Bottle Feeding

So I spoke WAY too soon. This afternoons feeding was a huge FAIL! We had to leave Eli's baseball game early because she was so fussy. She's down for a nap right now. We'll try again when she wakes up. ***Fingers crossed***

SUCCESS!

It only took starving her for 1/2 a day to get Olivia to drink from a bottle. Well that and the attempt of 5 different bottles and nipples... Ok I didn't really starve her per say, but I didn't give her anything other than the bottle as food options. See, it's proof that you don't give kids options. They get what they get! (at least at 5 months old anyways :-D) She fussed for a good part of the morning. Only one major melt down, but it didn't last more than a minute or so. Grammy took her for a walk and she fell asleep. After her hour nap she was perfectly happy to drink about 4oz. Acted like it was no big deal and she's been doing it forever! Now we will just have to see if she will take it again... I shouldn't speak too soon!

Switching to the bottle - Day 1

Today is the first day of attempting to get Olivia to drink from a bottle. Key word is attempting! Didn't quite work as well as I had hoped. I guess I shouldn't expect much since I have exclusively breastfed for her entire 5 1/2 months outside of the womb. My biggest fear with continuing to breastfeed is that she will become even more attached to nursing and either 1. she will never stop or 2. it will be even harder down the road. Thank God for my mother! There should be no further explanation needed. She was a trooper today!

From what I've read if you want to successfully convert a baby to a bottle someone else needs to do the bottle feeding since the baby associates mom with nursing. I don't think it mattered who it was or where I was... there was no taking a bottle today! Olivia seems to not know how to suck anything other than my nipple, fingers, washcloths or frozen applesauce in mesh things. Funny how that works! My mom is convinced that by Wednesday Olivia will be drinking from a bottle like a pro. Me... I have my doubts. Major doubts!

Even though I am trying to get her to take a bottle I still want to breastfeed to put her down for the night and during middle of the night feedings. I still think the nutritional value of breast milk is very important and will be pumping for all bottle feedings.

Some things we tried today are:
- Just giving her a bottle
~With me in the room
~With me out of the room
~With me out of the house
~With me giving it to her
~With my mom giving it to her
~With Steve giving it to her
~Outside
~Inside
~Laying Down
~Sitting up
~In the bath (yes in the bath!)
~With lunch
-With a straw
- With a sippy cup
-With multiple different bottles and nipples


Here is hoping that tomorrow will bring us more success than today!

5 Month Pictures

Olivia was a champ for her 5 month pictures! We spent WAY too much $$$, but they turned out so good I could hardly resist.

Every time I look at these pictures my heart melts! I still can't believe I have such a beautiful and healthy baby girl. God is so amazing! It blows my mind that she grew in my belly and is made just from Steve and me. The two of us... no one else could have made her... she is ours. WOW!

Rosey Cheeks

Poor Olivia has red bumps on her face. We have no idea what caused them, but they don't seem to bother her and are slowly starting to fade. It makes me feel so incompetent to have something wrong with her and have no idea what caused it or how to fix it. People always say it's hard being a parent, but I had no clue...