Bottle refusal and going back to work

[@llli*jollycat]

My little guy is 2.5 months old. I mainly work from home but go into a client's office once a week. I gave him a bottle at 4 weeks to prepare him for the transition, and he had been doing fine with a bottle about once a week. Then a couple weeks ago he got a cold and started refusing bottles, and was eating poorly in general. Since then he completely refuses all bottles. We try every morning (my husband works nights so if we gave him a nighttime bottle I'd be the one giving it, and since having someone else feed the bottle is tip number one, I generally don't do it.) It's always fresh milk so I don't think it's a temperature or lipase issue. I've tried different nipple flows, all the usual stuff. I have taken him into the office the past few weeks but cannot keep doing that. My parents who will be watching him aren't comfortable trying outside the box methods of feeding. And -- of course I'd like him to be comfortable with a bottle so that he is not hungry and stressed and miserable while I'm away at the office. I am at a loss and would so appreciate your advice. I've tried offering a pacifier as that was suggested to me but he refuses that as well.

[@llli*maddieb]

It sounds as if baby may have developed a little resistance to bottles when ill. So I would suggest, start slow and do not pressure too much. First try offering a completely empty bottle to baby. If baby becomes comfortable with mouthing or chewing on the bottle nipple, put a teeny weeny amount of milk in there. Drops. As long as baby does not resist, slowly add a little more milk. Watch for signs of increasing frustration or rejection as that would indicate you might need to back of completely for at least a day before trying again.

My parents who will be watching him aren't comfortable trying outside the box methods of feeding.

Babies were fed liquids including expressed milk from shallow bowls or cups (or cupped human hands) for hundreds of thousands of years before bottles with artificial nipples were invented. There is nothing dangerous or improper about using an open cup to feed a baby. In fact learning cup feeding is very similar to learning paced bottle feeding, and anyone who is feeding your baby with a bottle should ideally learn how to do paced bottle feeding. Paced feeding is less likely than gravity feeding(the way bottles are usually given) to lead to over feeding and many babies who are resisting bottles do better when paced bottle feeding technique is used. There are many good videos about both cup feeding and paced bottle feeding on the net, let me know if you would like me to suggest some specific ones.

[@llli*jollycat]

That's great advice about trying the bottle empty. I've been wasting so much milk during this process! I will try it.

They do know paced feeding from when they helped care for my preemie twins. And I did some alternate feeding methods myself with my twins. It's just that my parents are older (although remarkably energetic), and will be caring for my other children and nephews as well at various points (always at least one other young child in addition to my baby), so the idea of learning a new feeding method is too overwhelming to them.