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I am trying to get Evelyn ready for my return to work. Basically, I am starting the weaning process, which is highly stressful for everyone. I am hoping to express milk for Dan to give to her in bottles or cups during the day while I am at work but still nurse her at night and in the morning. She sort of allowed Dan to feed her from a bottle when I was back at work when she was 3 months old but she never really got the hang of it and cried a lot. This time I was hoping she would be old enough and smart enough to drink from a cup and eating solid food. Wrong on both accounts there. Who ever suggested 6 month old babies can drink from a cup obviously has not met Evelyn.
For the past 2 days Evelyn has totally refused rice cereal again (for a short while I was able to actually put a spoon to her mouth and she would try to push out the cereal with her tongue, which I would call a successful feeding), making me think that she will probably never really get into it. I can put an empty spoon to her lips (not in her mouth) but if she sees food forget it. She still will not self-feed if I put some cereal on her hands or the table, which means that she will have to continue to rely exclusively on milk for a while yet. I was really hoping the solids could give her something for the daytime.
Therefore, the need to find a way to give her liquids becomes even more acute. I have now purchased three different types of sippy cups and she hates all of them. First I got a dish set that had a cup with a removable spout. Evelyn does not understand that the spout should go in her mouth and has a fit if I try to put it there. The cup has handles but the lid comes off easily and the flow is very fast, so we have wasted a lot of precious milk that way (Evelyn likes to throw the cups on the ground or turn them upside down). Next I tried a Nalgele sip cup which she did not mind too much since she could gum the spout but it is too large for her to grab and most of the time she still refuses it when I hold it. If she moves around a lot she cam bump herself against the spout and has hurt herself a few times. Today I bought another one with a secured lid and handles for her to grab and she still does not get it. Maybe with time, but unfortunately I can not wait 2 months for her to learn how to use a cup with the possibility that she will not drink out of it. And just to top it off I just found out about concerns over BPAs in polycarbonate bottles. Two of the cups I bought are polycarbonate, so I guess I should stop using them just in case.
So Evelyn is going to have to rely on bottles again. My first attempts to reintroduce the bottles this week have been less than successful but I think we might have made a bit of progress today. First, I bought two different types of nipples – rubber ones which she did not like and Nuk brand orthotic ones, which seem to have worked. I bought them because they kind of resembled the shape of the pacifier (which is the only thing she will allow me to put in her mouth). She would not take it from myself or Dan either at the table or being held, but I was able to get it in her mouth if I put her in the stroller and distracted her (either with a toy that made sound or by putting the stroller in front of the mirror. She chewed the nipple for most of the feeding rather than sucking it, but the volume actually went down in the bottle. So I count that as success.
The next thing is to eliminate her need to fall asleep nursing during the day. I wait until she shows signs of sleepiness, give her the pacifier and rock her gently while singing the song I sing at night. When she is very sleepy I put her down with a blanket and she falls asleep. Note that she is way too restless for a blanket at night but during the day I am always checking on her and she doesn’t seem to move much.
The bottles we are currently using are also polycarbonate (great, one more thing to worry about), so I will start using the small bottles from the breast pump which are BPA free. In the meantime I am waiting for the Born Free sippy cups (which are BPA free) to come back in stock in the health food store down the street. Maybe the soft spout will interest her more.
Is it normal for a baby to refuse anything from her mother? I always figured that babies would trust their mothers over everyone else. It is getting a bit tiring and it is really starting to bother me.