In preparation for my return to work, we started trying to have David feed Joshua from a bottle about two weeks before the end of my maternity leave. In retrospect, it might have been wiser to have tried making this transition sooner... Joshua may be little, but he's no fool. He knows where food comes from, and it's not from not-the-mama! In his stubborn mind, I'm the cozy and warm food source, and David is the happy fun times playmate. So when David started trying to give him a bottle, he just wasn't having it. After all, his entire life experience cried out against this crazy role reversal.
For my first week back, Joshua was basically not eating at all when I was away, which didn't make me feel any better about leaving the house to go to work... He would scream and arch his back and fling his arm to hit away the bottle when David offered it to him. Oddly enough, he was (mostly) fine with taking a bottle from me -- so it really seems he had a fixed idea about proper gender roles with regard to feeding! It's taken a couple weeks, but it looks like a switch has finally flipped in Joshua's mind -- this past Friday, he immediately latched onto the bottle when David first offered it and peacefully chugged down his meal in just 15 minutes. He even reached out to hold the bottle closer! So we're hopeful that this is the beginning of a new trend, and that it'll just get easier from here on out.
And what would a Joshua post be without pictures? :) These are from the very first time David offered him a bottle -- it looks all peaceful, but that only lasted for the 30 seconds it took me to take these three shots... You can see the confusion and stubbornness in Joshua's eyebrows. :)
We'll keep you posted on whether our stubborn little refusnik has indeed come around!
5 comments:
Haha, picky boy! I'm glad he's taking it now, though, I can imagine...I would be feeling that mom-guilt, too. =P It's just those babes messing with us.
The part of this post that made me laugh was "just 15 minutes." As you might imagine, our giant boy loves to eat. I don't remember the last time it took him more than 10 minutes to eat (eating time, not burping, etc.), from bottle or breast!
@Amy: It's crazy how easy it is for me to feel the mom-guilt... My baby NEEDS me, so why am I leaving him?? Sigh. Here's hoping he's past all the bottle battles and everything goes swimmingly from here!
@Emily: Your giant baby cracks me up. :) It normally takes Joshua 15-20 minutes to eat from the breast, but his first tries from the bottle with David took OVER AN HOUR, and he'd only take like half an ounce total. So frustrating for both my boys... A 15-minute bottle session is amazing, and I'm hoping it sticks!
Oh gosh - how stressful! An hour?? Yipes! Thank goodness he figured it out! How many ounces is he taking usually?
I was so looking forward to reading this post! Luke still somewhat refuses the sippy cup (we moved right into the sippy cup since he was refusing the bottle anyway). It sounds like Joshua might be coming around but for Luke, the change really happen when Trev (or anyone else) stopped feeding him in the cradle position, since that is afterall reserved for "the mommy" feeding, and now feed him in a highchair. He seems to be so much more receptive to taking milk from the cup (he'll drink water just fine) now that it's far from the natural nursing position. Anyway, sorry to go on and on, just wanted to share what worked for us/Luke.
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