly refusing it. My theory was he got old enough to realize the difference. Once he was a bit older (maybe 6 months or so) I would leave him with a sitter and a bottle and it seemed like he would eat enough out of the bottle to tide him over until I got home to nurse him again. He never would take a full feeding from a bottle until he was forced to at 9 months of age when I ran out of milk due to my pregnancy with Ella.
We did get very creative with date night planning – we would frequently do something along this line: nurse the baby, go out for some activity for a couple hours, come home and feed the baby again and then leave for dinner / the rest of the date. This worked well once the baby needed just one feeding at say 6 or 7pm to tide them over until sometime in the middle of the night.
Good luck!
Evangeline refused to take the bottle…Marie refused to nurse well and LOVED the bottle because it came so fast ….so we’ve had it both ways! : )
ugh! the non-bottle taking caused us a lot of angst. We eventually decided that we would leave her a bottle and if she chose not to take it, then she…and the babysitter…would have to deal with it. She refused until 7 months old and I went away for the weekend. By the time I came home…she was a pro! I think it finally hit home that she wasn’t going to get it from anywhere else so she might as well drink up! It helped that she used a pacifier because it would sooth her when she wouldn’t take the bottle.
I have no advice! This is a good reminder that we need to try Corrie on a bottle again; it’s been a while.
Have you tried a different nipple? (bottle nipple) My friend’s son decided to quit using the bottle, after previously enjoying it. I suggested trying the larger nipple, and sure enough, he was happy. He was just getting too frustrated with the Stage 1 nipple. He was spoiled by mom’s milk coming out easily and it was too much work.
On the milk… I almost never froze mine, but I find it odd that it is coming out of the freezer spoiled. I’m not a germophobe, and typically rinsed my pump in between pumpings and never had a problem. I’d consider whether the freezer is cold enough, and where you are storing in the freezer. If it’s coming out spoiled my initial thought would be it’s not freezing fast enough.
The other thought I have is there is one spot in the pump depending on the model that can really be a bear to clean. The part that separates the two pieces. I’ve had to really work occasionally to get that spot clean. The best way to tell if that is the problem is to sniff it after it’s dried. If there is a nasty spot, you’ll smell it.
Neither of my kids would take a bottle. Caroline did (she was 100% formula fed in the NICU), but as soon as she got the real stuff, she totally refused the bottle (going 8+ hours at 10 weeks old without eating!). I hope Rosie turns it around soon!
With the milk going bad – how quickly are you freezing it after pumping? I think you should freeze it within a day or two. And then, after freezing, how quickly do you use it? It is good for 24 hours.
I would also ask where in the freezer do you put the milk? If it’s near the front or in the door, it may not be freezing cold enough or slightly thawing too often.
I always froze my milk in pint-size ziploc freezer bags. They worked well and I never seemed to have an issue with spoilage. To thaw the milk, I would either stick it in the fridge or run it under warm water if I wanted to use it right away.
how can you tell it is spoiled?
It smells a little funny, and it tastes sort of bitter, like soap. Fresh milk doesn’t smell weird and tastes sweet.
Maddy never took a bottle. It was a pain. Lydia as been taking one now for two weeks. and sometimes she prefers that to the boob. Too each their own.
I guess I should taste the milk. Hum. Or smell it. My lactation consaltant once made mashed potatos with it and the family loved them!
okay, so this is just totally my opinion …
Katrina, that’s the most disgusting thing I have ever heard!!!
Did she actually tell her husband what was in there?
: ) Lindsay
afterward. I usaully tease my husband, but have never done that. Although one morning we were out of milk and Maddy wanted some for cereal and I offered the breastmilk (she is 2.5) and she said “No thank you, that is icky mom”.
;-)