Wyatt, meet your bottle, given by dad

This week was a milestone for us in terms of feedings. Wyatt was finally introduced to a bottle. While that may not seem like that big of a deal, anyone who is a parent knows that it isn't as simple as just putting some milk in a bottle and voila! And besides that fact, since we introduced the bottle, Wyatt has been much more responsive to a pacifier. We can now calm him down with a pacifier versus always having to feel like we are on Bourbon Street and that beads should be flying toward Lizzy.

Getting back to the original subject matter, there were a ton of factors that went into said bottle. The brand, the nipple, the amount of milk, and of course, how much do you warm it up???

One wildcard in this whole thing was the fact Lizzy couldn't or shouldn't be around for the first couple of bottle feedings. It was emphasized everywhere we looked that Wyatt's ability to smell Lizzy from as far as 40 feet away can disrupt the bottle introduction and potentially discourage him from eating all together.

No pressure Daddy!

For the trial run, Lizzy and I decided I would take Wyatt downstairs away from any possibility of interruption. We also decided it would be at 3am.  Hah. So to summarize, we decided it would be better to have Daddy, (instead of mommy who always feeds him obviously) in zombie mode of a 3am feeding, take him downstairs in the dark, and attempt to feed from a bottle for the very first time.

It worked. :) He ate up all 4 ounces and was content.  Phew.  He did have to be burped more than when he is fed by Lizzy, and finding the correct position was tough too, but overall, there was success.

As far as equipment went, we ended up using Dr. Browns bottles and so far, it has worked. 

The stressful part has been figuring out which nipple to use. How do you know what the correct amount of flowage (probably not a word) should be coming through the nipple? It has to be enough that he doesn't get tired when sucking, but not too much that he begins to gag. After a few messy attempts to figure it out, it turns out that he is still small enough that he is using the newborn nipple. 

We also bought a bottle warmer so we aren't microwaving the milk. That part is important since we are using pumped milk. Lizzy did some research and discovered that by microwaving pumped milk, it can break down the nutrients and actually affect the overall purity of the milk. 

As far as amount, it obviously varies by child, but in our case, since Wyatt was a preemie, and weighs about 6.5lbs, we give him between 3 and 4 ounces per feeding right now.  I think we are gonna have to up the ante really soon.

One other detail I can't overlook is the fact that feeding with a bottle has allowed Lizzy to be re-introduced to the world without having to worry about being around in time to feed the little guy. This has really relieved some stress on what/when/where either of us was headed during the day.  

As we continue our adventure, we learn something new every day. I can see why parents become more more laid back with baby number 2 and moving forward. You deal with most of the trials and tribulations with the first child, so any subsequent child is just muscle memory.