So, Clem is back to pretty much refusing the bottle. I am Googling for information now and then, grilling my lactation consultant friend Jesse, and being a big pain in the ass to her teachers, I’m sure, because I call all the time to check in. She won’t even take a sleepy middle of the night bottle from S anymore.
I’m not worried about her dehydrating or starving–has wet diapers all the time and nurses a ton when she’s with me. But that means no more of those long stretches of sleep that I was too superstitious to even tell you about (but now that they’re over, here–10pm-7am, pretty often!). Last night she was nursing all night, no exaggeration. I didn’t even attempt to put her in the Pack n Play to sleep because the previous nights I’d been nursing her every couple of hours. We figured that if she slept with us the way she did her first six months (we had the cosleeper set up for her to use, but she would only slept pressed up to one of us, so laziness/exhaustion won out over good intention and safety), we’d all get more sleep. Usually being next to me and snacking now and then is good enough for her, but last night she wanted to eat most of the time. She hadn’t been feeling well, so maybe she needed it.
With most of Lincoln’s phases, we just rode them out–again, more out of laziness/not getting around to dealing with it than any sort of great plan or parenting ideology. I’m thinking that this will just change at some point, and for now I’ll just hit the iced tea really hard while I’m at work. Sleeeepy.
But if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. Or eyes. (Will that cliche morph someday, I wonder?)
3 responses so far ↓
1 Renee // Jul 15, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Clementine may just not like the bottle, or she probably thinks, “I want milk from Mom or not at all.” It’s actually really common. Have you had her teachers try putting a bib on her and letting her drink from a sippy cup on her own? You could get a few different kinds and she may just find one she likes and drink that way. It’s not a great solution, but maybe she could drink a few ounces at least. A lot of kids outgrow it once they are eating more solid food because they get thirsty when they eat. Good luck!
2 Diana // Jul 16, 2009 at 9:04 am
maybe see if the teachers will try giving her the bottle at different temperatures??? maybe since its so hot she wants it iced? (ok its been a long time since i had bottle dilemmas). or –maybe the batch of pumped milk was extracted after you ate a lot of garlic or something? (unless this has been a problem for some days…)
3 julie // Jul 16, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Thanks…Diana, yeah, it’s been a problem off and on the whole time. For a while she would reliably take a middle-of-the-night bottle from S once a week, but she’s refused that as well.
She was doing great at school for a while, but is back to (stubbornly?) waiting until she’s with me to drink milk.
Renee, we/they’ve tried all sorts of sippies and once she was into it, a little, but not since then. She did end up having 2oz at the end of the day yesterday, but held out until then, wouldn’t drink water either. Her diapers are still wet so she’s not dehydrating.
She did, however, nurse ALL NIGHT again last night, enough so that she soaked through a diaper at 3am. Yikes.