26 Weeks 1 Day Old

Remember when I was worried about Von Bebe taking a bottle a couple of months ago? (It seems like a life time now)
   Well check this out.

Try not to be distracted by the 60s retro shirt.  
   She's a champ and soon won't even need me to hold the bottle for her.  In fact, I think if I showed her how to defrost the milk and bottle it she would be good to go.  Then my wife and I could have a date night.  Too bad Von Bebe is too short to reach the freezer.

9 Weeks 2 Days old

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 21^st 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.

24 Days Old

   Every week brings new firsts.  This week bestowed upon me the wonderful experience of bottle feeding my daughter for the first time.  I’ve heard this can be a pretty big deal for breastfed infants.   Fortunately, mine took the bottle like a pro… at first.  She took less than two ounces but didn’t exactly finish with a smile.  I think she realized it wasn’t the same thing. 

   What I didn’t anticipate is the impact it had on my wife.  As we discussed it later, the realization that our daughter no longer needed food via my wife's boob had a negative impact on her.  I can only imagine what it is going to be like when we drop her off at college.

   This video isn’t a first for this week.  She’s been sucking on my finger for a while, now.

   We’ve started calling her a little gremlin.  I think this is because of the look in her eyes.  Sometimes she sneezes/coughs and it sounds a little like Gollum from the LOTR movies.  Both my partner and I do Gollum’s voice at those moments.  I hope our daughter doesn’t hold this against us. 

   I didn’t have a lot of home videos taken of me when I was growing up.  I’m sure my parents had fun with me the way we’re having fun with (making fun of) our daughter.  The joys of modern technology now give us the opportunity to document these precious moments and show them to the future partners of our children.  It has never been so fun to be an ass.