Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone had any advice as I am at the end of my tether with my little one. I have been breastfeeding since day one with the odd bottle here and there as I had ECS so if my partner were to take baby to see family etc while he was still very little I would stay home and he would have a top up from bottle with either formula or if I felt up to it expressed milk while they were out which would only ever be an hour and a half tops. Even up until 13 weeks or so he would still have the odd bottle here and there during the day to give me a break. My partner started working longer hours around this time and there was no need for me to give baby a bottle as I was always with him. By around 16 weeks he went to my mother in laws from around 11am till 5pm and didn’t touch a drop of the bottle. This has been the case ever since. He was born with slight tongue tie so I am unsure if this has anything to do with it as he will and has only ever taken to Tommee Tipee dummies as the teet isn’t slanted, any other dummy he will spit back out. So since this episode at the mother in laws I have been trying to get him back on the bottle so that if it came to it he would take to it without me being there. I was initially trying with Tommee Tipee closer to nature bottles as that is what he would have at the beginning, I would try my partner would my sister and my mum along with my partners family and all little one would do is knock it out or hands, push it away from his face, turn his head the opposite way keep his mouth close and or scream the place down. This is even before he is at the really hungry stage by the way. After constantly trying with this I bought a Nuk bottle, after reading review about the nipple shaped teat etc I thought what could go wrong.. exactly the same reaction I got from this bottle as to the other. I then bought TT sippy cups, Nuk sippy cups and all of these got the same reaction. Last Monday I bought a bottle in Tesco for £1 thought what can go wrong, it has a long thin teat with less teat underneath if that makes sense as he is teething quite badly on and off so I thought this shouldn’t affect his gums too much. I also picked up some baby juice while there and then once home put the juice in the bottle put to his mouth and he began sucking away! I continued to do this on and off in the day and he carried on reacting to it amazingly! Got to about 3/4pm he wasn’t at his hungry stage yet but was almost getting there so I filled the bottle with expressed milk.. back to the beginning with the bad reactions, filled with formula and the same again. I am at the stage now where I really would just love to be able to get at least 3 hours alone without worrying he will be screaming for my boob and he will be content with daddy feeding him from bottle. I have been asked out by friends tomorrow night and I have been shrugging it off for weeks but I am so down in the dumps I could really do with a night off. I always bath him every night, then put him on boob, then massage him and he will lay in his cot for a short while then send himself off to sleep. I am thinking if I were to go tomorrow night however worrying it may be if I were to leave once he has fed and settled. Would it be such a bad idea to let dad deal with him for a while and let baby see that if he becomes stubborn he can’t just get what he wants. Surely if worst comes to worse dad can syringe him the milk or spoon feed him it mixed with a bit of rusk to toughen it a bit? I know a lot of it is for comfort especially at night but if I don’t leave him soon the harder it will be when I do eventually. I mean I will be gone 3-4 hours max but I am just so worried about how things will be at home. I have gone out once since baby was born nearly 6 months ago and within an hour and a half I was in the cab home running up the stairs to a screaming baby to feed him. Do they eventually give up in the end and take the bottle when they become sure that you aren’t there to feed or will it be a night of hell? Has anyone experienced the same sort of thing? Sorry for long post just feeling really down and alone at the moment as I don’t ever get a breather x