Thursday, June 13, 2013

Bottle Struggles Galore!

You have never taken to the bottle happily! Ever! Forget happy - I will settle for consistently. And THAT is the problem. We started you on the bottle (Dr. Browns) in your 4th week - about the time most sources recommend for moms that are set to go back to work at 7-8 weeks. You were good the first couple of times so I got lax. And Lazy. And then we gave you a bottle  on a need be basis a couple of times - no issues. Then you developed a slight cold and a cough. Poor you - lil tiny thing coughing - it's heart breaking to listen and know there is nothing much we could do. So I nursed you more often. And by this time the time to go back to work rolled around. I was to work from home a couple of days a week. However we (my mom and I) decided to give her the bottle through the day on all week days. And there began the problem. And a note here that my son has used Dr. Browns with no problems with it! I even bought this one the glass bottles to avoid plastic! Sigh...
She would drink from the bottle but we never knew when. Sometimes she would flatly refuse the bottle. Even if she was famished she would refuse. She would cry and bawl and push the bottle away with her tongue. We then decided to try it when she was hungry enough but not famished. When in a good mood she would push it away playfully, try to swat at it and bite at the nipple. There have been days when all my mom did is try to feed her. She would start with a feed in the morning which would go on for a couple of hours. One hour of drinking and refusing cycle, one hour of mom giving her a break and then trying when she was sleepy. But there is a catch. She had to be the 'right' amount of sleepy. Too sleepy and she would bawl and cry and not drink the milk neither sleep when laid down. Not sleepy enough and she would just not take the bottle. Sigh - this girl has given my very patient mom a test of her patience! With all this happening we decided I would nurse her when she was home and thereby limit this drama to 2 days a week. Then one night being highly frustrated I went home, had dinner and headed straight to the store for bottle shopping! After reading a lot of reviews and other mommy notes online and a very useful link sent by dancer mom, I bought 3 different kinds of bottles that came with good reviews for kids that are primarily breast-fed.
Finally one works - well almost. Tommee Tippee (Thank god the 'BabiesRUs' near us was having it the day I went there as that was on the top of my list.) What that means is she will drink milk from it with way more surety than with any other brand. Now at almost 9 months we can say that she will drink from this bottle. Sometimes she still needs to be falling asleep to take the bottle. Sometimes she will still have a couple of ounces and stop. But overall, she is okay. Whew! And to think that all this just for me to reverse this process in a few months or maybe this only will be easier to wean from the bottle!


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