Feeding from a bottle uses a different technique to feeding from the breast, and you may find that your baby takes a little time to get used to it. In fact, some babies seem to be determined that they will never get used to it, and moving to mixed feeding can become a distressing and worrying event.
If you know you want him to take a bottle when you go back to work, introduce him to a bottle after three or four weeks. Don’t offer it too often, just once or twice a week, or he may come to prefer it to the breast.
If he doesn’t want to take it, try the following:
- Get someone else to offer the bottle
- Offer it at a time when he is neither starving hungry nor completely full
- Feed him somewhere apart from where you usually sit, so that he doesn’t assume that he will be getting a breastfeed
- Offer the bottle in the dark, so he can’t see it
- Warm the teat before offering it to him
- Try different brands of teat
- If he is old enough, (five or six months) use a spouted beaker rather than a bottle
- If he is on solids, add breast milk or formula to his food so that he gets the goodness via another route
- Don’t despair – he will take it eventually
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