DD (3mo) and I have a great BF relationship. She feeds really well, is happy and thriving. I posted last week about wanting to introduce the occasional bottle of expressed milk so I can have some time off. Last week we had jabs, colds and relentless feeding plus terrible nights and baby and me crying and strung out. This has passed and we're back to normal with much more sleep although she's still snotty and uncomfortable and needy in the morning when she wakes up. I got loads of support from you lovely ladies about introducing a bottle and not to feeling guilty about doing this as I had thought that DH didn't support the bottle. Turns out I misread his comments and he's now on board. So I've expressed some milk over the past few days and given DH the bottle to give her. We've tried it when she's partially fed and awake, fully fed and in the mood to play, tired, cranky and hungry and just hungry. She's taken a pathetic half ounce over 3 days from a bottle. She'll lick it, like it's a new toy, get some milk, enjoy the milk and then head butt and root to the side of the bottle like she's looking for a nipple. She'll repeat this with annoyed cries in between until she gets really upset at which point I've given her the boob. At this point she looks really relieved, gets on the boob big time, closes eyes, hums, strokes, holds my hair. It's like we've traumatised her and she thought the boob had gone away forever!
I can't cope with her crying and I can't be tough on her. But I need a break sometimes and although Dh is very happy to play with her, take her for walks, look after her while I have a bath etc I can't fully relax because I don't know when I'll be needed again. She feeds SO much (1.5 - 2 hours max, sometimes more, apart from at night where she'll go up to 6 hours). I've always had to drink a lot and get thirsty often, so I guess she just takes after me.
How do we get here to take the bottle without her getting upset? Just keep trying? Different teat? Is there something I'm missing?
I don't want her to be unhappy because she is a dream in all other respects. I also have this nagging voice telling me (along with M & mil who had the same experiences with my sisters and DH) that it's too late, she's a booby baby and I just have to get on with it. I don't want to force it on her because this is for me to have time off and not I her best interest.
So far we've tried the avent bottle that comes with the manual pump and Dr. Brown bottles. We've warmed the milk to various temps and tried straight from the boob, freshly expressed. I wondered if I should try NUK or Tommy Tippee bottles?
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Infant feeding
How did you get your boob monster to take a bottle??
22 replies
PrincessChick · 23/09/2013 12:07
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