Bottle Training 4.5 month old
Hi there,
We are currently trying to train our 4.5 month old to take a bottle. I've read through a lot of posts on BPN that have been really helpful for this. We've been relying on different family members (partner, MIL, etc) trying to give the bottle. We even tried one full day of just "bottle feeding" and she only took 2 oz. It's been a difficult journey. Reading about other people's experiences here makes me feel less alone.
I'm looking for a nanny or caregiver who would take a short term contract to bottle train. Specifically, a nanny who has had success in doing this before. Do you have any recommendations or advice on this? Will a nanny take a short term contract to do this?
Thanks in advance,
Viba
Mar 13, 2023
Parent Replies
Hi,
I am so sorry you’re going through this. Went/going through same with my daughter who is same age as your baby. My best advice is to find nanny who is available for hire now and see if they are interested to do it. I don’t see why not when they’re in between jobs. It would probably take a week, maybe a couple. There are tons of nanny openings posted on BPN.
My daughter is starting with our nanny tomorrow in nanny share. She was able to feed her few times but it’s still iffy. My husband or parents can’t feed her but she’ll take a bottle from me. Kind of goes against the advice to leave the room and let someone else feed the baby…
I tried all the different bottles out there. Different milk temperatures and positions until I found something that works or maybe baby just gave up and drank it.
Good luck and hope you can resolve this quickly!
Re: finding someone--there is a facebook group called "Nannies and Mommies Bay Area" with 40K+ members. People often post looking for relatively obscure caregiver positions and are able to find help.
We had a hard time introducing a bottle around 4.5 months as well. I know this is not quite what you are asking, but have you seen a lactation consultant? I highly suggest seeing Molly at East Bay Lactation Consultants (https://www.eastbaylactationassociates.com/). She has a "bottle feeding" session type you can sign up for. She has tons of experience with babies in the same situation and the help she gave us was invaluable to getting my son to take a bottle (in the end, we went straight to a silicone sippy cup at 5 months for various reasons, at Molly's suggestion). Molly bottle fed him in her office so we could observe how she did it, pointed out key observations about his reactions, and gave us lots of great suggestions and a schedule to try things out at home. She was also available via text message and phone for follow ups. I also read a lot of information but sometimes it takes in-person expertise to make it happen and I highly suggest seeing her! Our visits were covered by our insurance so you may want to check with yours.
I’m sorry this is difficult for you and your baby. Both of my children strongly refused to bottle feed. I’m curious if you are under time pressure to have your baby bottle fed (having to go back to work or needing a longer stretch away from your baby)?
Something to consider: skip the bottle all together and introduce a sippy cup (one that does not require sucking, rather just dribbles). My second child took to this starting around 4 months when she started finger foods. It was messy and slow at first, but she got the hang of it. For her, I think it was helpful to have something completely different than a substitute for the breast.
Hi, sorry you're going through this. We had the same problem. We did a few things that dramatically helped:
- made sure the milk was as close to "human" temperature as possible
- we changed the nipple from slow-flow to medium-flow
- used silicone ola-baby bottle
- paced-feeding (google it and you'll find tips)
- mom never bottle-feeds baby. I'm always the one who does it
It took us 2 weeks of consistent practice. I always needed my wife's assistance because bebe protested so much. After 2 weeks she got the idea and now she loves the bottle. It's our daddy-daughter bonding time.