Bottle Bootcamp 2014

Well, I can successfully report out that all three of us have lived to tell about Bottle Bootcamp 2014: our attempts to get little JB to take - perhaps even enjoy? - a bottle.  WHEW, we have a stubborn little guy on our hands!

Let me back up and explain why we even had to do Bottle Bootcamp.  If you remember from one of my early updates, I mentioned that JB took his first bottle like a champ at Week 2.  We proceeded to give him a bottle a day, and he proceeded to not be bothered how he got his milk (just as long as someone was feeding him on a regular, frequent schedule).  Then we hit Week 5, when all hell broke loose, and JB decided to go on a nursing strike and scream bloody murder when I tried to feed him.  Cue MAJOR FREAK OUT by Mama, removal of all bottles from his sight, lots of calls with the lactation consultant, and fears that my little newborn was already weaning.  The lactation consultants suggested he had nipple confusion^, and that with a lot of skin-to-skin bonding and on-demand breastfeeding I could get him right back on the boob.

It wasn't until a week later when another lactation consultant/RN said, "I think this poor baby has reflux".  Sure enough, he wasn't weaning - he was in pain!  We got confirmation from our pediatrician, who sent me home with some prescriptions and a warning that we should get those bottles back out before he forgot that he liked them.

But it was too late.

Not only did he forget that he liked them, he decided that he hated them.  We tried everything that they advise on the subject, from different bottles, to different people feeding him, to feeding him with a piece of my clothing around the bottle, etc.  Our sweet friends all brought over their favorite bottle types in hopes it would trigger a positive response.  But it progressively got worse and worse until he just wouldn't take one sip from anything.  Oh, and would scream like a wild banshee if someone even tried.

Stop trying to force bottles on me, you clowns.

Because I go back to work full time today, we decided that we should get him on the bottle before we turn him over to our sweet nanny.  We like this lady and really don't want her to quit because our screaming youngin' fights her each and every feeding!

Thus, Bottle Bootcamp 2014 took place this weekend.  Only bottles for 48 hours.  Mama was closed up for business (well, to the little guy at least - my pump and I were constant companions), and Daddy was armed with his nerves of steel.

First bottle, WAAAAAAAH.  James got maybe an ounce in him before the little guy just passed out from pure exhaustion.  Second bottle came from me, and....what do you know...HE ATE THE ENTIRE THING!  The rest of our weekend was pretty much a mixture of JB liking his bottle* and JB putting up a fight before reluctantly taking his bottle. (Only a few times did he say "No Way, Jose" and skip a meal.)

Why are you doing this to me!?

Whatevs, you win.

Of course that little heartbreaker would whine and try to bury his face in my chest every time I held him.  I resisted, of course, but imagine I'll need to discuss this with my therapist for years before I'm over the trauma of it all.

Based on the fact that our child did not starve AND there were not as many tears from JB (or Mama) as anticipated, I declare Bottle Bootcamp 2014** a success!  What's more, he still took a bottle from the nanny (on the second attempt), even after I nursed him this morning.   Here's hoping this positive trend continues - Yea!

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^ I know nipple confusion is a real thing and make no claims to have a lot of lactation expertise. However, I feel like experts should warn about reverse nipple confusion, too!

* JB decided that the Born Free is the most tolerable bottle. Not a problem, of course, except for the fact we only have 2 of those, amongst the 45 other bottles in the drawer.  But I'm not complaining too much...

** Our goal is that there will be no Bottle Bootcamp 2015, 2017, etc.  Next baby(ies) will get a bottle every single day, starting at Week 2 - before they get out of that go-with-the-flow newborn phase and realize they have strong opinions about such things.