Bringing a tiny human being into the world is no easy feat. Nine months of being a baby’s all-inclusive 5-star hotel suite with a private amniotic fluid pool and 5 meals per day. But once the child is finally done with their stay in the belly, the real fun begins, each day bringing something new.

You get used to one change and then another happens just as quickly as the last one did. One thing that stays constant is the need to eat. Many mothers choose to breastfeed their babies, building a nice bond between them that becomes a chore to break once the mom needs to be someplace else for more than 15 minutes.

This granddad found a loophole to trick his grandson into being bottle-fed without any fuss or yelling or crying, and, to be fair, isn’t that always the goal? Let’s get into the story!

A now-viral video was shared by Wendy Rangel on TikTok, in which her dad put a baby bottle through a hole in his t-shirt, the clear nipple of the bottle poking out. He carefully positioned it on his chest so that it wouldn’t move or drop, tapping around it to make sure it stuck.

He then bent down to see whether the milk would come through, Wendy laughing at the scene in the background, all the while the caption read: “My godson won’t take the bottle so my dad tried something.”

Then it was time for the real test – would the baby drink from it? The man holds the child in his arms, trying to carefully position him to drink the milk, while also doing his best not to spill everything on the floor.

The boy seems quite confused at first, as if to say ‘the heck is happening,’ but then the baby boy spots the nipple and latches on instinctively, regardless of whether it belongs to his mom or granddad.

The scene leaves Wendy in stitches, her laughter booming throughout the room, while her proud dad rocks up and down with the baby happily chugging away at the milk.

As you can tell, he’s very proud of his invention. But the real test is – will the baby fall for it?

The video ends with a close-up of the hole with the man’s own nipple sticking out, a wet patch on the T-shirt showing what was left of the milk. He then rubs around it, sighing as if to say he’s sore from all the hard work he’d just put in.

First posted at the end of 2020, the video has since amassed an impressive 8.8M views and almost 2M likes. It was dedicated “to all the dads out there who struggle with their little ones not taking the bottle.”

Oh boy, did I go down a rabbit hole to find out all the reasons for them doing so. You bet I’ma share the findings! This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, so feel free to skip right ahead to the full video below, but to those that are as curious as I was – continue.

Typical signs that the child is averse to the bottle, as described by Mamamade, include skipping meals with no signs of distress, appearing hungry but refusing to eat, becoming tense, crying, or screaming at mealtime.

They also tend to take in very small amounts of milk before stopping to protest, averting their gazes and physically turning away from the bottle. Continuous behavior like this is not only distressing to the baby but the parents as well.

You’d think it’s the same thing, the nipple on the bottle imitating the mother’s, the milk oftentimes coming from the mother herself, so the flavor should be similar – definitely more similar than the formula! The question ‘why???’ plagues most parents, which is a good thing in the sense that it means you’re not alone and a solution must be somewhere out there.

From medical issues to an off temperature in the milk, there are dozens of reasons as to why babies refuse the bottle with a passion.

And it’s a victory! The baby latches on almost immediately, the proud granddad rocking back and forth in encouragement.

Healthline detailed the top seven reasons for babies to flat-out refuse the bottle, starting with wanting to continue breastfeeding, not being hungry enough, feeling too sick or unwell to feed, being held in an uncomfortable position, not liking the temperature, flavor, or texture of the milk, or the bottle itself.

Last but not least, they might have had a bad experience with being bottle-fed before, such as associating it with reflux, gagging, vomiting, or an inferior milk to the one they’d been used to.

Main thing is – don’t panic. Babies cry and act silly sometimes because they don’t know any better. And it is your responsibility as a parent to read their cryptic signs and find the best solution for all of you, especially the baby. They won’t be cooking omelets any time soon, you know. So, what can you do to make the baby love the bottle?

Here’s a bunch of suggestions from WebMD