The Bottle

As I was surfing the web yesterday, something reminded me that I need to introduce the bottle to Renee, and fast! Experts recommend giving a breast-fed baby a bottle between 6-8 weeks of age so that they accept the bottle as a means for eating. Otherwise, if I need to be away from Renee for whatever reason, she might not want to suck on a bottle, which will make life very difficult for the babysitter. Renee is already 10 weeks old, so I'm a little panicked.

I gave her a bottle yesterday and she didn't take it. She gagged and almost threw up; and, when she throws up, it's always a major event. It's possible she didn't take the bottle because the breast milk was not perfect. I defrosted some breast milk I had stored in the freezer. Maybe the temperature wasn't right. Or, maybe she could taste something funny about it. I tried to defrost the milk as slowly as possible to avoid degradation, but in the end, I submerged the container in really hot water to speed up the process. A crying baby will make you rush such things.

I'm going to try again this weekend while Trevor is around to help. When Renee is ready to eat, I'll have him stall her while I pump. Then we'll immediately give her the bottle which will factor out the temperature and funky-taste problems.