I had an epiphany while
bottle feeding my daughter today. And I
totally figured out how to feed her without being an ass. It only took me three weeks. That’s assuming we didn’t experience a fluke
today. Which is entirely possible.
Anyway, up until now my wife has been going
to work in the mornings and the only way I’ve been able to feed my daughter is
a half an ounce at a time spread out over 2 hours or so. This pretty much ate up most of my mornings.
Fortunately for the internet and the 21st
century, there are lots of resources for bottle feeding at the same time as
breastfeeding. I had no idea that this
could be so difficult. I always figured
you just stick the bottle nipple in the baby and she gets filled up like a
car. Silly me.
Here is some of what I learned. Feed the baby in an upright position with the
bottle as horizontal as possible. Unlike
the breast, the bottle uses gravity and the milk can just pour out. Apparently, too much of this and the baby
might get used to not having to work for the milk making it harder to breast
feed.
Oh, and here’s a no brainer. The baby likes to breathe between bites. Novel concept I know, but my baby is not my
Prius. So as much as I’d like to just
upend the bottle and have done with it, I actually have to pay attention to my daughter. (What! You mean I actually have to be an engaged parent already?!) When she stops sucking, I tip the bottle down to give her a break. Being an attentive feeder we were able to get
through 2 ounces or more in only about 15 minutes.
Thinking about it now makes me wonder why I
didn’t figure this out before. Just
being an ass, I suppose.
And for those of you who only come here for
pictures of my daughter, here you go.
This is her goal post nap time position.
