My three and a half month old daughter won't take a bottle. My wife is at the office two days a week and those two days are hell. I've tried every type of bottle there is and every type of nipple. I've tried cold milk, warm milk, room temp milk. I've held her facing out, cradling her, in her crib propped up, on the changing table, and in the poppa san. She won't let me put her down and all she does is cry and cry for the 7 hours until my wife gets home. I can't take her to my wife as we only have one car.
I love my daughter very, very much and she is a lovely child when fed but I am at my wits end. I feel like a horrible parent because I can't meet her basic need of feeding.
Is there anything else I can do or has anyone else been through this? Please no comments like "just man up." I just need help and support.
Hey man. That is rough.
Hey man. That is rough. The exact same thing happened to me. Is it breast milk? If so, even if it's fresh frozen or only been in the fridge a little while, the milk can take on a lousy waxy flavor. Even if it hasn't gone bad. That's what happened to us and I finally had to taste it to figure it out. You might want to try that if you haven't already. Have you tried formula to see if it's the actual bottle or its contents? You could also try having your wife give her a bottle.
"We don't need a license for this or anything?"
This happened to us with my
This happened to us with my second born. When the Wife went back to work, baby would not take a bottle. I started feeding her with an open cup. She was about 5 months old. It takes patience, and not as easy for daddy, but at least she was drinking.
Try motion
I have had similar issues with all three of my kids. With the first one, I was so fed up that I called La Leche League. They gave me some great tips. The first was to try feeding in motion. I tried rocking, walking, and bouncing on an exercise ball. The bouncing worked best for my first and the second had me walking around to feed him.
Another tip they suggested was to have an article of my wife's clothes close by. I used a nursing bra and put it close to baby's head.
Good luck...I feel your pain!
Formula?
Are we talking about formula? If so, we had similar issues with my son for his first two months. He was taking Similac Advance. We would only take an ounce or two at a time, and he was experiencing a lot of reflux and was a generally grumpy kid who wouldn't eat or sleep well. The doc told us to switch to Similac Alimentum which is for food allergies and colic, and right away he started taking 6 ounces at a time and taking nice long naps, and eventually sleeping all the way through the night. The alimentum is way pricy, but it is worth it. Kid is great now.