Wednesday 24 March 2010

Lesson learned. Baby 1 Mom 0

While I was pregnant I had it in my head that I would breastfeed until 6 months as recommended and then put my baby onto formula for the next 6 months until she could drink cow's milk at age 1. It's no secret that my life before motherhood was a rather boozy one and I figured that after the 15 or so months of near total sobriety Mama could use a night out on the tiles.

Of course getting drunk now is a whole different ball game. Not only would I have to contend with baby care on top of hangover, but I am such a lightweight these days it is not even funny. Except that it is funny. Because half a pint of beer and I am GONE. I mean like flashing my lopsided milk jugs for free shots GONE.

But my whole plan of putting my baby on formula after 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding didn't factor in the fact that my baby would have her own opinion on the matter.

After the disastorous Paris trip where Eloise went 20 hours sans eating we had a few more attempts at getting her to take the bottle. Not even formula perse, just my milk but in a bottle. She refused. I decided my last attempt would be her nursery. Totally different evironment, no trace of me, and in the hands of child care experts. After 4 days of them trying to get her on the bottle with no success I finally decided to give up. I mean if they can't do it, it just ain't going to happen.

Your boobs are MINE MilkLady.

So there it is. No big boozy night in my future. My boobs are still being held ransom by a tiny being that is growing remarkably sharp teeth as we speak. A very opinionated being who knows what she likes and won't settle for anything less. And as much as I would love to share a bottle of wine or 5 with friends I am quite proud of my little girl for sticking to her guns.

3 comments:

  1. My girlfriend is going through the exact same thing... her daughter is the same age as yours. She found out that he daughter will drink from a sippy cup... which on I don't know...but this at very least has given her a slight break and peace of mind if something should happen. not fun. good luck!

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  2. Oh my goodness..
    We're going through the same thing here. I had hoped that starting on solids would help, that she would somehow adjust easier to being fed bottled breastmilk after getting used to eating spoonfulls of porridge.. Silly me. It's been two months since, and still straight from the breast is the only way she'll have it.
    Luula is seven months now, and going through a very mommy-dependent phase on top of the nursing stuff, so I'm pretty much attached to her day and night.. Bittersweet.

    I HATE it when people say "oh she'll get used to the bottle alright if you just- keep her hungry for a while longer/let her father handle the feeding/find the right bottlenipple (probably not the right word in english but you know what I mean)/try long enough/stop nursing her for comfort etc etc"
    REALLY?! YOU WANT TO COME TO MY PLACE FOR A WEEK AND SEE US TRY EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN?!"
    I hope that's something you don't have to go through :). So annoying!!!!

    Let us know how it goes will you?!

    BTW, my older girl Leea refused the boob when she was a baby, less than nine months old. She simply wouldn't take it, no bottled milk of mine (although she had been fine with that before), no breast, nothing (formula she had always spat out or vomited out anyway). She ate her solids very well already, so maybe she wanted rather to eat than to drink herself full?
    Anyway, the pediatric told me to just mix the formula into her porridge for the few months left before starting on regular milk, and give her water from a sippy cup if she was thirsty. (Just saying, in case you can't be around and Eloise won't drink her milk, at least here they don't seem to think that it's important for the child to take in the milk as a liquid, at that age anyway.)

    Hang in there!!

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  3. I love this picture of Eloise. It's hilarious. It really looks like she's saying (or growling) what you've quoted underneath. Super cute x

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