She’ll be 11 weeks old tomorrow. I have to say it has truly been the greatest 11 weeks of my life. Mrs. New Mom has made it terribly easy for me, I must admit. Since she is breast feeding, she gets up with the little one at night. They spend their days together cooing and laughing and reading. My wife has truly made our new little girl, so mild mannered and happy and well adjusted, at 11 weeks. It’s truly incredible. Unfortunately, things get out of control when the latex (or silicone) monster is taken out of the fridge. It’s really tough, wanting your daughter to have what she wants, but knowing that it’s in her best interested to go through the pain of not getting it. Guess that’s parenting?
A little back story. We were feeding our little one breast milk and formula from day one. We made that decision because she was born via a c-section and mom’s boob juice didn’t start flowing right away. Life was great once it did, because we have an infant that would drink from the boobie, drink from a bottle…hell, I bet she would have drank from a McDonalds cup and straw if we tried. Then one fateful day, our pediatrician said “You should consider putting her 100% on breast milk.” So we did. And life was great. The little one ate like a queen and Mom felt closer to her than ever. Of course, we put her 100% on the boob, without thinking that we should give her a bottle every now and then with momma’s nectar inside.
Since Mom is going to be out of town in a few weeks for a few days, we decided to try and put the old bottle back into the mix. Denied. I mean, wow. Our baby is calm, peaceful and mellow to the point where other parents say things like “You have no idea how lucky you are.” I want those same parents to come over when we’re trying to give the sweet mellow flower a bottle. We’ve tried formula and breast milk, both to the same result. We’ve also purchased about EVERY bottle Target has to offer (see above for the first bounty). Crazy thing is, the one bottle that she’s taken more than 1-2 sucks from is a free sample of an old school big ole brown floppy latex nipple bag-style bottle (Playtex Drop-Ins Nurser). Even then, I have to sneak up on her when she’s half asleep or distracted, but once she realizes what’s going on, she lets us know.
We thought it might be the fact that I am Dad, and she associates me with Mom and her (huge!) boobs. So anytime ANYONE comes to our house, we make them give it a shot…and she’ll entertain the notion out of sheer curiosity, I think, for a few minutes (only with the big ole brown floppy) and then, well you get it…
We need help, need some advice here. I’ve read that they’ll eat eventually and it’s OK to let them go a few hours off of schedule. I did try that a few days ago, she was home with me for about 10 hours and at hour 8, she finally gave in and had about 2 ounces of breast milk from a bottle. Add on the other 1 ounce that she accidentally drank as I was trying to get her to take a bottle earlier in the day and she was still way off of her normal daily intake. I can’t bear to do that to her for an entire weekend. And let’s not even talk about when Mom goes back to work and the nanny has to feed her.
I’ll follow-up with our progress, but please if anyone has anything to add, please do.
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I feel your pain.
We started feeding our little one from the bottle about the same time then stopped. That was the worst decision ever. It took a while to get her back on it, but she did.
I would change up the bottle the routine, the location, sometimes I would put the tv on, sometimes she would be outside, sometimes we would rock.
Just keep at it and relax – I know easier said then done.
Our little one finally got back on the bottle and did great with the nanny.
You will get through it.
Your kid will get through it. It did take us awhile. Just wait until the sippy cup. That is an experience in itself.
But back to it. Just make sure the kiddo is getting enough. That young they need to eat. Have you tried finger feeding with a dropper? Your fingernail may feel like it will fall off, but it does work. Offer the bottle first since they seem like they are drinking some.
Thanks for the feedback…so the little one has been constipated and the pediatrician said to give her some prune juice from a bottle. We did, and she latched on and woofed it down. The girl still knows how to eat, that’s a relief. We’re hoping to get her some of momma’s nectar in a bottle tomorrow. Will post a follow-up once we make some progress!
Is she exclusively breastfed? If so, it is completely normal for her to go several days (even up to 10) without having a bowel movement. That is because babies use almost all that is in the milk and have little to excrete. That isn’t constipated. Constipated is hard or dry bowel movements not infrequent.