Source
r/breastfeeding•
PowerInMyHand

Daycare and bottles vs straw cups

So I go back to work full time beginning of January. My LO will be 5 1/2 months. We’ve recently started trying to give him a bottle to get him used to it, and he keeps rejecting it. I am wondering if at this point I should just start trying (he’s 5 months now) with an open cup and get him using a straw cup instead.

I BF my oldest and she went back to daycare at 3 months with bottles no problem. Then Covid hit when she was 6 months and she was home with me until 10 months, and at that point she was already used to a straw cup for water. She refused taking a bottle and we just started putting her milk in the straw cup and she took to that no problem.

There’s a big difference between 5ish months and 10 but I just don’t know if it’s worth the battle to get him using a bottle for a few months to then try and wean him from the bottle shortly after. I’m going to continue to BF when he’s home with me, but don’t want him getting accustomed to the straw cup on daycare days and then refuse the breast when he’s home.

Any thoughts?

Posted Dec 9, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

18
pfifltrigg•

If he won't take a bottle for you I don't think he'll take one for daycare. My son only takes a straw cup at daycare but takes a bottle from family. 5 1/2 months is probably an OK time to start getting him used to the straw cup.

1
PowerInMyHandOP•

Yes that’s what I’m assuming. I’ve got almost 4 weeks to work on a way to get him to take milk other than the breast. So I’m just trying to figure out if the bottle doesn’t go over well, does it make sense to just try the straw cup. Or is he still to young for that and I’m going to mess up his breast feeding.

1
Ok-Pen6136•

My baby refused the bottle every time I, my husband, or my in-laws tried. He wouldn't even take pacifiers, only wanted the real deal. He started daycare at 5 1/2 months and they offered to try bottle feeding, as it was going to be a lot for me to come by on my lunch break to feed him everyday. His first day there, I came by and fed him on my break. Later that afternoon, they said he seemed hungry, so they gave him one of the Comotomo bottles I brought with pumped milk. They told me that he took a look around and saw some of the other babies with bottles, then started drinking as if he had always taken the bottle. 🤷‍♀️ We've never had a problem with him taking the bottle at daycare or for my in-laws since, and he even started taking a pacifier there, which he now loves and has used to help self-soothe. Every baby is different, but I just wanted to share our story so you know that all hope may not be lost for the bottle!

1
zebramath•

To get my guy use to a bottle at night I’d BF him briefly and then after about 5 min swap to a bottle as he was in the sucking mode. Got him use to it over time and now he takes them like a champ. I just think he didn’t get the sucking = food association for that nipple.

1
PowerInMyHandOP•

Ahh yes, I tried to feed him to take some hunger edge off, but didn’t try to quickly insert the bottle. My MIL tried doing the quick binky to bottle switch and that didn’t work. I’ll try breast to bottle a few times and see if he gets that.

1
Revolutionary_Job726•

I would definitely try a different method than bottle, but 5 months might be too young to use a straw cup. Mine is 6.5 and still can't figure out a straw. She can reliably use an open cup, though I'm not sure if a daycare would be OK using an open cup because it does take longer and it can be messy. My pediatrician said babies can't typically drink well from a straw until 7-9 months.

1
cardinalinthesnow•

If baby can take in enough with a straw cup to be happy while away from you, that’s totally fine! Milk doesn’t have to come from a bottle as long as it ends up in baby’s belly ;)

We went to open cup at 5.5 months for when baby and I were apart.

1
csmitty6•

My baby is almost 16 weeks and rejected the bottle heavily until I started what I called bottle bootcamp lol. She also starts daycare in January and I wanted her to be able to drink from the bottle. I tried some different methods to get her to take the bottle (different bottles, different nipple flow levels, etc). but what ended up working the best was switching the time of when I was feeding her during the day. Instead of sleep play eat, I did sleep eat play. I would give her the bottle about 10 min after she woke up from her naps. I would also lay her on her back under her play gym so she was a little distracted (instead of holding her while trying to feed her). To my surprise she started taking the bottle! Then I just kept doing it 1x day for a week and now a few times a week. Maybe you’ve already tried these things but just thought I would mention cause I thought my baby was going to refuse the bottle forever!! Lol good luck mama!

1