The Baby Hates The Bottle (Part Uno)

So My Sweet Kambing had always been a VERY EASY baby to look after. Within the first month of her exsistence, she had tuned herself into my rest time and slept through the night, or at the very least, slept when I slept. She never cried much, was good with strangers, and seemed like a very thoughtful, sweet baby in general. I credit it to pure luck and the lack of any expectations. You see, I figured, whatever we plan for will not go according to plan anyways, so we might as well just wing it.

I don't want to brag but it seemed to work out pretty well for us!

That said, we did start to face a bit of a problem when my work started getting more hectic. Very soon after the baby was born, I was scheduled for assignments, but really short, simple ones. It was perfectly manageable because I would feed the baby, go to work, finish up within an hour, and make it home in time for her next feed.

The nature of my work also means that it is possible for me to breastfeed the baby exclusively. However, now that work is getting more hectic, I'm finding less and less time to rush home in between, and the poor Kambing will end up waiting for me to come home to feed her. Still being the very sweet baby that she is, she would wait doe-eyed, and only burst out in tears on the sight of me walking through the door.

I told myself, however, that this will not do. Her weight gain had slowed down (although on hindsight I don't think it's because of the feeding) and I started to feel unforgivably guilty for it. This was when I was presented with a lightbulb moment *DING!* The Bottle.

Who's to know that my sweet little even-tempered Kambing would suddenly turn into a grumpy goat child at the introduction of The Bottle?!

She absolutely REFUSED to drink from it. Crying and fussing and wailing and refusing. We tried everything.

5 different adults trying to feed her in my absence - No.

Bottles from various brands - No.

Various bottle teats from various brands - No.

Dreamfeed - No.

Singfeed - No.

Dancefeed - No.

NOTHING.

I actually felt a slight flutter of pride in my heart. In her eyes, nothing was as good as my neh neh.

And then I felt my heart sink.

This means that the poor baby is going to go on hunger strikes everytime I go to work.

I actually had started to give up, figuring that since she's already four months old, I might actually be able to keep putting off work until she's on solids, and not as dependent on me anymore as a sole source of nutrition.

And then, I got invited to attend the launch of Hegen, The Quantum Leap in Baby Feeding Products. I was skeptical, yet eager to find out if this "Quantum Leap" had any solutions to my feeding woes. Still doubtful though, right until during the talk where it seemed like their star feature was the PCTO (Press-to-Close, Squeeze-to-Open) bottles. Their PCTO feature meant that moms could conveniently close bottles with just one hand instead of having to free up both hands to twist them close, saving precious time while preventing their hungry babies from crying the house down. Also, the milk storage and bottles were easily interchangeable, meaning that you simply Press-to-Close a bottle teat unto the milk storage bottle and feed directly. This way, the valuable nutrients from breastmilk does not get lost in the process of transferring to and from storage to bottle. It was then that I decided they had nothing for me. Sadly, I didn't face any of these problems because my baby didn't even want to drink from the bottle to begin with!

Out of being polite, and curious to hear more about what feeding issues "regular" mothers were facing, I stayed on. I even went on stage to see how quickly I could put together a milk bottle as a challenge against another participant.

Thankfully I stayed, because Doctor Ong Eng Keow then came on to talk about the wonders of breastfeeding. I was so happy to get the chance to replenish my arsenal of fact-based rebuttals to anyone who is to come and tell me that my baby is not getting enough nourishment from my neh neh milk. Being the opportunist that I am (#AuntiePatternAllComeOut), I stayed to chat with Doctor Ong about Kambing's resistance to the bottle, and he gave me a few pointers.

I then checked out the Hegen bottles that were on display and was surprised to find that the bottle teats were very soft! I was told that the silicone teat was one of its key features. Super soft and elliptical-shaped, it mimics the natural breast of mothers to promote natural latch-on for babies. This minimises nipple confusion, making it easier to combine breast and bottle feeding. Also, its asymmetrical, off-centre teat allows for natural upright feeding position similar to feeding from the breast. This minimises the tilt that conventional baby bottles require, reducing the risk of milk back-flow which may cause mid-ear complications.

Armed with the Hegen bottle that I won during the challenge, and the tips from Doctor Ong, I headed home with a new-found hope.

Did baby accept the bottle? Find out more in my next post!