ds took a bottle of ebm... I cried!!

[Jeanne_L]

nak

so my mom's in town this weekend (she lives far away and we won't see her again until march or april). i wanted her to be the one to give ds his first bottle... he's 5 weeks today which might be a little early but i guess i feel like our breastfeeding is going really well...

anyway, he took the bottle, drank 3 oz (though he seemed a bit overwhelmed by the flow, even with the Avent newborn nipple). it was so traumatic for me, though. i wasn't expecting it to be fun, but i broke down in tears and had to leave the room. i felt like some kind of wedge or wall was between us (ds and i) or like my heart was breaking... kind of dramatic i know... when i nursed him just a little bit later it seemed like all was right with the world. (sigh of relief) i'm not planning to start work again for a while yet (probably in march)... i am glad he took the bottle but it was still hard, ykwim?

[birthjunkie27]

:hug sorry it was so hard for you. we tried giving samara a bottle of ebm but she wouldn't take it. :( I *want* her to take a bottle so that if there's ever a time she needs it, she can be fed by dh or someone else. I don't plan on going to work or anything, but my friend is getting married next month. I'm in the wedding and plan on bringing samara with...but for the bachelorette party...well, I don't think I want to bring her to that. :lol We have the Avent Isis pump and bottles....I thought she'd take it. I guess we'll just have to keep trying.

[kindacrunchy]

i reacted the same way with my first. it is heartbreaking. hugs to you!

[amygoforth]

:hug

Oh, mama... I did the exact same thing when my first took his first bottle. It totally killed me to see him getting nurishment from something other than me (which is kinda irrational since it was MY milk he was drinking). Anyway, I left the room in tears too. It gets easier. My 7-wk-old has had a bottle of bfm from both my mom and mil, and I haven't seen it either time.

[MistyB]

; (

NOT that it in any way makes it easier at all but maybe just TRY to view it as essential to make it easier for your baby in the future. Yes, a bottle is not necessary if you will always be able to SAH and will never be gone for more than an hour or so. If you go back to work and don't plan to use a cup...a bottle is pretty much your option. Yes it sucks having that "unnatural" feeling using a bottle.

But I really really really do think after years of experience helping and talking to BF moms...that earlier tends to be better. As long as you wait until nursing is well established and then still make sure that you always BF WAY WAY more than feed EBM. I have seen too many moms avoid the bottle and EBM for fear of not wanting to go "there" and then when their child really needed the EBM (returning to work, emergency etc), baby would not take it as they had no clue how to deal with a bottle nipple. Mom was stuck, baby was hungry...it was a really crappy situation all around. Many older babies who have never had a bottle can take them easily, many can not.

FTR...my 9 week old gets 1-2 bottles of EBM a week. She will not drink much of it (2 oz) BUT I know that if she needs it for any reason, she can drink some pumped milk and the bottle won't be entirely foreign.

[StarCat]

We can NOT get Sada to take a bottle and I go back to work in 2 wks. I'm starting to freak out a little! We NEED her to take a bottle. :( I wish we didn't but we do.