Cutting the Bottle Cold Turkey!

Well it's been a long time since anyone posted on here.  I was beginning to think I'd just give up on it.  But now that I am having another baby I really do want to remember all the important tips and tricks I've learned over the last 18 months with my daughter, and I still want everyone else's tips and tricks too.


So, today we're going to be talking about going from THIS:

To THIS:

And at the suggestion of my doctor, we're doing it COLD TURKEY.

The bottle thing is going a lot better than I had thought it would, although my daughter isn't really taking naps and I think maybe it's because of the lack of a comforting bottle before the nap. Who knows?  She just saw me writing this post and noticed the picture of the bottle and is now throwing a tantrum because she wants a bottle.  NOT her sippy.  BUT, alas, it truly is going better than I thought it would and this is what we're doing:

I spoke with the doctor and she said I needed to do it cold turkey. I already tried the one-by-one type of thing and it just wasn't working.  My daughter is 18 months old and I've heard you need to wean them from the bottle by 12 months, by 18 months and rarely I've heard you need to do it by 2 years.  Most people say 18 months.  When I spoke with the doctor she especially pressed the issue because I'll be having a baby in 3.5 months and my daughter needs to be well off the bottle so that she doesn't even desire it when she sees the baby with it.  She'll know bottles are for babies.  SO, here we go, cold turkey.

First, you must remove all the bottles from the house (or at least hide them). My daughter knew where the bottles were kept and would get them out or look for them so we had to completely do away with them.  (They're now in a box in the basement until the baby is ready for them.)

My daughter called both bottles and sippy cups "bah-boe."  So the next step was teaching her the word, "sippy."  Whenever she now asks for a "bah-boe" I (in a very happy and excited voice say) "SIPPY?!" Sometimes she cries and says, "bah-boe" but usually she giggles and says "sippy!" Then when I hand it to her I get really excited an say, "Sippy!"  My husband does this too and he says he thinks that our excitement makes a big difference in her desire for a sippy and not a bottle.  It really is working.

The last step, and probably the most important one is this to ONLY put milk in her sippy cup.  The doctor said to NEVER put anything else in the cup, not even water.  This is not permanent, but it does mean that until your child is fully adjusted to the sippy, milk is the only thing she should be getting in the cup and since the sippy is the only thing she's drinking out of, milk will be the only thing she is drinking.  That way she's forced to learn to drink milk from the sippy.  Before this, my daughter would happily drink water or juice from the sippy but it was milk she wanted in her bottle.  That is why doing ONLY MILK in the sippy for the transition is essential.  Once your child is no longer asking for bottles and is happy with the sippy cup and drinking it well, then you shouldn't have to worry so much what is in the cup.

Anyway, it seems to be working. It is day 4. It's fun when she says, "SIPPY!" and gets really excited.

GOOD LUCK if you're ready to try! Just do it! :)

PS--And by the way, after reading the below post about cloth diapering and after much contemplation, my daughter is now a cloth diaper baby too!  Thanks Darci for your words of advice and encouragement for those of us out there who just needed some convincing.

Homemade Baby Food

If you are interested in making your own baby food I found this great blog that could help. 

 I haven't actually done it yet...but I have definitely thought about it.  
If you try it out, let us all know how it goes. 

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Nuk--the only way to go

I am a nursing mom and had an extremely difficult time getting my baby to adjust to using a bottle. While I still nurse, I wanted the freedom of leaving her home for a few hours without having to worry about her starving. At first she absolutely refused to take a bottle; but finally she came around to the idea with much persuading.

For a nursing mother, I think Nuk bottles are the only way to go. To prevent nipple confusion (especially with very young babies), the Nuk nipple is the most like the breast. Because of that, it is also easier for them to latch onto if they're used to nursing. Another great benefit to the Nuk nipple is that it has an air ventilation system that lets the air out, greatly reducing gas and colic. (Not to mention that it comes in silicone which--again--I find to seem so much more clean.)

I've received a lot of hand-me-downs from my sisters and with them came about a million Avent bottles. I could not get my baby to latch onto these but I was bummed about having to buy all new bottles. Luckily I discovered that I could still use the Avent bottles and just buy the Nuk nipples to fit on them. If my baby pulls on the nipple it's more likely to pop out than if it were a perfect fit, but it works fine. Nuk also sells the smaller size ones that would fit on regular bottles too--although I prefer the wide ones because they're more like the breast.

When my baby was tiny though, I would pump and feed her out of the pump's smaller bottles and was able to find Nuk nipples for those too (and even received some free ones with free samples of formula I received in the mail). These days my baby isn't so picky and will take whatever I give her. I was at my mom's house the other day and all she had was an Avent bottle and some no-name bottle. I've tried both. While my baby takes them fine I was shocked at how much more fussy and gassy she was afterwards due to the lack of ventilation (therefore causing her to swallow more air). Nuk really does make the best bottle!

For a newborn baby I'd probably recommend the SLOW FLOW nipples (I'm not sure if those come in the wider silicone variety, I only have the thinner latex ones of those), but soon your baby will be able to adjust to the MEDIUM FLOW (which is what my baby still uses at almost 9 months). I have the fast flow nipples but they're still to fast for my baby and she doesn't like that she hardly has to suck to get out the milk.

Here are some of the other benefits they list for their product:
Unique orthodontic nipple reduces Colic & promotes healthy teeth formation. Simulates & supports breastfeeding. Wider base, more like mother's breast. Feeding hole positioning so milk mixes with saliva for good digestion. Flat side reinforces correct tongue position. Unique orthodontic nipple reduces colic and promotes healthy teeth formation. "Nuk® Air System" vent to reduce colic. Upper face is convex to stimulate correct palate development. 0+ months. Slow, Medium, and Fast Flow available. Silicone nipple.

I also recommend Nuk's sippy cup--it's great for transitioning out of the bottle phase. You can also buy just the nipple and it can slip right onto the bottles you already have to turn your bottle into a sippy cup! :)

NUK's Learner Cups will help you transition baby from breast or bottle to cup with ease. The parts are interchangeable to make it easy to mix and match and expand as your baby grows.

• Spill proof for out and about
• The special shape and natural softness optimally supports the transition from bottle to cup
• Extra soft spout made of natural latex or silicone
  
• NUK® ANTI-COLIC AIR SYSTEM® minimizes the swallowing of air

My girl LOVES that Nuk!  :)

Breast Milk to Formula

I have been trying for the longest time to get my baby to take formula but she wasn't going to have it. She is now 10 months old and I'm having the hardest time getting the baby weight OFF. It has been the most frustrating thing ever. I was determined to get her to drink formula so I could start to address this extra weight issue. 

I began asking everyone I could think of, what to do, and what they have done. Finally, I was talking to my sister and she said she was having the same problem with her little boy. She said, what she did was got the purple TARGET brand formula and mixed a little bit of her breast milk with it to get him use to it. I thought, ok I will give it a try. I bought a can but didn't know what to do about the breast milk because I don't have a pump. Then I thought why don't I mix a little bit of the Gerber baby juice to sweeten it up a little. Well...she LOVED it. At that moment I almost felt FREE. Knowing that if needed she could have someone other then me feed her. After sweetening it up for 2 or 3 days she now will taking it without anything added.

So... tip is try purple Target brand up and up formula if your baby is having a hard time switching over from breast milk to formula. Either add breast milk or some kind of juice to sweeten it up for the first few times. GOOD LUCK and hope this helps someone in need.