Our Bottle Refusal Experience
I don’t have any tips that aren’t already available on other websites, but I did want to share our experience with our daughter’s bottle refusal phase. My biggest advice is to be patient. Your baby might be needing extra love and comfort during this time and for him/her, that’s being snuggled up close to mama.
Reese was comfortable going back and forth between breastfeeding and bottles for the first five weeks. At six weeks, she started turning her head away and cried when we tried putting one in her mouth. This was when her period of clinginess started and she wanted only me and no one else.
When it comes to bottle refusal, a lot of websites talk about various nipple shapes, sizes, and flow with some parents even pushing for specific brands that their babies would take. Other tips include having someone else feed the baby or trying when they’re drowsy.
We tried nearly everything. I even bought new nipples for our bottles, which didn’t work at all. Eventually, we gave up as it wasn’t a big deal given our situation. We were in a pandemic with nowhere to go, so I’d be home 24/7 to breastfeed anyway.
I admit I did have moments of doubt and worry, thinking how I was going to wean her off one day or start solids. We also had a lot of bottles and accessories and a stash of formula and breastmilk that we didn’t want to waste.
There was actually a couple of instances at around nine weeks when she accepted a bottle and it got our hopes up. It seemed like she preferred the narrow Dr. Brown’s bottle specifically. We continued to try again, but ended up wasting a lot of milk and time.
Above: Dr. Brown’s Bandana Bib with Snap-On Teether (gifted), Dr. Brown’s narrow neck bottle (our own), Hudson’s Bay Multistripe Polar Fleece Throw, black leaning ladder
At five months, I spontaneously decided to let her try sucking an empty Dr. Brown’s bottle again. To my surprise, she was okay with it! I immediately filled it with formula and she drank the entire thing. Since then, she hasn’t refused a single bottle and we continue to use both the wide and narrow Dr. Brown’s bottles (without the vent system) for her formula.
The best part about her accepting bottles at this age is that she can actually hold and support it herself. We also don’t have to have her in our arms to feed her since she can sit up against our sofa now. I still continue to breastfeed, but we also supplement with a bit of Enfamil formula.
The Dr. Brown’s Formula Mixing Pitcher (gifted) is perfect for creating a day’s worth of formula so we don’t have to do it at each feeding. The mixing blades help dissolve the formula quickly with no leftover clumping.
We’re also fans of Dr. Brown’s Deluxe Baby Bottle Sterilizer, which we’ve been using since day one. It’s tall and wide enough for up to six bottles (any brand) with an accessories level to fit all the parts.
We also really enjoy using the Deluxe Baby Bottle Brush (gifted). We used another brand previously, but it was completely frayed after only a couple of months. One thing I absolutely love about the Deluxe Brush is the suction base it came with. It’s quite sturdy and secure so we don’t need to worry about it falling into our sink.
Also shown in the photo: Vigo Kitchen Faucet and Attitude Dishwashing Liquid (Citrus)