How can I help my baby get over bottle aversion and start taking a bottle?
—Mom going back to work soon
This is a very good question, and I wish I had a better answer.
The issue of bottle aversion is almost never discussed in the academic literature, despite being (in my experience) a very common issue in the world. We spend a lot of time worrying that babies will not latch and breastfeed well but much less time worrying about whether they will take a bottle down the line.
Bottle refusal is most common in babies who have had exclusive breastfeeding established; when bottles are introduced immediately, refusal doesn’t come up as often as a problem. (But there are worries about breastfeeding establishment too — basically, you cannot win.)
In one 2020 paper, researchers, noticing the lack of evidence on this problem, surveyed about 840 women in the U.K. about their bottle refusal experiences. Honestly, their findings are depressing. The survey participants had various reasons for wanting to introduce a bottle, and began trying at an average of eight weeks. In many cases, they had not had success by the time of the survey.
This paper does have a bit of practical advice.
First, the authors find that eventual success was greater for people who tried consistently and planned to use the bottle on a regular basis. Put differently, if you really need it to work out (say, because you’re going back to work), there is a much better chance of getting there.
Second, they find two methods that have a greater chance of success. One was having a partner feed the baby. The second was “cold turkey” — not offering the breast. Eventually, babies will take the bottle. This is a tough one for parents, obviously.
The common-sense advice I have gotten from baby nurses and day care workers somewhat reflects this data: leave the house and have a partner feed the baby; do it when they are hungry; keep trying until it works. And be confident that it eventually will.
Community Guidelines
Log in
I just want to add that beyond the normal struggles with bottle acceptance, there is the possibility of developing a full-blown feeding aversion when we parents inadvertently pressure our babies to eat. We experienced that with our baby, who became averse to both breast and bottle feeding to the point that she resisted every feed, ate only while half-asleep, and stopped gaining weight. It was a nightmare! We spent weeks trying to discern any medical or equipment issues before realizing it was entirely behavioral. The book that saved us was Rowena Bennett’s “Your Baby’s Bottle-Feeding Aversion.” She also has an excellent website (www.babycareadvice.com) where you can also work with feeding consultants, which we did. Once we followed the program, our baby girl finally turned around and learned to enjoy eating, and it made a huge difference in my bond with her too because we were all less stressed. This is obviously a lot more than most people need, but I wanted to add it here in case anyone else is searching for answers to more than the standard reluctance to take a bottle.
My exclusively breastfed baby refused to take more than an ounce from a bottle for weeks, and then I went on a medication that prohibited me from breastfeeding. Within a day of having no other choice, she was taking the bottle ok, and within 3 days she didn’t have any trouble at all. Just another anecdote to say: it sucked at first, but we made it. The only tactical thing that seemed to help was rocking or swaying her while she got started eating.