Hello all,
My DD will be 12 weeks this Friday and we have had issues with introducing a bottle to them since they were 6 weeks old. They are exclusively breastfed because it made sense at the time despite how demanding it's been. The upside is they have been gaining weight and have been feeding well.
I am both nervous and worried about how I've gone about it. We try to give a bottle in the afternoon when my husband's home to help, I haven't had the time or the confidence to try it my myself. First we tried with nuk bottles with some expressed milk I pumped and stored beforehand. After heating it up and giving it to them. They took 2oz before getting upset and crying. To not taking any at all a few times after that.
Since then we have tried formula and I have tried 2 types of bottle with teat (including nuk) and two types of formula (cow and gate and sma) each time we've tried. DH has been the one to give them the bottle and each time we put the teat in and they taste it, they immediately get upset and scream their heads off. I have even tried giving them the bottle but the same thing happens. Despite repeatedly calming them down and trying again, they would get upset and scream and I would eventually give in and breastfeed them and they instantly calmed down and fed.
These failed attempts have led me to be reluctant to introduce a bottle as I found their distress to be too much and because they haven't taken to it I'm worried they never will. This has also led to me not wanting to attempt it every evening due to having the stress of finding time during the day to clean and sterilise to bottles, boil and store the clean water and finding the whole prep aspect overwhelming, especially if after doing all of that. The baby refuses the bottle and we're right back at square one.
There are a number of reasons to why I wish to do both and eventually have them be bottle fed.
The first reason is - daddy and baby bonding. Ever since I found out I was pregnant, we have both loved the idea of him feeding our little one and to have that connection.
The second reason is - going back to work. I hope that by the time baby is 5 months old at least. I will be able to schedule to go back and do my KIT days at work and be able to leave them at home with either dad or a family member knowing they won't need me for food. I won't be in a position to go home and feed nor will it make sense for whoever is looking after baby to come in all the time for me to feed them, especially if I'm not readily available due to my work schedule. We plan to have them go into nursery when they're 9 months old a few days a week once I've gone back to work part time before eventually going full time.
The third reason is - to have a break from it all. Whether it's going out somewhere with baby and being able to give them a bottle out and about or being able to go somewhere ALONE or out on a nice dinner date with hubby and having someone look after them and feed them would be a dream.
The two types of teat we've tried are nuk and Tommy tippee. I'm convinced they hate the Nuk ones but are okay with the Tommy tippee teat. However they don't appear to like the taste of either cow and gate or sma. So tonight i have put one of my pumped bags from the freezer to defrost in the fridge to try later. Hopefully with the combination of the Tommy tippee teat and my own breast milk heated to the right temp, we'll finally get somewhere.
But am I overthinking this? I think since having my LO I've found being a mum to be both rewarding and quite demanding. I stupidly thought they would take to a bottle easily and yet here I am 6 weeks after our first attempt and we've gotten no where. We have attempt this about 6 times I reckon.
Deep down I hate how this whole experience has been like so far and so any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.