Breaking in the Bottle
So we missed the mark. We never gave Gunnar a bottle early on because, well I never thought to. Breast feeding was going well and frankly the thought never crossed my mind. What a MISTAKE! I didn't realize that by neglecting to introduce him to the bottle I was setting myself up for being attached to G permanently for 6+ months.
It wasn't until Gunnar's 2 month checkup that the Pediatrician asked about the bottle. She suggested we start offering it nightly to get him used to it. So we tried...for 2 weeks. I tried several different kinds of bottles. Different nipples. Bottle after bottle...
He just played with it and didn't eat.
Finally 2 weeks in he took a bottle
from his Grandma Kathy. (The bottle that worked was the Playtex Drop-in's and Kathy thinks it helped that you could sort of squeeze the liner and get milk to flow into his mouth.) Victory! Sort of. Not really. In the weeks that followed Gunnar rarely if ever took another bottle. It's on his terms. He's taken a total of 6 successful bottles.
Meanwhile the supply of milk in the freezer is multiplying. And now with Gunnar sleeping 10-12 hours at night...I am pumping every night just to relieve the pressure. Will he ever take a bottle? I don't know...He does like to hold the bottle...that's a start. All I know is we'll keep on trying...maybe eventually we'll graduate to offering the sippy cup! But until then...I can't leave G for longer than 3 hours at any given time. Good thing I have no reason to...yet.
It wasn't until Gunnar's 2 month checkup that the Pediatrician asked about the bottle. She suggested we start offering it nightly to get him used to it. So we tried...for 2 weeks. I tried several different kinds of bottles. Different nipples. Bottle after bottle...
He just played with it and didn't eat.
Finally 2 weeks in he took a bottle
from his Grandma Kathy. (The bottle that worked was the Playtex Drop-in's and Kathy thinks it helped that you could sort of squeeze the liner and get milk to flow into his mouth.) Victory! Sort of. Not really. In the weeks that followed Gunnar rarely if ever took another bottle. It's on his terms. He's taken a total of 6 successful bottles.
Isaac wasn't a bit bottle fan. He only took it from my boss when I had my gallbladder out and he was starving (he was five months). We did find that he did better with a sippy cup with breastmilk. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteKenna will only take it if the milk is fresh. None of that frozen stuff! She's very particular.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope he takes a bottle soon. Lidunn was about 8.5 months old when she finally started taking a bottle and it was not by choice. I got hyperthyroid after having her and could no longer breast feed her due to the meds I had to take. The first 24 hours were HORRIBLE. She refused to take a bottle and screamed constantly because she was hungry. She eventually took it though. With Brynje I vowed to myself that he would learn to take a bottle from an early age so that I did not have to be with him at all time. But, that did not happen. He refused to take a bottle and never did learn. We went right to the sippy cup. He learned how to drink from a sippy cup pretty early on and would drink anything out of it. The only time he took a bottle was when my parents watched him once so Erlend and I could go on a date. Never again. I hear that the best way to get success with a bottle is to make sure you are never the one giving it to him. Why would he take the bottle when the real thing is right there? In fact, many told me that I should not even be in the same room when trying to get my kids to take a bottle because if they saw me they would want the real things. Never worked for us but maybe you could have some luck with those tips. Good luck!! -Kendra
ReplyDeleteMaking sure it was REALLY REALLY warm (obviously not scalding) really helped my kids. Good luck! Mommy needs a break sometimes! :-)
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