Trained to a bottle

Jude is three weeks old today. So today was the day to start training him to a bottle. I find the 3 weeks is the perfect age because they are old enough to have breastfeeding established, so they are less likely to reject breastfeeding after using a bottle, and they are young enough that they are still receptive to a bottle. I have seen problems both in starting a bottle earlier and starting one much later. This is the same time I trained Julia to a bottle and it worked great!

I wanted to train Jude to a bottle because eventually I will find a job and have to go back to work. I also might have/want to leave Jude somewhere for a couple of hours, so he needs to learn how to drink from a bottle during these times.

With Julia, it took a week or two before she really figured out the bottle. She never refused it, she just wore more of the milk than she actually drank. At her first attempt, she could not have drank more than a few dripples based off of how much leaked out of her mouth!

Well, Jude is a PRO at the bottle!!!! I was AMAZED! I only put 1 oz in the bottle, and figured he would be wearing most of it. Nope!! Not ONE drop spilled out!!! He drank that oz in less than a minute. So I put another oz in the bottle, once again, he sucks it right down without a single drop dripping out. I put another 1.5 oz in the bottle and he drinks it all too! Although he did not drink quite as quickly. He burped between each refill. After drinking that 3.5 oz. he seemed still hungry, but I decided hold off giving him more for a bit. I did not want him to drink to much that he pukes (has happened a couple times already).

Luckily, he did not really fuss for more and quickly fell asleep.

I am just impressed how well he took to the bottle. I guess I don't have to worry about that!