Two steps forward, one step back

Isn't it funny the things we will do to try to keep our babies happy little people? This weekend I read a lot on the internet about other parents who also had problems getting their little ones to take a bottle and all kinds of tricks they used to feed their babies! One involved running the vacuum cleaner whilst bouncing at the same time as being swaddled. I think we would all stand on our heads if it would keep our babies happy (and get them to eat!).
I don't know why, but on Friday evening I decided to give May the empty bottle to play with whilst she was in her baby chair watching me cook dinner. There were no tears and she actually seemed quite interested in it, putting it in her mouth. Then again, licking everything in sight is her favourite past-time at the moment, so that wasn't all that surprising. I got on the floor to be beside her chair and she had a good time playing with the bottle, perhaps it was time to try a bit of milk in it? A quick expression of just one ounce and a few minutes later I gave her back the bottle. Now, she didn't exactly 'drink' it, she still hasn't really figured out that if she sucks on the bottle she will get milk, but some milk did end up in her mouth and there wasn't a negative reaction at all. A small victory in itself. Though she did spend most of the time blowing into the bottle rather than sucking anything out! I think she might have swallowed somewhere up to half an ounce, though it's hard to tell how much she ate versus what she ended up wearing on herself.
Then I took the teat off the bottle and gave her the milk from the bottle like it was a cup. Again, she ended up with most of it down her clothes, but she started to lap at the side of the bottle, like she figured out that milk was coming from there so she needed to suck at it. Progress perhaps? As it got so close to bed-time the bottle was retired for the day, but I am remaining hopeful that it will be possible to feed her whilst she is at daycare. For now giving her the bottle in the infant seat is certainly taking the stress out of the situation and no tears makes us all much happier. From what I have read a lot of breastfed babies like the laytex/rubber teats and many parents found that worked for them. Today we will be heading back to the baby shop to pick up a couple of them to try and see how that goes, I'll keep you posted (and must take some pictures now that there isn't a screaming and upset baby involved!)

How bottle feeding is going (or how bottle feeding is not going)

With just four more weeks until daycare, the clock is ticking and it is making that tick tock sound ring loudly in my ears. It is an anxious time thinking about my baby being apart from me and how she will react to that, but I am hopeful that she will adapt and thrive. What is more concerning is the lack of progress we have made towards bottles. For now the bottle is mainly a toy, a chew toy at that. It has been a painful process, which has involved some tears, but we are trying our best to let May explore the bottle and get used to it. This weeks small victory is that she actually sucked on an empty bottle twice, perhaps for a grand total of 1 minute (if even!), but that is a step up from simply chewing on it. That actually feels like a huge leap to me, so I'm remaining hopeful. Last weekend we tried putting some milk in it, that was not received very well, so it was back to playing with an empty bottle this week. I am hoping we can try some milk in it again this weekend given our little bit of progress in the sucking department, wish me luck!