r/FormulaFeeders • u/EverythingBagelSzn • Apr 26 '26
Bottle Aversion / Feeding Refusal ❌ Five month old with bottle aversion
My five month old has always been bottle fed, and has always used the Philips Avent natural bottles. She has CMPA and takes Similac Alimentum for it (has been on this formula for about 2-3 months with a lot of success with her CMPA).
For the past 3 or so weeks, she’s been having bottle aversion and it’s getting worse. She will take a sip of the bottle, then turn her head away. There are other times she sees the bottle coming and will turn her head. Our most successful times of feeding her are tricking her with sucking on a pacifier, then swapping it with her bottle. We wait to feed her until we know she’s truly hungry, scheduled feeds have been out the window, so it’s quite apparent she wants to eat when we try, but it’s a battle.
Before we resort to changing formulas, is there a different bottle brand/style you all here would recommend trying? Or have you had experience with your baby having milk or bottle aversion? It would be really disappointing to have to find another formula, since it took a lot of trial and error to find one that works for her CMPA.
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u/KikiTheArtTeacher Apr 26 '26
My baby had a bottle aversion and thankfully are past it now. I would not change formula or bottles - what can happen is that it will temporarily ‘reset’ the aversion but then it always comes back unless you get to the root of why she’s averse.
You mentioned she has CMPA- does she have reflux or silent reflux as well? And if so, how is it being treated and is she pain free? That part was important for us- some reflux/ allergy babies start to associate eating with pain (or a similar negative emotion) and then we can inadvertently reinforce it. We were going to great lengths to get our girl to eat and it got the ounces in but was also making the aversion worse.
Have you mentioned it to your ped? And if so, what have they said? A lot don’t know about bottle aversion and some of what ours told us, even thought she meant well, ended up making things worse in the long run
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u/EverythingBagelSzn Apr 26 '26
You hit the nail on the head - she does have reflux. She actually just threw up her previous feed (which she was fighting) about 20 minutes ago.
She is already on famotidine and ups the dose at each of her appointments, the last increase was at her four month appointment. What did you end up doing to help your little one?
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u/KikiTheArtTeacher Apr 26 '26
Ah! So this was our situation as well. The reflux and feeling badly was just constantly reinforcing the aversion. For her, famotidine stopped working well enough (their bodies build up a tolerance to it and dose increases stop helping). So we needed to switch to a PPI omeprazole. I actually really recommend that because it did get her pain free and then we were able to help her relearn to enjoy bottles again. The big thing there though is the dosing and sometimes peds can be reluctant to prescribe or prescribe a dose that’s too low- and that’s brutal (too low of a dose) because for us it actually made things worse. So there’s definitely a balance! But we saw a private specialist and she helped with the dosing and got it straightened out and that was worth it because then it worked so, so well for her.
She gave me this also about reflux and aversion, does this sound like what’s happening ?
https://www.cryingcolicandbeyond.com/_files/ugd/f47b43_ff161b679456465f8269af82b8757b31.pdf
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u/kcnjo Apr 26 '26
I wouldn’t change formulas but I would absolutely read Rowena Bennett’s book. That’s what resolved our bottle aversion. You’re actually reinforcing the aversion with tricking her with the paci and swapping to the bottle. Agree with the other commenter that the swapping bottles and formula would be a temporary band aid that then stops working after a few days.
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u/hal_mg Apr 26 '26
Try different feeding positions. Sometimes that makes a difference. Proprioceptive input can make a difference to them feeling better when feeding is difficult for them for whatever reason. We found side lying to be a position that worked well during our bottle aversion time.
Also, sometimes a break away from the bottle can help. If they initially refuse, walk away for 5 min and then reoffer. Sometimes that can be enough to remind them they are hungry.
Keeping feeding positive is the best tip I have. It can be difficult to do this when you’re frustrated and stressed that they’re not getting enough though. Babies feed off your energy so smiling a lot, encouraging them, etc. goes further than you’d guess!
Good luck. It’s really difficult. My son had severe bottle aversion due to silent aspiration issues while he recovered from botulism. It was tough but it did end!
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u/kittykat0113 Apr 26 '26
Do you need a faster nipple flow? The avent naturals have a pretty slow flow and every time my baby would get annoyed and give up drinking after only a few sips i knew it was time to up the flow. He got up to size 5 nipples pretty quickly.
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u/princessvintage Apr 26 '26
So when it comes to feeding, I never schedule it. Baby is 4 months. I let him tell me when he’s hungry. He’s now to the point where if he’s had enough he pushes it away and then I give it 15 and keep trying to get him to but his appetite fluctuates. So I just let him tell me when he’s hungry and I am reactive to him, not prescriptive.
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u/juniorchickenhoe Apr 27 '26
Read Rowena Benett’s book, only thing that fixed it for my son. Her method really works if you commit to the process. It’s hard but in the end you’ll be so glad you did it.
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u/notrelevantatm Apr 26 '26
My baby went through a phase for a couple of weeks around the same age of constantly pulling off the bottle arching her back, drinking 15mls at a time - I was using dr browns bottles and changed to the ones your using with no luck and changed back - eventually she just stopped although does it now sometimes I try not to pressure her if she is doing it or reoffer the bottle after an hour. I don’t really have any advice just wanted to share my experience Good luck mumma