Yeah, except for NOT

bottles, bleh…

I NEED HELP!

We tried giving Lilli a bottle for the first time on Saturday. It has not gone well at all. These are the things we’ve tried so far:

Try 1: Saturday, pl@ytex drop ins, I stood in the doorway biting my nails will Buno sat in our usually feeding spot-glider w/ boppy pillow, at our usual feeding time (so she was hungry), and attempted to give screaming baby a bottle

Try 2: Sunday, Nuk bottle (same brand as her pacifier that she doesn’t really take, but kinda does on occasion if I hold it there), I went in the back bedroom and shut the door, Lilli was sleeping in the swing and Buno gave her the bottle, she was sleeping most of the time and a lot just dripped out of her mouth. It went a lot better, no screaming-probably because she was mostly asleep!

Try 3: Tuesday, Nuk bottle again, I went to the back bedroom and shut the door. Buno started out with her sleeping in the swing again, but she woke up and was pissed. So he got her out of the swing and held her on the couch and tried to calm her down and tried to give her the bottle again. It did not work and I came out of the bedroom in less then 10 minutes.

All of the things I’ve read have said to only try for 10 minutes and if she’s super upset to quit and try again later. I’ve also read that someone other than the mom should be the one giving the bottle, and that the mom should leave the house or stay out of smelling/hearing distance.  Both Try 2 and Try 3 we did at an early time, so we knew she wasn’t starving.  We’re trying to do this at least once a night because Buno usually gets home from work around 4:45ish. I know we’ve only tried 3 times, but I’m getting really nervous because my mom is going to baby sit all morning on the 27th of this month and then I have to start going back to school August 10. She has to take a bottle!  It will make the daycare transition miserable if I know my baby isn’t eating for 8+ hours during the day. I’m already dreading going back to work! And “dreading” is putting it lightly!

Please help!

If you’d prefer to email me, email me at yeahexceptfornot@gmail.com

July 15, 2009 - Posted by yeahexceptfornot | about me | | 7 Comments

7 Comments »

  1. I wish I had some advice for you, but I’d be just as lost. Good thinking — putting it on the blog. I’m sure there are tons of women out there who will enjoy giving you advice on this one.

    Comment by Angela | July 15, 2009

  2. I’m not sure because I didn’t bf… so no transition. Have you tried visiting babyzone.com yet? You can go to a page with other moms who’s babies were born in May so they’re all going through about the same thing at the same time. I bet you could get TONS of ideas there.

    Comment by Christina | July 15, 2009

  3. You are doing the right thing when you said you were letting your husband feed your little one and also leaving the house. The only input that I could give, and I did BF both of my sons, 1 for 12 months and the other 13 months. I too had trouble getting my babies to take a bottle but I will tell you that the baby will NOT starve itself. Just think of it as a battle of the wills and she is testing yours. You didn’t say but I am assuming that you are putting breast milk in your bottles and not formula because if your using formula your milk production will decrease, not sure if that is what your wanting. Good luck and if you have any more questions you can e-mail me. Just think of as your first of many battle of the wills with your little one.

    Comment by Sybil | July 15, 2009

  4. I could give you an Avent bottle and nipple to try. People swear by them, and we’ve certainly had great luck with them. Shelly would have better tips than me because I don’t have breast feeding experience.

    Comment by laugheveryday | July 16, 2009

  5. I only breastfed Sarah for two weeks, and then she took a bottle because she was starving! So I quit bf….she will eat when hungry enough…you just have to wait it out. I did see an episode of Yes, Dear recently where the dad dressed in the mom’s clothes and put the bottle up against his chest to feed the baby…not sure if it will really work, but it would be funny to see Dale try! LOL
    Seriously, good luck. I agree, it is a test of wills. And little girls can be very headstrong!

    Comment by Lynn | July 16, 2009

  6. Logan still breastfeeds, but whenever we need to feed him a bottle, we use the Adiri Natural Nursers–they have more of the shape and feel of a breast. The first time we gave this bottle, he didn’t miss a beat! Even though he gets a bottle pretty infrequently, he still has no problem taking to it.

    My only complaint is that you REALLY have to make sure the end is screwed on correctly or else it can leak when you set it down–not fun!

    Anyway, here is the website for the bottles if you wanted to learn about them: http://www.adiri.com/. You can find them at Babies R Us.

    Hope that helps!

    Comment by Jess | July 19, 2009

  7. I am friends with your sis-in-law, and I came over here from her blog to see pictures of your cute little girl!

    I thought I’d comment because I was totally in your position just a few months ago – my daughter is almost 9 months old (and my son is 3 1/2), and they both hated bottles pretty much until they started using cups. When I went back to school (I’m a teacher, too), they took bottles that were warmed to exactly 98.6 degrees when the person feeding them held them sort of sitting up, facing out, not in the same position as nursing. They ate because they were hungry and really only about 2-3 ounces at a time (my son never took more than this, even when he was close to one), and pretty much saved themselves until I came home. Then, they would nurse for a LONG time when I got home. We use Born Free bottles for my daughter, and she likes the level 1 nipple (it’s the slowest flow, which is the most like nursing – my son used the slowest flow the whole time he used bottles). It is heartbreaking, but it definitely gets easier once you get into a routine.

    Comment by Sara | July 21, 2009


Leave a comment

« Previous | Next »