Saturday, November 26, 2011

Bottle

When Bunny was 10 weeks old, I decided to introduce the bottle to her. 

Feeling rather confident that the rapid flow problem is under control, I am no longer as worried as before that she may prefer the bottle to nursing. 

In the morning, I hand-expressed a small amount (about 25 ml) into the Ameda Lactaline bottle and hubby gave it to her in the afternoon.  

I must admit I had butterflies in my stomach when I handed over the bottle to him for the first time. I watched her from a distance, making sure she couldn't see me. 

The first two tries were met with lots of crying. My heart broke. We stopped trying after ten minutes and she was whizzed back into my arms to be soothed.

I didn't have the heart to do this everyday. 

Earlier today, we gave it a go again. Our fifth try. 

After ten minutes of licking the teat and tasting the few drops of milk that hubby dripped on her lips, she started protesting. Softly at first. Very soon, it escalated into big wails. 

I couldn't help myself and started inching forward to watch her expression. Just as I was debating within myself, trying to decide the moment to stop her 'torture', she spotted me. Our eyes locked and I panicked for a moment. I stepped back and hid from her view. I felt like I had betrayed her trust (seriously!) and was a little guilt-stricken. What would my little baby think? Of course she won't understand. 

Then hubby asked me to come and stand next to her. What was he thinking? It's common knowledge that the mummy must not be seen/heard by the baby at this time if we want to introduce the bottle with any success. 

But I did as I was told. I stood by her side. With the teat halfway into her mouth, she uttered a soft 'ng' sound at me and I saw her change of expression. I wondered what that meant.

Instinctively, I held her little hand and whispered to her 'It's ok, little one, mama is here'. 

The most unexpected thing happened. 

She started sucking furiously and drank the whole 40 ml within seconds! In that whole time, her eyes were locked in mine. Her tiny fingers squeezing my fingers tight. 

I couldn't help feeling a wave of emotions. Tears blurred my vision. 

Aww... my little baby.  

She moved me. So, so much. 

CIMG1198
Taken this afternoon. Looking a little serious as she stared at my camera. :>











3 comments:

Kiasu Mom said...

Awwww... Lovely moments!

suz said...

Hahahaha! She just wants you around during mealtimes, regardless of method of feeding! What a cutie!

Just goes to show, there are no rules - guidelines, useful experiences to be learnt, yes; but each child is different!!

Hope she's been able to feed more happily without you around after this incident!

DG said...

Kiasu Mom, it was indeed a moment that I will never forget! :>

Suz, unfortunately this was an one-off incident. No more success thereafter. :<

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