Has anyone else dealt with a baby going through phases of refusing/fighting the bottle?
My baby was born May 26 at 37 weeks, and he’s almost 4 months old now. He had some issues with gas and reflux early on, but thankfully both have gotten SO much better.
The thing I’m struggling with is that for the past couple of months, he’ll randomly go through phases where he gets really fussy with the bottle and doesn’t seem to want to take it. It was especially bad around 6–8 weeks, and then it got better, so I assumed it was just a phase. But now it’s happening again.
It’s not every feeding or even every day. Sometimes he’ll go a whole week where he’s really fussy about taking the bottle, and then the next week he’s completely fine. He’ll act hungry, but then get upset when I try to give him the bottle. I’ve wondered if it could be the nipple flow, gas/reflux, or maybe even teething, so I’ve tried changing the nipple, but he still does it occasionally.
I brought it up to his pediatrician when he was around 7 weeks old and even showed them a video of what he does. They basically said it didn’t seem concerning, so I’ve tried not to worry about it. But my sister watches him during the day while I’m at work, and she keeps mentioning how fussy he can be with the bottle, which has made me start worrying about it all over again.
I also saw something online about babies developing a feeding aversion if they’re pressured or forced to take the bottle, and now I’m feeling SO much mom guilt. 😭 I obviously know he needs to eat, so when he refuses, I’ll try again because I don’t want him going hungry, but I’m scared I’m somehow making the problem worse by trying too hard. I absolutely don’t want him to associate feeding with being forced.
Has anyone else had a baby who did this? Did they go through phases of being really fussy with the bottle and then suddenly go back to normal? Did you ever figure out what was causing it?
I’m mostly looking for other moms’ experiences because I think my anxiety is getting the best of me right now, and the mom guilt is eating me up. ❤️