Missed Opportunity?

Well what a palarva.

What is?

Trying to get CC to take milk from a bottle - that's what!

When he was 6 weeks old (see earlier post) I expressed off a smidgen of milk for BFS to feed him from a bottle. He suckled away no problem (although he didn't finish it - I think the bottle wasn't delivering fast enough) so it gave what now appears to be the false sense of security that he would be like BB and have no problem switching between the two.

Aha no! We didn't give him any more bottles until last week - and it appears that 11 weeks old was just too long to wait. I think there's a wee window of opportunity where you can get them used to the bottle (especially when they don't take a dummy) and if you miss it you make a rod for your own back!

I have an agenda for being so desperate for CC to take the bottle. In precisely 1 week I will be heading down to the lovely Hampden Stadium to see Take That and BFS will literally be left holding the bottle! I will try and leave the most minimal time that I'm away as I'm driving down and back on my own (although a coach ticket from Dundee did arrive with my ticket today - but that would mean leaving at 1pm and not arriving home until the early hours - way too long for a boy who may not feed in that time!). I can leave at teatime and hopefully be back just after midnight (if all goes to plan!) Even still, should CC not take a bottle I imagine I will return to a frustrated and not too happy BFS (broos on chin!)

Last weeks effort was the most atrocious disaster. He got himself so wound up that he subsequently wouldn't feed from me and then eventually screamed himself to sleep. Ever since he's had little episodes of screaming for no reason - as though he's re-living the moment or having panic attacks! I tried him again on monday with me feeding him. I had made the hole a bit too big on the teat and he gulped it down in one breath and almost drowned in boob juice! Never good! Fail.

Tonight I persevered with two different bottles with different teats for 1 1/2 hours - not giving him a feed from me at all. He just kept gagging on the teat and choking. Annoyingly with my stubborness to not give him formula until he's 6 months at least, all of this is wasting what precious little milk I'm able to express. (In fact I hope I manage to produce enough to leave BFS with when I go away!)

Anyways - I finally gave in and let him latch on. Then tried an experiment - with him in his sleepy state (from all of the effort of crying) I slipped out my nipple and slipped in the bottle (which only had about an ounce in it) and the little blighter guzzled it down without complaint! I swiftly replaced said empty bottle with the boob and he carried on oblivious!

Soooo - it's not that he doesn't have the tongue technique to drink from the bottle - he's just being a stubborn little sh1te! I think I may try again tomorrow, but will start with boob in mouth and then bottle and see if I can wean him onto it that way.......wish me luck!