Thursday, March 11, 2010

New this week: Bottlefeeding!

This afternoon, I gave Meg a bottle for the first time. It was weird. She kept looking at me funny like “why are YOU giving me a bottle? you’re my MOMMY. this is not how mommy feeds me.” But she was not about to refuse it. She basically seemed to decide, “this is weird, but I’ll take it!” She even tried to reach my hair to play with it like she does while nursing.

Of course, after giving her the bottle, I had to pump. Grrr. This is why I didn’t want to take the supplementation route, but it had to be done. When I pump (at 11ish and 3ish), I get 3-4 ounces. Around 9 & 3, Meg gets an 8 ounce bottle. Her bottle is half breastmilk, half formula. I suppose I could breastfeed her then give her a 4 ounce bottle of formula, but I’m nervous about feeding her straight formula. It seems like too fast of a switch. I'm also worried about my supply declining further. How would I know if she was only getting 2 oz of breastmilk instead of 4? So instead I mix 4 oz breastmilk with 4 oz formula, feed it to her, then pump to get 4 oz breastmilk for her next bottle. It’s a long, drawn-out process, and by the time its over, its taken 45 minutes and dirtied 3 bottles (the one she drank out of and two to pump).

This is a lot of work. Its why I didn’t want to do it. But Meg is sooooo much happier. She’s finally satisfied with the amount of milk she’s getting and it makes her happier all day long. So its worth it.

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