A Bottle! A Bottle!

Do you ever chuckle at the things that make your adult self excited? Most recently I found myself ecstatic over bottles - and more specifically bottle nipples. And when I came down from the cloud that is reserved for moms who've found a solution to a baby who refuses to be bottle fed and is shrinking in size as a result, I laughed at my happy self. Really, it's the idea that we never know what the future will hold, and if you'd told the Courtney from 10 years ago, or even 2 years ago, that bottle nipples would bring her great joy one day, she would have made a face at how dumb that idea was. But, alas, it's the happy place we currently find ourselves in.

Short version. Sophia took a bottle at 6 weeks, and when we tried again at 9 weeks, it was complete refusal. And so we tried this, that, and the other but couldn't get anything to work. (Different bottles, different feeding positions, sippy cups, spoon feeding (which she didn't seem to mind too much, btw -  my ridiculous little babe who wanted to be spoon fed her milk). We dipped the bottle nipple in sugar water. The girl didn't care for a thing. Ryan's mom stayed with us for a week and got her to take 2.5-4.5oz a day from the bottle without screaming the entire time so I decided to consider that as much success as we were going to have and take it. (And by take the bottle, I mean she would either just let it drip into her mouth, so it took an hour to give her an ounce, or she would gum it in the middle of her mouth...never a latch).

After Dotty's success, I was mildly optimistic about daycare. Day one - survived. Day two - everyone (ok, Soph, Mommy, and the daycare workers) were in tears. We finished out the week with her choking down 4.5oz a day without too much of a fight, and on Saturday we headed to the doc to see if this lack of eating was affecting her weight....and it was. (I should note that she was also so tired when she got home in the evenings, she just wanted to sleep and not really eat.) 'No nursing until you figure out the bottle', the doctor told me. (Cue lots of sad faces). I left feeling pretty down - and with the latex bottles nipples they'd provided in hand.

Later that day I broke out the bottle, with the latex nipple on top, and braced myself for the usual fight. But the strangest thing happened. She sucked that bottle into her mouth and took it like that's what she'd been doing all of her little life. And she continued to do that at every feeding for the next two days. Every.Feeding. I know you don't understand the magnitude of this moment because I gave you the short version of the story, but trust me when I say it was a monumental moment. Pretty sure I called/texted/facetimed entirely too many people with this news. (An ENORMOUS thank you to my mother for suggesting that we give latex a try...never even crossed my mind.)

So now Soph happily takes 7.5oz of milk at daycare and hopefully at her next weight check on Saturday, we will be reassured all is well. I got excited just writing all this down. See, the things that excite our future selves may be something we never dreamed of....Now if only I can get Soph to swap her thumb for a latex pacifier....

Matching tie dye, thanks to Miss Jess! (Aiden was not in picture mode so
this is as good as it got.) Pretty sure Pup is wishing for her tie dye and tutu...

Love her some tutus!

Daycare day 1 (don't get too caught up in Soph's excitement...)

Day 2 of daycare...before the disaster of tears set in.
Aiden's super sweet self insists on holding her hand in pictures.