The battle of the bottle began when Noah was 6 months old. I had been exclusively breastfeeding him and had given him the bottle a few times but for the most part Noah was able to come everywhere with us so I didn't leave him with a babysitter. Around the 6 month mark he drastically dropped on the weight chart at the doctor's office. It was a combination of a growth spurt and me not being able to produce enough milk for him. I was taking drugs to help but it was still not enough. Noah had regressed and gone back to eating every 2 hours day and night like when he was a newborn when he was going 3- 31/2 hours during the day and 4-5 hours during the night. For my sanity and his health I needed to supplement but he REFUSED to take a bottle and so the battle began. With the help of my mom (love you!) we began. My friend had given me a huge bag of Avent bottles which I was excited about because then I would not have to spend money on bottles. Trev and I tried the Avent bottle a home first, one that he had taken in the past. No go. Then I left him with mom, nothing. We tried changing the nipples to stronger flows so that he could taste the formula and possibly be interested. Nope. I changed to a Nuk bottle that had a nipple shape similar to his soother to see if that would stimulate him. No way. I tried a latex nipple that was completely different than his soother. Uhn uh. We tried starving him (within reason), force feeding him, breast milk, formula and juice. No go. I was exhausted and in tears all the time. I was visiting a nurse on a regular basis and talking on the phone with her for help, I was sent to a dietitian and a pediatrician and diligently weighing him every week to make sure things were not getting worse. Next we moved onto the sippy cup. We started out with the Avent sippy cup as I had a huge collection but he didn't know how to suck. I tried taking the valve out so that it would just pour into his mouth and that was a huge mess but sort of worked. At least I was getting something in him. We had been force feeding him with a syringe thingy which took forever! He was really into biting the mouth piece so I bought a sippy cup where you have to bite first and then suck and was hopeless. He got the biting part down but nothing else. I then switched to the Playtex sippy cup as it only had two holes in the mouth part compared to three with the Avent cup and I was hoping it would make less of a mess. Noah was still exclusively breastfeeding but I was trying to get more food into him to sustain him longer. After a while I was getting annoyed with the huge mess it always made so I changed things up again. I still took the valve out but now I taped shut one of the holes so formula was only flowing out of one. It was better but still messy. One day (Tuesday, May 27) he figured it out. I had taken the sippy cup out of my diaper bag and given it to him to drink but I forgot to take out the valve. I always had to put it back in for traveling purposes. He just started sucking away. I thinking he shocked him self when he did as his eyes were so huge. Once he figured it out there was no turning back. For the rest of the week I offered him the sippy cup whenever I could to get him used to it and Saturday was my day of starting to skip a breastfeed and only offer the cup. Saturday morning was his last feed and he never went back. He went cold turkey off the boob and never complained. I was going to give it to him if he really struggled with the transition but he never did. At night I offered him the sippy cup as well. The first night he drank from it but after that he would take 2 sips and then be done. Within the week he was SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!
This lovely cup is my new best friend. It has allowed me to feed my child enough food and of course I can now sleep through the night. Now if he could only learn to hold it himself. If any once needs any sample bottles let me know as I have a collection!
3 comments:
Yay!!! So glad to hear that the struggle is over and you and Noah are happy! Is he drinking just formula now or other things as well? Is he eating any solids yet? Justice has only had formula a couple times, but both times we had some serious projectile vomit, so I'm not sure that it agreed with his stomach! :) It makes me hesitant to try again or to leave him at home yet. He was going 4-6 hours at night too, but recently he must have hit a growth spurt, because it's more like 3-4 hours at night. :P It must be so lovely to be sleeping through the night now! I'm looking forward to that day!
cute!! Now you need to teach him to hold it himself and then you will really feel free.
Hi Cynthia!
Unfortunately, we seem to be having the same problem as you did with Noah in that Justice doesn't want to take a bottle since we've hardly ever needed to give him one in the last 9 months! He is pretty set in his ways by now, so we're having trouble figuring out how to get him to drink from a bottle or sippy cup - he also just seems to want to bite them. I also have a feeling he doesn't like the taste of formula, but that's a whole 'nother issue! I was just wondering if you still have your set of samples & if you might be willing to mail them to us? If so, you could let me know how much the postage cost & if you'd like us to pay you anything for the bottles themselves. You can message me back on Facebook if you want. :)
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