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For ardently nursing mothers, there comes yet another challenge in terms of feeding their baby. For those who want their child to begin drinking from a bottle, but the baby won’t, it can be quite a jostle to get some headway around it. You might try a recourse to everything – from storing expressed milk, to trying formula milk, to using all sorts of bottles, but your baby might still hate it all. What’s worse, you feel like you have been imprisoned – after all, your baby’s dependency on your feed makes you so immobile. What would you do?
1. A Mom-Feed Simulated Bottle Feed
There are two ways to do it. One, the temperature of the milk must be optimum – should be warm like it is just coming out of mommy’s breast. Two, the bottle must feel like breast. However, it also varies from child to child. Few babies might prefer warm milk while to some it might not matter as they are more interested in the bottle feeling like mother’s breast. For those babies who show preference to warm milk, it might be ideal to pump out milk and feed immediately through bottle. For bottles that feel like mother’s breast, there are soft breast-shaped feeding bottles (such as Adiri bottles) that you might want to invest in. Some bottles have nipples that are exactly like pacifiers. Some might have to find the right nipples instead.
2. Mommies Must Move Away
In most cases babies refuse to bottle feed while its father or a caretaker tries feeding it through the bottle because the baby knows that mommy is somewhere around. Even if you hide in another room, your baby probably instinctively knows that you are pretty much around. So, the mother should really not stay indoors to achieve some success in bottle-feeding her baby. The other way would be to have the baby not face the caretaker, sit straight and look away, so it doesn’t remind the child of her mother. Also, it might be a good idea to bottle-feed in an environment that is different from where the baby is breastfed. For instance, if you have breastfed the baby in dark, try not doing so with a bottle-feed.
3. Sweetening Milk
One way to introduce bottle-feed to your baby is by adding a sweetening agent. Sugar is not a great idea for your baby. Find alternatives such as honey or simply blend milk with fruit pulp or applesauce. If your baby resists despite the effort, begin with your feed and slip the bottle in. You baby will start chewing it and should finally start suckling and drinking from the bottle.
4. Doesnât Always Have To Be A Bottle
You might want to try with sippers or cup. While drinking from a cup, you need to keep monitoring. It’s not a bad idea to feed with a spoon because you have control over the flow and it makes it easier for your child to get used to drinking from outside a feeding bottle.
5. Being Patient
You will have to put up with a lot of tantrums from your child while introducing bottle-feed. It is perseverance of sorts. Don’t be surprised even it takes you three months and trying out fifteen different bottles, but it should all work out one fine day. Your baby will give in eventually to a bottle-feed.
6. Introducing Bottles At The Time Of Teething
Teething time is one episode when babies love to chew and suckle whatever they can lay their hands on. So if your baby is teething, it might as well be a good time to introduce bottle because they would want to suckle and chew the nipple. Eventually, your child might want to take a bottle-feed every time.
7. Seek Help
Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you are not able to manage on your own. Ask someone in the family or take the help of friends to induct your baby into bottle feed.
