Have you got any tips to get my son to take expressed milk from a bottle.
He initially took it fine at about six weeks old but has got worse and worse, and now screams whenever a teat goes into his mouth. Short of starving him into taking it, what can I do? He is sixteen weeks old, and I return to work in 8 weeks.


A Your baby knows what she wants, she wants your soft warm breasts not a plastic teat and will scream until she gets her own way but it is possible to win her over and the following tips may help.
• Offering a the bottle when she is really hungry may work
• Make sure that there is some breast milk on the teat so that she tastes that first.
• Try to be positive and calm
• Sit her in a chair away from you and allow her the chance to learn something different, show pleasure even if she allows the teat to touch her lips
• Try not to get into a battle with your baby and it is best to take it away when the screaming starts and try again before the next feed.
• Sometimes offering water from a bottle to begin with will work. I usually suggest offering water at the same time each day to help the baby learn how to suck from a teat. If you are consistent and it becomes part of the routine your baby will soon co-operate then you can introduce breast milk from the bottle in the same way.
• Ask your husband/partner or any other member of the family for help. Accepting the bottle is sometimes easier from someone else especially when mother is well out of smelling distance
• If all else fails introduce a cup. There are doidy cups now on the market designed to teach babies to drink from a rim and can be used from four months.
Mothers always worry about introducing a bottle before going back to work and some babies do not cooperate easily but if you adopt a gradual positive and consistent approach your baby will be drinking from a bottle and a cup by the time you return to work in eight weeks time.

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