In the weeks before James started daycare, there was a frantic effort to get him to drink from the bottle. It was unsuccessful. Here are six of the seven different kinds of bottles/nipples that we tried.
On Monday morning, his first at daycare, four different staff members tried to get him to take the bottle. (I sent him in with the BreastFlow bottle that day -- the one on the far left.) Now, an ounce and a half was missing from that bottle when they were done, but I am unconvinced that it actually was swallowed by him. Rather, I think it dripped on the daycare ladies and on James's jammies.
I showed up at lunchtime to nurse the boy.
In the afternoon another staff member works in the infant room. Her name is Susan and she tried draping James as if he were being breastfed. He ate the whole 3 oz bottle that time.
Meanwhile, that afternoon I phoned the lactation consultant who'd helped me with Jack two years ago in California. (She'd been on vacation last week when I called there and talked to her staff.)
She suggested trying the Playtex natural latch nipple again, but going with the fast flow.
So today James went in with the fast flow nipples. He had a scant 2 oz. of a 4 oz bottle in the morning, after an hour of effort by his main teacher who was unsuccessful using the drape technique.
I came in to nurse the boy at lunchtime again.
And in the afternoon Susan was in a different classroom! So James didn't eat in the afternoon at all, in spite of repeated efforts by the teacher who was there.
It makes me so sad to think my boy is hungry and is not eating. It just makes me want to cry. And all this emotion comes during a week when I am dead tired from being back at work. Trying just to take it a day at a time here.
Can Susan show everyone else her technique??
Sorry you're so exhausted - it's awful.
Posted by: maggie | October 17, 2007 at 09:44 AM
That sounds really frustrating. However, I just want to throw out some ideas. Are you sure he's really hungry? My baby when I was EPing at that age only had about 19-20 oz a day, so each feeding might be only 2-3 oz. I'm just saying that he might not need to drink as much as you're thinking, and in some ways it might be okay if you decide to think of him as doing reverse cycling nursing, where they just take in a lot more when they are with you because they don't like the bottle. It also might not be the bottle, just the environment. My baby was, of course, absolutely used to the bottle, but at four months we were auditioning childcare so she was at the babysitter's and was hungry and just would NOT take a bottle from her, and was fine and just ate more when I fed her. Anyway, all I'm saying is that it doesn't necessarily mean he's starving. And I'm sure as he gets more used to everything the situation will change. Best of luck!
Posted by: Eva | October 17, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Sorry about the not eating from the bottle. Hope he takes to it soon!
Posted by: isabel | October 17, 2007 at 10:31 AM
No baby ever starves himself. If he wants to eat, he will.
Really.
Truly.
I'm not joking. He IS FINE!
Posted by: Aurelia | October 17, 2007 at 12:14 PM
I dealt with this exact same thing with my son (who is now over a year old) when I returned to work when he was 8 weeks old. He never took well to a bottle, the most he would ever drink was 2 oz. and it was very concerning at first. I always nursed him on my lunch and he more than made up for any missed feedings in the evening. He never had ANY problems gaining weight and I always made sure to pump for the missed feedings, even though I knew he wouldn't end drinking any of it, to maintain my supply for the weekends. Good luck!
Oh, and I always had the best luck with the Avent bottles :-)
Posted by: Tara | October 25, 2007 at 05:01 PM