4 month old refuses the bottle and my partner goes back to school next month

violet_sketch_47911 Oct 2026

Our son is 4 months old. My partner is a teacher, the leave ends in about five weeks, and he starts daycare from then. He feeds well from my partner but will not take a bottle from anyone. With expressed milk he takes two sips, looks at me like I've betrayed him, and screams. We have tried two kinds of bottles and different times of day. The daycare says they can manage, but I'd like him to have done this a few times at home first. Anyone who has been through this, what eventually worked?

3 comments

citrus_hammock_461811 Oct 2026
This takes me back, ours was exactly the same at that age. What finally worked for us was me giving the bottle with my partner out of the house, not just in the next room. If he could hear the other voice, he refused. The first few tries were short and miserable, then one evening he simply took it. Hang in there ❤️
rose_pebble_361311 Oct 2026
6 months here, also uppal. went through this two months ago. what worked for us was a slower flow teat and trying when he was drowsy, not properly hungry. hungry = furious, drowsy = didn't notice. took about ten days
maple_diary_845412 Oct 2026
Our daughter never took a bottle at all. At daycare they moved her to a small steel cup, slowly. Ask the daycare what they do with babies like this. They will have seen it many times.
- sage_drum_630212 Oct 2026
  Same with our son. He accepted it from the daycare staff and never from us at home. I found that slightly annoying at the time, but it meant the first week went far better than I had feared.