What happens if your baby doesn't like a bottle?

The question in my head that always got me while I was breastfeeding was... what happens if my baby never takes to a bottle. Well with my son my nightmare came true. He loved to nurse and hated the bottle. We couldn't even have it in the same room with him without him screaming at first. He made a conscious effort that the way he preferred to feed was the old-school way! (breastfeeding)And boy did he stick to his plan. It was a good 12 week struggle to get him to take a bottle. The funny thing was the first time we gave him a bottle he took it with ease. After that try number 2 thru try number 122 he could not be convinced to drink his pumped breast milk from this foreign object! Man was it frustration. Not just for me but for the entire household. Mom needs a break, Dad cant help mom in this arena...but wants to. What do you do??? Not to mention that maternity leave only last so long! What happens when you return back to work and he's still not taking a bottle.... The baby's gotta eat right???

Nope not my son... he would hold off until I was there (hours, man was he a stubborn boy... I hope this characteristic serves him well later in life! Taking it one step at a time, one little win, we'd call it was how my family got thru this challenge. Even if he'd only take an ounce to start, "Hey it was a start right!" So little by little my stubborn little prince decided to eat during the day, slow to start. I would just love to listen to people try to coach me on how to handle this situation. Everyone has a different idea, different approach. But every kid is so different, what works for one may not work for the other. I was told to buy all different types of bottle.. (what a waste of money, the one that worked was the original one we had Dr. Browns!) We were told that he'll eat when he's hungry, (Yeah then he starves all day and keeps me up all night eating because he's starving, obviously that didn't work!) But no the less there is a light somewhere at the end of the tunnel, you'll get there eventually... just keep searching for it. And every step forward is a step forward, no matter how small....

Supply getting low?

It is very normal to go through surges and dips in your milk supply throughout the time your breast feeding. We all have to realize that its our own actions as well as the food we eat to the amount of water we consume that will effect our supply. You may notice that when your baby changes sleeping habits your supply may dip or surge for a few days before auto correcting itself.
If your experiencing a large decrease in your milk supply there are a couple quick questions to ask yourself. One: am I getting lazy at pumping frequently. Skipping pumping hurts your milk production. Two: am I consuming enough water? Especially if your a person who exercises frequently. Three: have you not been sleeping? Lack in sleep will decrease your ability to produce milk. Four: are you eating enough?
Your milk supply will not return immediately. It'll take a good week to recover completely.

If your experiencing a surge in milk. Take advantage of the situation by pumping and storing the extra milk. Even though you may be greeting sore more often it's good to build a frozen supply just in case of a future dip in supply.

This should bring you back to the days in school when you talked about supply and demand. And its no truer than right here with your production of milk. The last feeding of the night your body will read what youll need to make for the next day. So try to not skip this feeding. If you need a boost in milk add another feeding in around this time to double up.

Picking out a bottle and introducing

Which bottle is which? ! Baby stores are ripping us off, it's a money pit for moms and dads!

After a month of trying I stood in a very prominent baby store and the sales woman said to me have you tried all the bottles on the wall? With the look of defeat I said yes. Since she had nothing else to sell me, she had no more advise to give.

--- Where do you go when everything else has failed? We went back to our original choice of bottles. Our trusty steed: Dr Brown's this is what worked for my daughter why was my son so different.

Always switching bottles and not being consistent in my opinion was one of the problems. He'd start sucking on one and then his tongue would get in the way, and then cry and cry and cry. Or he just wanted mom instead of any bottle. Babies are smart, sometimes smarter than us. They know what they want, and its not the bottle!

Here's a list of the major players both bottle and nipple choices:

1) Dr. Brown's (my personal choice)

They offer the Standard bottle, wide-neck, and glass. I like this bottle because of the Internal Vent System. Both my children took to this bottle the best.

2) Philips AVENT

3) Playtex

4) Nuk (orthodontic nipple has had good reviews)

5) Soothie – just like the binkies from the hospital

6) Tommee Tippee

7) First Years – breastflow bottle, has gotten many positive reviews from parents

8) EvenFlo

9) MAM

10) Born Free

11) Green Sprouts

12) Think Baby

All bottles have their positives and negatives. No matter what you choose be confident.

 Try to get your baby acquainted with whatever bottle you choose early, but seeing it, touching it way before you ever are going to use it.  

What is your preferred bottle and why?