Bottle Saga

The bottle saga continues here at my house...

Let me just give you a quick rundown of this....and also so I can have it all in one post ;)

We gave Blakely her first bottle of breast milk when she was 4 1/2 weeks old.  It was a Dr. Brown's and she took it great.  We started giving her one a day or every other day after that.  She would take it from Lonnie, my mom, my dad, my mother in law, and even from me.  

Well the day she turned 8 weeks old she decided that she HATED the bottle.  You would have thought we were trying to put razorblades covered in alcohol into her mouth.  She started screaming, crying, arching her back, flailing her arms, and kicking her legs.  It was a show.  A horrible make you feel like the worst mother in the world show....with real tears people!

I thought this was just a short phase and maybe she was just revolting for a few feedings...ummm NO!  She is now12 weeks old so this has been going on for a month.  

People have told me "Oh she will take it when she gets hungry enough".  This is not true.  She will just cry herself to sleep and skip a feeding.  I am not willing to let her go 24 hours without the food...and I think that is just what she would do.  

I have tried four different kinds of bottles...Dr. Browns, Tommee Tippee, Born Free, and Playtex Natural Latch.  All of these with the level one nipple and also with the level two nipple.  I have a pretty fast let down so I thought maybe she was just getting frustrated with the slow flow.  Not the case.  She screamed at all of them except Tommee Tippee.  She wouldn't scream as much with that one.  She would just play with it.  Roll her tongue around on it, chew on it, make herself gag, etc....  Then after a little bit of that she would flip out and realize she was hungry...

Now let me be clear.  I LOVE that she loves to nurse.  I love it as well and I am so happy that we are able to do it.  I worried so much while I was pregnant about breast feeding.  I wanted it to go well so badly.  I am very thankful that it is and I plan on continuing to do it until she is at least nine months old maybe even a year.  I LOVE BREAST FEEDING....ok, just so you know ;)

BUT, momma wants a cocktail!!!!!  Actually, I really need a cocktail...or three.  I would also like to leave baby with a grand parent so I can get a massage, have lunch with a friend, or just whatever without totally stressing about getting a call that she won't eat and is screaming.  I want her to spend time, without me, with her grand parents.  They want to spend time with her and get to know her without me running around always taking care of things.  Is this too much to ask?  Am I being selfish?  I don't think that I am.  But when your husband has been trying to give your child a bottle for 3 hours and then you get home and feed her and she latches on and eats vigorously, all while staring up at you with leftover tears in her eyes, you feel like shit...total shit.  I have cried about this.  Should I just give up?  Some people tell me that their kids never took a bottle and went strait from boob to sippy cup.  OMG.......

I started pumping pretty early to help with my supply and also because I thought I was going back to work.  I have a ridiculous amount of milk frozen.  So whenever I do decide to stop nursing she will still be able to have breast milk for quite a while after....IF she decides to take a bottle!  Surely I haven't worked this hard just for the milk to go to waste???

We have always tried letting anyone besides me give her the bottle.  Although, I did give her a few in the early days.  Well I think that she has learned now that if anyone else tries to feed her she doesn't want it.  She starts screaming immediately.  I also think that trying with the bottle and then giving up and giving her the boob is totally reinforcing the fact that if she cries at the bottle she will get what she wants.  Smart girl...gotta give her that.  

I also really don't want to mess up the great routine we have going.  Refusing the bottle and not giving the boob means missing a feeding, less calories for the day, and I feel sure that will lead to not sleeping through the night.  So I haven't been trying very hard the past two weeks to give her the bottle.  

Well that changes today.  Lonnie is off next week and it is going to be OPERATION: BABY TAKE THE BOTTLE around here for the next 10 days.  I am not going to worry about messing up our routine...I can always get her back on it.  She must take the bottle....


If she isn't screaming at it then she is just playing with the nipple.  It almost looks like she can't figure out how to latch on to it.  Do y'all think that is possible?  What can I do to help her?  Please please please give me any advice or tips you can think of.  I have tried putting gripe water on the nipple to help her take it and that hasn't worked.... It also seems like the nipples are too long and she gags a lot...I don't have a clue what to do about that.  Help!


Wish us luck!  I am pretty sure we will need it...


And I hope this post makes sense because I don't have time to go back and proof read...baby is waking up!