What to do if your 4-month-old baby refuses to drink a bottle

There are many things to pay attention to when the baby is four months old. At this time, the baby can add some complementary foods. Complementary foods are very helpful for the baby's growth, and complementary foods contain more nutrients, which can improve the baby's physical fitness. Mothers can rest assured when choosing for their babies. But what should I do if the baby doesn't eat the bottle at 4 months old? This is also something many parents don't understand.

What to do if your 4-month-old baby refuses to drink a bottle?

1. Add complementary food in time

At 4 months, the baby can eat complementary foods, such as rice noodles, egg yolks, liver meal, fish meal, and fruit puree, and then gradually to vegetable and meat porridge, soft noodles, etc. After being able to eat complementary foods, things will be much better, at least they can absorb nutrition from other aspects. Ding Dang has always been eating complementary food well. In fact, she eats everything except milk powder. A recent parenting magazine said that as long as the baby can absorb enough protein and other nutrients from other sources, there is no need to force him to drink a certain amount of milk a day. I felt relieved after reading this. However, eating too much complementary food will affect the amount of milk, so you should pay attention to this.

2. Choose the right pacifier

Although no matter how good the pacifier is, the feeling will still be different from drinking mother’s milk, you can choose a pacifier that is closer. I have given Ding Dang pacifiers from Anlene, Pigeon, and NUK, which have all received good reviews online. I feel that the yellow latex nipple of NUK is softer, and Ding Dang seems to like it a little more. In addition, Pigeon has a simulated pacifier, which is said to feel similar to drinking mother’s milk. We haven’t tried it and it is quite expensive. We are afraid of buying it and wasting it. If conditions permit, you can try it. Another suggestion is to boil the nipple for a while to soften it, and the baby may be more accepting of it.

3. See if the baby doesn’t like the pacifier or the taste of milk powder

Try expressing breast milk and feeding it to your baby in a bottle. If he accepts it, he may not like the taste of formula. You can try a brand that tastes closer to breast milk. Dingdang is the type of baby who can use a pacifier to drink calcium-rich juice and other things, but does not like to use a pacifier to drink milk powder. She can clearly distinguish which one can be fed with a pacifier and which one should be fed from her mother. We tried changing several brands, but she was not very receptive to any of them. Of course don't change too much. You can also try making the milk powder a little lighter or colder or hotter.

4. Try feeding your baby in different positions

Some babies like the person feeding them to lift their feet up when they are fed with a bottle; some do not like to look at their mother's face and prefer to suck from the bottle with their backs facing their mother's chest.

After understanding what to do if a 4-month-old baby refuses to drink from a bottle, you can follow the above methods to alleviate this problem. However, it should be noted that when improving the situation of a 4-month-old baby who refuses to drink from a bottle, these methods must be used for a long time. In this way, the baby will develop a habit and the situation can be improved greatly.