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Monday, April 5, 2010

bottle diaries

We introduced Little Edward to the bottle very early in his life, and he loved it. This photo was taken 10/24/09 almost one month after E's birth. Big Edward was able to give him a bottle with ease whether I was right there or not. He would also give one bottle in the night to give me a rest in the early days (such a great dad and husband)!
We used these bottles - Breast Flow by First Years. They simulate the breast and the mechanism of let-down. I highly recommend these if your baby has a hard time with other bottles.

Then one day after Christmas, when E was almost three months old, he would not take a bottle. He refused the bottles he used to like and every other bottle that I could find within reason. He didn't like breastmilk or formula, warm or cold, from a bottle at all. I even tried to let other people give him bottles with me out of the house and nothing worked.
I resigned to the fact that he would not take a bottle and would plan my trips to town accordingly. It takes thirty minutes to get in to town and that would leave me with at most an hour and a half to run errands, etc. Needless to say, I have not gotten a pedicure since before he was born!
I researched online and this problem is not uncommon. People had all the same advice and none of it was working for us. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy nursing, but just knowing that he could have been taken care of by someone else would have been a weight off my shoulders during those hormonal months!
Today, Little Edward took TWO bottles from ME! I couldn't believe it, and they were filled with formula instead of breastmilk. He was in his high chair eating brunch (applesauce) and something came over me to see if he would take a bottle. He, of course, refused. I tried again and again to no avail. Then, I dipped the nipple IN the applesauce, offered it to him, and he took it!! Amazing. I only had to dip the first bottle two times and he chugged it down. The second bottle was with dinner and I only had to dip it in the beginning for him to start to drink!
Sure there are a few caveats in my methods right now, but I will work them out as we press on.

2 comments:

Sara K said...

Great idea missy! See, this "natural motherhood instinct" thing comes in spurts and you just have to take what you can get. Don't get cocky though, because if you're like me, you'll forget it all when the next baby comes around. Okay- you probably aren't like me, but I can hope I'm semi-normal.

CaseyWiegand said...

awww yay!!! btw, his Easter pics are SO STINKIN CUTE...I love yall so much. He is getting more handsome by the day!