# Baby won't take bottle - finishing 2nd week of daycare!



## Laura-Ku (Apr 5, 2003)

we are nearing the end of her 1st full time week of daycare, and still not taking a bottle. She gets 3-4oz in a 10 hr period by playing with the nipple. Today, she didn't have a wet diaper from noon until I just changed her for bed (7:30pm) and that diaper was dry too. I fed her all I had from 4:30-7:30 but I can tell she is still hungry.

I don't know what to do. My husband tried a sippy cup when he got home, and she was interested until she tasted the milk and then she made a face and pushed it away.

She and I have been sick and I gave her one dose per night of a decongestant, and for the last 2 days she has also had diarreah(sp?), or at least I think it is.,..green and smells aweful.

Not sure if that is from the decongestant or if the decongestant is also drying her up so she isn't peeing.

I am beside myself...Last night she slept 7 hrs, woke to eat, and then slept 3 1/2 hrs. I think tonight I will pick her up every 3 hrs and have her eat in her sleep.

What should I do???????????????


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## Indigomama (Dec 26, 2001)

First, more details...

how old? daycare setting? What's in the bottle? Ebm, formula, milk?

First, I absolutely hate decongestants... at least my body does not react well.... neither does my son. It really knocks me out solid, and then he wakes up and is all wacky.... so it could make it even more difficult to feed at night plus throw her all out of whack during the day.

I'm not sure if you cosleep, etc, but your ds doesn't need to take in a lot of anything but maybe H20 during day care IF she can make it up the rest of the time when she's with you. That usually invovles marathon night nursing which is very rough the first two months period.... couldn't imagine doing it if I hadn't been cosleeping. It's technically called reverse nursing I think. I've actually had two aunts do it too, and it can work out well depending on you, the babe, etc.

If it is ebm, maybe it's not the right temp? it's not ebm, maybe she isn't reacting well to it? Will she take water in a sippy cup or bottle... not food, but most importantly, at least she'd be hydrated.

Also, rag feeding... knew a woman in LL whose mom did this when she babysat as her ds never took a bottle. Nice clean rag... dipped it in ebm, and let her ds suck on the rag.

Green poops usually mean everything is going through too fast. Could be sickness, decongestant, or maybe the marathon feeding... ds would always get green poops when he bf solid like that... I think somebody told me it was because of not enough hind milk as when he went like that I would keep switching boobs so they wouldn't fall off; hence, he'd get all the thin sugary stuff.

I don't know if any of this helps.







It's going to be okay. Just keep pushing fluids... water, bm, ebm, formula, etc whatever she'll take.


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## Quirky (Jun 18, 2002)

Have you tasted your expressed milk to make sure it's good? Some women, myself included, can secrete too much of an enzyme called lipase in our milk. No problems at all for a breastfeeding baby, but can cause problems when the milk is expressed. It starts digesting the milk when exposed to cold, and the milk develops a sour or soapy taste. The solution is to scald the milk right after it's pumped (ie heat it just to the boiling point), which destroys the excess lipase.

This is probably a very long shot. Your problem is more likely mom preference, which is flattering but extremely stressful. I just thought I would mention it so you can smell and taste some of your expressed milk to rule this out as a possible reason she's refusing to take the bottle.

What kinds of bottles have you tried?

Also, are you sleeping with her? I don't remember how old she is but it seems like she's sleeping an awfully long stretch for a young baby. I would second the idea of taking her to bed with you so she can nurse throughout the night.

Hang in there, mama.


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## frogertgrl (Nov 28, 2002)

Your baby is sleeping too long for a six month old, ime, but these things vary so much. Is this normal for her? Doesn't sound like it from your OP.

If she didn't have a wet diaper for seven hours, that would concern me a lot. More than the sleeping long as that can be attributed to the decongestant (which I would not give her, especially when you are sorting the variables out with the new daycare).

Definitely agree with the recommendation to sleep together. That will help maintain your supply, too.

I really hope this improves for you and baby!


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## Laura-Ku (Apr 5, 2003)

she is 6 mo. old. We stopped giving her the decongestant. I know what you mean about the enzyme...I can't use any of my freezer stash...it smells like metal. My milk is good for about 3 days in the fridge. I tasted it yesterday in fact when we tried to give her a sippy cup and she made a face and pushed the cup away when she tasted the milk...it tasted fine to me.

BTW - my baby NEVER sleeps 6+hrs!!! She hadn't slept well in 5 nights because of congestion (which is why we started giving her the decongestant), and I think the reason she slept so long was because she was so tired.

She usually is up every 3 hrs to eat.

This morning she had a HUGE wet diaper, but the pee was yellow-ish, not clear.

I have a call into the Dr. I heard that some babies will take formula from a bottle, not breastmilk. I can't believe I am saying this, but I would actually consider going that route if it meant her eating during the day. I'd have to get a hypoallergenic formula though because she is allergic to dairy...and I've read that nasty things are in those formulas...


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## owen&mama (Jan 3, 2003)

I second (third? fourth?) the co-sleeping. It's mama or nothing for many babies (including mine), so reverse cycling got us through the bottle blues. Co-sleeping was the only way I could get some semblance of sleep and make sure DS was satisfied. If she's six months and just now trying out the bottle, it's conceivable that she may never take it, at least from what I have read and been told. I don't know this first-hand, mind you, but I could see where that might be true. We introduced the bottle at 6 weeks and tried about 5 nipples before we found the right one. Even then, DS was less than thrilled with the bottle, and I could not be within a 5 mile radius for him to take it.

Wishing you all sorts of luck. I know how stressful this can be.


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## Liz (Mar 8, 2002)

Why don't you wait on the formula? There are so many things going on right now for her: the cold, the decongestant, the daycare, the bottle. I would let the cold clear out, don't give her anymore meds., co-sleep and bf like a mad woman when you are together. The daycare and your dh should keep offering the ebm, try different nipples and sippy cups. Offer her water in all these different drinking devices, too, so she doesn't get dehydrated. You should be drinking tons of water, too.

I really think the long sleep and lack of pee are due to the decongestant. Not eating and dark pee is probably due to the cold. Once these issues are out of the way, you can deal with the bottle feeding issue.

editted to add: Make sure she is getting that hind milk.


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## Quirky (Jun 18, 2002)

Since it sounds like you do have the lipase problem, why don't you try scalding some milk immediately after pumping it and see if she'll take that? Yes, the scalding will kill off some of the antibodies, but it's still much better than formula and she'll get plenty of antibodies when nursing directly. She may be detecting an off taste that you can't; babies have more sensitive tastebuds than adults.

It's worth a shot, at any rate.

So she's six months old...have you started introducing solids yet? Is she ready for them? If so, that might be a solution to getting some nourishment into her at daycare when she refuses the bottle. The daycare provider could feed her a little applesauce or brown rice cereal mixed with breastmilk to thin it; that way she'd still be getting breastmilk but it would be a different way to get it into her.

The book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron has recipes for making your own cereals and baby foods, which are really easy. I think her book has bad advice about amounts babies should be eating and when babies should wean, but the recipes and so forth are helpful.


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## Piglet68 (Apr 5, 2002)

Laura, I'm moving this to Breastfeeding "Getting started" etc b/c you'll get lots of great advice there.

I also second the recommendations to cosleep. Your baby may reverse cycle and get her nutrition at night.


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## phathui5 (Jan 8, 2002)

I'm going to second having the daycare person offer her solid food instead of formula. I work part-time for WIC and I have seen a lot of sick babies because their parents gave them formula "to get them to eat something."


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