Hi Mel, Aradhana and others,

I do not have enough lectation and I am giving my baby (girl) lactogen and sometimes breast-feed.
Since last week or so, she is refusing to take the bottle. When she is awake, she just pushes the bottle away. Initially we gave when she goes to sleep. But now even if she is in deep sleep. She take coupld of sip and then suddenly turns and stop taking and the closes her mouth tightly.
Her milk intake has dropped t 60 in last week.
We already tried giving with spoon and dropper but to no avail. Also tried Nan-1 and Enfomil.
Can someone please suggest what went wrong and what should we do now?
Please please....Help ... Sujata replied. hi Krishna, i was reading ur e-mail and could understand how u must be feeling as i went thru the same thing. i also didn' t have enough milk. so my daughter was on lactogen. exactly after about 4 months she started hating milk. i tried everything under the sun. but the moment the bottle came near her motuh she would start screaming. my dr asked me to replace one feed with carrot puree, and then it was better...i did this for abt 15 days and since between 2 feeds i gave her carrot puree, she wasn' t that fussy to have milk. my daughter is abt 10 months old now. so far so good...i guess kids get bored of milk after some time... Mel replied. You said she refused since last week. Was she taking the bottle well before that ? Or was she only taking it in sleep before that ?

If she was taking it well, then it could be that the milk was spoilt, which is why she has developed a distaste (But, I think this is unlikely). However, always make a fresh bottle of formula for her and discard any left over after an hour or so.

Most likely, if she was a bit fussy earlier about the bottle, then she just doesn' t like the taste of formula. Have you tried expressing milk and putting it in the bottle ?

Contrary to what people think, even using a breast pump increases milk supply. So, pump every 2 hours (even mothers who lactate properly get only about 2 - 4 oz of milk in each pumping session.) So, express whatever you can, cover the bottle & refrigerate. Then when she is hungry, warm this milk to room temp and give her. If she tastes it and takes the milk well, then it means that your problem is formula. If she doesn' t (after repeated trials), then check to make sure she is not sick. If babies have an upset stomach, or a fever, they may reject milk.

If she takes breastmilk well, then you have to transition her gradually to Formula.

As I have posted earlier, offer her whatever little breastmilk you can pump (it will definitely be more than 60 ml in the day). Give her that. After 1 week, add half oz formula to 2 oz of BM. Offer this combination for 1 week. After one week, make this 2 oz BM and 1 oz of formula, following week, 2:2, then 1:3, then the last week, 1/2:3 and then slowly eliminate the breastmilk. I think you should try Nan 1 or SMA Gold (which is now available in India). Somewhow, Lactogen is a bit oily and heavy and many babies don' t take it too well.

And remember one thing, don' t fret. It happens to so many of us. There' s no requirement to feel guilty for not being able to breastfeed your baby. And there' s no need to beat yourself up about her not taking formula well. Just do your best, and keep a check on her weight. In another 15 days, you can introduce solids and compensate with yoghurt, cheese, etc.

All the best. Let us know how it goes. susan replied. I had exactly the same problem. My child suddenly stopped bottle feeding @ 3 months and the only way to feed her was during her sleep. Suddenly that too stopped. I was going thru hell.
Then my dr asked me to slwly start solids, and feed her the formula using a spoon. It was very difficult at first. i used to distract her using key chains / colorful toys etc in one hand , and using the other, quickly feed the milk with a spoon.
My dr asked me to start the baby on ragi. Made the porrigde very light. It kept the baby full for a few hour.
Then, whn ever i was home, i continued to breastfeed. I though whatever little i have, i´ ll give her. I´ m glad i did so, bcos she is much healthier bcos of this. I continued till she was 2 yrs.