When your breastfed infant won't take a canteen, it tin be stressful and even a little scary. Babies are not always onboard when transitioning from breast to bottle. Whether you're going back to piece of work or desire others to help feed your baby, yous might start to wonder: "What if my infant never takes a canteen?"

Don't panic. Normally when your baby won't take a canteen, they're just struggling with the learning curve. They're new to the earth and so they have a lot to learn. Sometimes there may be some motor skill or medical condition making it more difficult. But no matter the reason, we're here to aid.

Go along reading to learn the most mutual reasons why your baby may be refusing a canteen, tips for helping them get used to a canteen, and what may be going on if bottle feeding doesn't first to improve.

Non all canteen refusal looks the same. There tin be a range of signs that your child is struggling to take a bottle, including:

  • Turning away from the bottle
  • Gagging or fussing as the bottle'southward nipple nears their mouth
  • Being unable to latch/shrink the bottle's nipple and limited milk
  • Chewing on the canteen's nipple
  • Sputtering or coughing while feeding
  • Non beingness able to completely swallow their sip of milk, and so that some drips from their mouth

Why do many babies have problems when switching to a bottle after breastfeeding?

In that location'due south no ane-size-fits-all respond to this question. In most cases, bottle feeding problems aren't due to abnormal oral motor function, nor are they usually due to an underlying medical issue.

Actually, one of the most common reasons breastfed babies won't take a bottle right away stems from not being introduced to ane early enough in their growth. In fact, the number i mistake families make is offer a bottle too late.

Why timing is so important when introducing a bottle to a breastfed infant

Babies are built-in with an automatic sucking reflex. Just at two to 3 months quondam that reflex becomes voluntary. In effect, that gives babies the ability to pass up a feeding if they're not comfy with it.

If a babe hits this stage in their growth and has but fed from their female parent'southward chest, they may have developed a "preference" for that method of milk commitment. Babies establish a suck-consume-breathe pattern that works for them and lets them handle their mother's milk menstruation.

When given a bottle, not but is the milk flow dissimilar, a babe has to adapt to a unlike nipple shape and texture. They likewise need to slightly accommodate their posture from what they're used to. For someone and so new to the world, making these kinds of changes can exist hard and overwhelming, leading to fussing, tears and why your breastfed baby won't accept a canteen.

When to introduce a bottle to a breastfed infant

There's an platonic window of fourth dimension for introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby. You want to avoid doing information technology too late, simply yous also don't want to do it likewise early. It'due south of import to make sure your baby gets the hang of breastfeeding and is getting enough milk before introducing a canteen.

We usually recommend waiting about 2 to 4 weeks afterwards your baby is built-in earlier trying to canteen feed. Unless they were built-in early, about babies are ready by then.

How to get a breastfed infant to take a bottle: 5 helpful tips

1. Switch back and forth between breastfeeding and canteen feeding

Y'all requite your baby the all-time chance at developing their feeding skills if you regularly switch between bottle and chest in the midst of feedings.

two. Try giving the bottle when your baby is waking upward

No matter the fourth dimension of day, babies are more likely to accept a bottle when they're merely waking up. The instinct to eat takes over when babies are still a little sleepy. Don't allow your baby go overly hungry earlier feeding. That tin can result in fussiness and crying (a late feeding cue), and make information technology harder to initiate feeding either by bottle or chest.

3. Create a relaxing environment each time you offer the canteen

Play soft, calming music – like classical or folk. Sit down downwards someplace where you lot tin can gently rock back and along. And swaddle your baby with their hands near their face. Having a quiet, night room with few distractions tin help, too.

Doing these things will relax your infant – in function because they will besides relax you. Children sense and feed off the energy of the adults around them. And it's no dissimilar when you and your baby are adjusting to bottle feeding. If you can be at ease with the varied routine a bottle brings, your baby volition be more content, also.

iv. Take a family member other than mom offering the bottle whenever possible

Each person will hold your baby a little scrap differently for feedings. When your footling one can go used to these differences early on, it helps them learn how to arrange their posture so information technology'south less probable to be an issue when their sucking reflex becomes voluntary.

v. Attempt giving your baby a different type of bottle or nipple

Sometimes, the solution to canteen feeding problems is as unproblematic as finding the correct canteen or nipple. While there are nipple levels associated with historic period, every baby has their own feeding style, which may not match their age or size. There are many different nipple and bottle types out in that location – trying to figure out the all-time choice can be an overwhelming process. Finding the right fit is something that your infant'south medico or a lactation specialist can aid you with.

6. Experiment with babe'due south bottle-feeding position

Your baby may also prefer to eat while in a sure position, which typically differs from breastfeeding positions. Try different angles and placements to see if in that location is one they favor. For example:

  • Cradling them in your arm at a 45-degree angle while keeping their head and neck aligned.
  • Sitting upright so that their dorsum is against your stomach.
  • While sitting or lying down, bend your legs and position your baby so they face you with their head resting confronting your knees, their back against your thighs and their feet on your breadbasket.

A father bottle feeds a baby in his lap.

No affair what position you use, remember to angle the canteen and then that milk only comes out when your babe sucks, and never prop the canteen in their oral fissure. Also call back to never lay your baby completely flat while feeding.

What to do when an older baby is refusing to accept a canteen

The breast to canteen transition is certainly easier if you innovate a bottle at the right age. But even if your baby is already 2 to 3 months old, information technology'due south still possible. In add-on to the tips to a higher place, you tin can help your baby practice with a pacifier.

A pacifier tin help babies class and strengthen their sucking power. Consistently offer a pacifier to help soothe your baby when they're fussy, if you lot're not already. This helps your baby learn to organize their mouth movement, which will at-home them. Once that becomes routine, begin offering your infant a pacifier for 20 to 30 seconds when you go to make a bottle. Doing and then volition assistance them more calmly ready for canteen feeding.

Gently pull on the pacifier as your baby sucks information technology. Brand certain to practice this at least iii to 5 times a 24-hour interval, including when your baby is using the pacifier to prep for a bottle feeding. These slight tugs will help your baby larn how to resist releasing the seal they've formed on the pacifier'due south nipple. And that can strengthen their latch on a bottle's nipple, likewise.

When the above tips don't work, at that place may be another reason your baby is refusing a bottle

If yous've been trying calm strategies for a few days and your baby doesn't seem to be getting more comfortable taking a bottle, call your baby's doctor. They tin help determine whether a medical effect may be present or connect you with a specialist if needed. Other reasons why your infant is refusing a canteen tin can include:

Reflux bug can crusade hurting with eating

Babies tin go heartburn, too! When a baby has reflux, food and stomach acid flow from the tummy back into the esophagus (the tube the carries food from the mouth into the breadbasket).

Reflux causes babies to experience discomfort or hurting when eating, which understandably affects feeding. Symptoms that may point to reflux issues include:

  • Arching or stiffening their back when feeding
  • Crying, fussing and getting red or watery eyes while feeding
  • Coughing regularly during feedings or right later them
  • Refusing to beverage or accepting only 1 ounce of milk or less
  • Falling asleep while feeding
  • Having poor sucking and breathing coordination
  • Taking a long time to swallow or drink

It's of import to know these deportment can occur and non be related to reflux. Information technology's common for babies to have a fussy time of day or exist more than tired some days than others. If symptoms are ongoing, a infant tin be evaluated and treated for reflux.

Facial or oral structural differences tin make latching difficult

If reflux doesn't appear to be the problem, your infant's medico may refer yous to a rehab specialist similar me.

I've been helping moms and families who struggle with the transition to bottles for almost a decade. Information technology'southward part of my work as a oral communication therapist at Park Nicollet. You might think, "My baby'south problem is with eating – non talking. What does speech therapy accept to do with that?" The answer could be, a lot!

The shape or structure of a infant'south cheeks, oral cavity, tongue or jaw can touch on their feedings. That'southward because these torso parts affect how they're able to latch both to the canteen, besides as to the breast. For case:

  • Sparse cheeks with fiddling to no fat pads make information technology hard for a baby to hold their natural language in identify to feed
  • A tongue-tie(where the tissue that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the rima oris is too short) can limit a infant's ability to move their tongue from side to side in their oral cavity or by their lower lip to feed
  • A tongue-tie that's been clipped requires a baby to relearn how and where to motion their tongue to feed, and create new musculus memory
  • A "vaulted" palate (where the roof of the mouth is higher and narrower than the typical apartment U-shape) causes additional space in a baby'southward oral cavity that can make it harder for their lips to form a tight seal

Weak oral muscle tone or lack of oral stimulation tin can make it hard to get plenty milk during feeding

It's possible that a infant just doesn't have the force to get what they demand during a feeding. This could be the case fifty-fifty if they have very normal oral motor actions.

If your baby is refusing to accept a canteen, we're just a phone call abroad

E'er feel empowered to call your baby'south doctor or make an appointment with them. They can connect you with dissimilar types of breastfeeding support, including drop-in breastfeeding back up groups and lactation consultants who assistance with both bottle and breastfeeding issues. They can also refer you to a pediatric rehabilitation specialist.

Our incredible nursing staff is also here for you. HealthPartners patients can call 800-551-0859. Park Nicollet patients tin call their clinic directly during regular business hours, or 952-993-4665 if information technology'south after hours. For questions and advice on new babe intendance, you can likewise call our 24/7 BabyLine at 612-333-2229.

Observe a doctor who can help

Are yous however looking for the right doctor for your new baby? We have hundreds of doctors and clinicians beyond the Twin Cities, fundamental Minnesota and western Wisconsin, that can help you lot with all your questions.

While you lot may be wondering how to get them to accept a bottle today, you'll get information technology figured out. Then the question will be: How can I get my child to eat their vegetables?