Bottle Bootcamp

Grace, please remember what to do
with this bottle!

In continuing our "daycare prep", we decided to do bottles of pumped milk with Grace as much as possible in this last week before I go back to work.  Unfortunately, I'm learning that bottle refusal is an actual, true problem.  Actually, for me right now, instead of a problem, it is a nightmare.

Breastfeeding has become so easy.  It's just a calm, peaceful time when I hold her in my arms, and she feeds as long as her heart desires.  Sometimes she'll doze off after, but no matter what, there are no tears involved in it. And hopefully, we can get bottle feeding to be like this as well.  But right now (as of the past two days), when we offer the bottle, she screams bloody murder, for hours.  We are both completely worn out from trying different positions and times of day and bottle temperatures, etc.

A few friends had actually told us about bottle refusal, and I (naively) thought to myself that this wouldn't be a problem for us.  I thought, "a baby can't refuse something, you just make her take it".  Well, she can refuse her bottle. Here's how: by opening her mouth as wide as possible and letting out shrill screams.  There's no way she can suck a drop of milk down when she's doing this.  Especially when it seems like you're torturing her.

Please baby, please please drink this!

The hardest part for me when she is sobbing and crying refusing the bottle, is knowing that I could just breastfeed her right then and it would calm her and fill her belly all at once.  Especially when she turns her head right to my breast, opens her mouth wide, and almost gets a mouthful of sweatshirt. But, that won't help her next week at all.

So, bottle bootcamp has commenced.  This week I will nurse her before bed, I'll nurse her in the middle of the night wake ups, and first thing in the morning.  But every other feeding other than those will be from the bottle.  This is not desirable on my part, because it involves pumping (a big pain) plus bottle feeding.  BUT, it's what has to be done in order to make sure she will eat next week from my mom and from Nemeh at daycare.

Success! Thank goodness!

She took 4 bottles total throughout the day Sunday, thank goodness, but not without a hunger strike first on her part and many many tears from both her and me.  It's a terrible feeling, that your baby might not be getting her full nourishment. 

I've always known that a part of parenting is making your child do the tough thing when it is the best thing for them.  I know that when she's in elementary school and wants to eat sugary cupcakes for snack, it's up to us as her parents to refuse no matter how many tears she cries.  When she's in middle school, and wants to watch TV instead of studying for a test, it's up to us to force the studying, no matter what kind of tantrum we get.  When she's in high school, and wants a later curfew like her friends, it will be up to us to refuse.

I just didn't realize that this would start at 3 months old.  She wants the breast.  She needs the bottle. Our first battle of the wills. So, bottle bootcamp has begun and will continue all week.