Jan.
11, 2000 - Tuesday
Today we "introduced the bottle" and I got to try nursing. With the
modern convenience of a pump, no formula for Harry, Harry's mother had prepared
a TV dinner of sorts for Harry and I was the one to serve it. Harry didn't seemed
to mind at all, charmingly and lovingly - though more likely just blankly -
staring back at me the whole time.
Conventional thinking suggests that three weeks is about the right time to try
a bottle, presumably because babies will have gotten the hang of breastfeeding
by then - no trouble for Harry there - and the bottle won't confuse them or
dissuade them from further nursing. And, Harry had no trouble figuring out this
new way to get food, even though we broke one of the typical guidelines by not
having his mother completely out of sight. His mother and I, however, were a
bit puzzled as to how much Harry was suppose to eat or how much would make him
satisfied, since Harry's just been eating his unmeasured fill to this point.
The bottle started with about 2.5 ounces of milk and Harry, as usual, ate in
bursts. At times he seemed finished, but then seemed to want more. Fortunately,
babies have a way of communicating that sort of thing to overly-analytical parents.
The curious thing is that he eventually finished the whole bottle and, though
he had seemed to be winding down, went on to aggressively demand more of the
real thing straight from the source. Perhaps he was thinking that the bottle
was just the appetizer. That would be trouble since one of the reasons for the
bottle in the first place is to avoid awkward
scenarios when his mother isn't around. Hopefully, and likely, it's just
Harry's mother and I that need to figure out the intricacies of this bottle
thing.
