teapot wrote:
So you six weekers are expressing? I was told to wait in case of
nipple confusion. Has it all been ok then?
Caterpillar had a bottle right before she turned 4 weeks,
which was earlier than is generally recommended. She hated
the bottle, and it was a trial to get her to eat the ounce
in it. Then I topped her up from the source, which pleased
her very much. Since then, she's gotten better about taking
a bottle, but she's stopped taking her pacifier.
Apparently, a plastic thing that sometimes produces milk and
sometimes confuses her; if milk comes out of plastic things,
then she won't take one if she's not hungry, and won't be
satisfied unless milk is forthcoming if she is hungry.
Our routine has been that she never gets a bottle from me,
and she never gets a bottle after nursing. If I'm around,
and she needs to take a bottle, and I wasn't able to pump
enough for a full feeding, she gets bottle first, then
nursing as a reward. If I'm not around, and I wasn't able to
pump enough for a full feeding, then she has to wait until I
am around. So I'm hoping that she'll learn that mama is
easier than bottle, and that bottles run out and mama doesn't.
I also pump as much as she drinks that day, so if she's
getting a 3 ounce bottle I pumped yesterday, I pump at least
3 ounces today (which usually goes in the freezer).
She gets somewhere between 2 bottles a week and a bottle
every two weeks, so most of my pumping goes to freezer stash.
I am desparate for a hour
to myself but feel so guilty if I leave him with my boyfriend that ist
just not worth it. FTR bloke is very happy to take him but cant cope
iwth the crying when he is hungry.
Can he cope with the crying when he's not hungry? Does he
have the patience to feed a baby who doesn't realize the
bottle has milk, and can't figure out how to get it out?
(It took about an hour and 3 tries to get that first ounce
of milk into Caterpillar.)
Any chance of picking an hour when he's not likely to be
hungry? Nurse and burp and nurse and change diaper and
nurse again, then hand him off quick while you run out? I
wouldn't have any qualms with trying a 6-week-old who was
nursing well on a bottle, but I'm not sure that'll solve
your problem.
Phoebe
