A lot of people visit their pediatrics after being stressed about the fact that the baby refuses to take a feed with the bottle. The parents put in a lot of effort to ensure that the baby takes the bottle but they often fail with some babies.
This is not really a major issue or it is not even an issue because this is something really natural. You must go ahead and check out some of the tips that we have for you to encourage the baby for taking a bottle.
Before we go ahead, we would like to share some of the reasons why the baby might not take the bottle. The most common reason is that they do not like the feel of the artificial nipple.
The second leading reason is that they link you with the feeding and hence they do not understand the bottle as a substitute. For these reasons, let us move ahead and check out some of the tips to encourage the baby to take the bottle.
7 Best Tips to Encourage Bottles
- The first thing is to start early as this will help the baby in creating an experience. You can start as early as 2 weeks from the birth are we assure you that this helps you in giving the bottle to the baby in the later stage of life.
- Try and let the father or someone else give the bottle to the baby. This is because your baby can feel you and smell you and hence they associate food with you. In such a case, they will not like the feel of any foreign object in their mouth. Someone else giving the bottle to the baby would also help the baby in bonding with them.
- While giving the bottle to the baby, ensure that you are in a quiet and relaxing place. There should not be much distraction or noise. Avoid using the phone and TV while giving a bottle. Give your baby a relaxed environment and rocking the cradle might help a little.
- Find the window when the baby is really hungry. The baby is not very hungry then he may refuse the bottle but if the baby is hungry, the baby will quickly accept the bottle. Ensure that you find the right time and the baby is hungry but he is not starving. You need to find the right time when the baby is not full not hungry.
- Try and change the brand of the bottle that you are using. This can do wonders if the baby is not comfortable with the choice of bottle. It is better to opt for something that comes with a silicone nipple. The best option would be the bottle that is made of silicone as this gives a much more natural feel to the baby and the chances of refusal are reduced by a great degree.
- You can also try and change the flow of the nipple as some babies like the slow flow while some would need a strong flow to use the bottle comfortably. Experiment with the flow of the nipples and find the right spot for your baby.
- Often, negative pressure or the vacuum creates a bad experience for the baby and this is the time when they would refuse the bottle. Try something with a vent system.
Final Words
These are the tips that can really help you when the baby refuses the bottle. Do not give and keep trying. With time, the baby will slowly adapt to the bottles and we are sure that it will provide some comfort to the mothers as well.
We would sign off by telling you that you do not get stressed over such a thing as this is the natural behavior of the baby.
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