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My eldest was a very efficient BFer and she would be done in 5 minutes! My youngest had a bit more struggle but she would never take 15 minutes to feed. That is a long time for sure but every baby and mom is different. Pumping is a whole other story as it is never as efficient as a baby!
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I had a really hard time once when my friend's breast fed baby wouldn't take a bottle even for them. Dad would make DCM leave the house thinking the baby could sense/smell her and would try to bottle feed him and he refused. They tried for over a month.
I felt bad for them and because they're friends and they really did give it an honest try I still accepted him. I tried everything too, different bottles, different nipples, different flows etc and he flat out refused. I though I was going to have to throw in the towel and my friend thought she was going to have to quit her job. I had resorted to feeding him with an dropper to get milk in him.
Then someone on one of those crunchy breast feeding mom groups suggested a cup with a bendy straw saying that the lip pursing and ****ing with those is similar to breast feeding. I went out and got a Munchkin Click Lock Straw Trainer Cup and no kidding within no more than three tries in 2 days he was gulping the milk down like a champ. The part inside moves around picking up the milk no matter what tilt the cup is at so they can even drink from it while reclined.
Later I had the same issue with not being to go anywhere without my own baby daughter because she refused every bottle known to man. I couldn't even go to a DR's appointment without her unless I did it between feedings. I tried one of those same cups and she got the hang of it within 2 or 3 tries.
Since then I recommend it if parents are having issues and it has worked for several people. Worth a shot.
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I am getting one!Comment
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Well, to update... Yesterday's feed was awful. I was so mad that he was getting left that way with me, and I was feeling ready to term.
Then I decided to try DD's old bottles that have thin walls and are kinda squeezable. I also found that I have saved her microwave sterilizer.
He did better. As long as his lips were sealed around the bottle, I squeezed along with him ****ing and he took about 3 oz. But then he had a big bm and between bearing down for that and then the diaper change, he had a big spit up. But he did fall asleep for the rest of his time here, so I guess he felt okay enough to sleep.
Today, after being fed twice before drop off and then sleeping for about 2.5 hours after drop off, feeding was also going badly even with DD's bottles, but I got 50 ml in, and I think he was okay. He had slept since drop off and I was feeding at 11 am.
Even though he had a bm during feeding, I didn't change him for a while--just held him without squishing the poop so that the milk could have a chance to leave his stomach. He had very little spit up this way even though he had been swallowing some air.
Sooo...we got through the day. He sure sleeps a lot, but feeding is pretty bad. At drop off, Mom brought me a thank you note and some homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
I'm thinking that I'll see how the next week goes. And in future, I'll definitely cover the bottle feeding issue better in interviews. Eeek!Comment
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Well today mom brought a different bottle with a flat nipple--brand is called Mam. It's fast flow, but baby did better, but still crying during feed some. THEN I decided to try sing during the feed. It took a couple of minutes, but baby stopped crying and had the rest of his bottle as calm as can be, keeping eye contact with me. I was kinda bobbing my head around a bit too, which seemed to engage him too.
Score one for music!Comment
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OMGOSH that's great! So glad there was an improvement today! happyfaceComment
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You are SO patient. Glad things seem to be improving, or rather, you seem to be finding your groove with him.Comment
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Thanks, guys. It's a good thing babies don't mind if we look bad/smell bad/or sound bad. he he
I have to say though...mom was definitely not filling me in on the real situation with baby's bottle feed. If I can get baby's feeding down, the next challenge might be the parents. Eeek!Comment
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None of us believe it. Been there done that. Stopped taking infants after that last one.Comment
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How did today go?Comment
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He was able to eat pretty well on his bottle, although he was crying at first. I sang to him and after he'd gotten about 1.5 ounces in his tummy, he settled down with a good latch and stopped crying. Then once he was full, he was a happy baby until he got tired. He always fusses a lot when he's tired.
I was able to play with him more today, and he's actually 12 weeks old now, so things should get more and more fun with him.
And I'm charging the same for 4.5 hours of him as I charge for up to 8 hours for an older child, so I feel okay about the effort I'm putting in, and it doesn't get too tiring.Comment
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I am SO thankful for my newest infant, they made sure he accepted a bottle before starting dc. And he's done great!
I need to tell dcm how grateful I am to her.
Now if we can just conquer the napping issues.
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I just want to add something onto this thread that helped just now. I remembered something the nicu OT taught us. It's better to point the bottle nipple more towards the roof of the mouth, not straight back down the tongue. The way you can tell correct position is that the nipple will be about 2/3 full of milk and the top third will be air.
I adjusted it just now for this little guy and it helped him take his bottle.Comment
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