Crunch Time

Well, it's been a while coming, but today we've decided that, after her morning feed, Genevieve isn't getting fed again until she takes it from a bottle.

It is just too difficult and demanding on both of us, and of course especially Naomi, for Genevieve to feed only from the breast. We've bought every different teat in the Melbourne area, as will as trying a 'sippy-cup' and various other tricks gleaned from books, the web and experienced mothers, and they all say that if all else fails, almost all kids will finally drink from a bottle if they're hungry enough. So, armed with a new, silicon peristaltic teat that is supposed to mimick the feel and elasticity of a real nipple, today is the day. Earplugs at the ready!

• 7:15am - Genevieve's first morning feed today came a little later than most, possibly due to the fact that it's the weekend so the alarm was off. We decided that she had better get at least one feed in, although she didn't take too much even though her last night-time feed was at 3am.
• 11:00am - Well, I'd have to say there was a slight amount of success, but only slight. Genevieve was not really interested at all, but there was no chance of caving in as Mummy had left to go do a morning work out at the gym. So armed with the latest in teat technology, I warmed the recently-expressed breast milk, steadied us both in the feeding chair and gave it a go. She pretty-much hated it, but a few times, as she was getting tired, she'd give the bottle a few good sucks. I think, over the course of 10 mins, she probably got about 20 decent sucks in there. That didn't really amount to much in the milk level, but it's a start. She then went to sleep (with a few whingey cries) to await the next round. I hope it gets a bit better than this, or else it's going to be a VERY long day today!
  
• 1:15pm - Mum got home and asked for an update. Genevieve was sleeping peacefully, but seeing how she hadn't eaten much, we didn't expect that to be a long nap. Sure enought, she was awake again around 12. So, after stalling it for as long as I could, I tried again, and again with the super-teat (recently sterilized of course!)
  Poor little Genevieve couldn't decide between "Not happy" and "Hungry", but for two good shots, "Hungry" won out and 50mls of milk disappeared from the bottle in very rapid fashion. There was still plenty of complaining though. So we'll see if next time she gets the hint...
• 2:10pm - She looked like she was getting pretty tired, so we thought we'd put her down for a nap, but there was trying another feed to come first. Not interested at all, and the "Not happy" certainly won out.
• 3:10pm - We were watching King Kong on DVD and there was a quite a loud fog horn at about the 50 minute mark. Both Naomi and I looked at each other, as we thought that it would wake her, and it did. So it was time for another try. Again, she complained, but then latched on and downed 65ml in one go. Little piglet!
• 6:10pm - After running a few errands we did our normal tummy-time and naked-time, then bath and feed before bed. But this time, it was Daddy supplying the feed.
  At first, she didn't seem to be very interested and was grizzling and crying. But then, she was latched on and an astounding 110mls disappeared from the bottle in very quick fashion. Naomi and I then tagged and Genevieve finished off with quite a good pull on the real thing. This was followed very shortly after by a HUGE burp and seconds later Naomi wearing most of what she had contributed.

So, with the exception of the huge spew at the end of the day, we'd have to declare the day a huge success. Of course, she still much prefers the real thing (wouldn't you?), but now we're pretty confident that with a little coaxing she'll take the bottle when hungry. We'll try to give her one every day or two, so she doesn't forget.