You’ve done it; you have now reached a point where breastfeeding feels second nature and you and your baby are seasoned ‘pros’. This can be an awesome phase of the breastfeeding relationship, where you can just relax and enjoy each other!

However, for some mums, they get several months in and start to want the freedom to offer some feeds as expressed (or formula) milk. You may offer a bottle and find, to your surprise, that your baby just isn’t that keen.

First off, your baby is not being stubborn or "refusing" to take a bottle; they simply don't connect it with food, and so whenever you offer it and they're hungry, the baby gets confused that you are offering them "not food".

So, if we look at this as a learning opportunity, we start to approach it differently. Remember, no one (old or young) learns when they are hungry, tired, or stressed, so pick your moments to teach carefully.

Next, any bottle will do—just pick a type and stick with it. For babies older than 4 or 5 months, we particularly like any brand that can have handle attachments for it, so that baby can be even more in control of what happens with it.

Then make the bottle into a game (preferably when they are not hungry or tired to start with). Play with the teat touching their nose, head, cheeks, etc., and then finally their mouth. Since babies are curious to explore orally at this stage, they will likely open up. Let them chew on it; suck if they want, but without an agenda, they will take a feed. If, at any point, they get upset or frustrated, then stop.

Repeat as often as you (and they!) have patience, until they have a positive association with the bottle and start to open their mouth for it as soon as they see the bottle. Once they are consistently taking the small amounts that you've put in the bottle, try larger amounts and try shifting the game closer and closer to when they’re actually hungry. Expressed milk works best for this, as the taste is obviously familiar to them.

It usually takes a couple of weeks using this method for the baby to take a bottle, and obviously some will be faster and some slower, so try not to be concerned if they don’t seem to be "getting" it. They will get there in the end as long as we are consistent in offering it to them in this way and allow them to stop if they get stressed or bored.

Remember that your baby gets their emotional regulation from you, so if you are stressed, they will associate the bottle with stress. However, if you are able to be calm and confident, then they will have positive associations with your experiments with the bottle, which may lead to them ‘getting it’ a little faster.

Once they take the bottle, you may find that they’re only interested in small portions initially; that's fine. Just remember that once their mouth has touched the bottle, the milk inside it (if breastmilk) is only good for the next 2-3 hours; formula needs to be discarded within the hour.

How do I encourage a breastfed baby to take a bottle?

From our Baby Feeding Journey, Unii Expert Wendy Lever shares how to get a breastfed baby to bottle-feed.