Update on our bottle situation

JenJar · October 2011

After venting to a good friend who is a pediatric nurse practitioner about Riley not taking a bottle and how stressful that has been for my party nights, she offered to come over this weekend and work with us. She brought a bag of things to try, including different bottles that we haven't used, none of which worked. She then tried to introduce finger feeding her, where she used a feeding tube next to her finger, hoping that R would suck on her finger and in turn get some milk. But, she wouldn't suck on her finger at all. So she started trying a few different things, including watching how she latched on to me, and figured out that instead of using a thrust reflex and meeting whatever is coming into her mouth with her tongue like most babies do, she's retracting her tongue. If anything gets too far into her mouth, she screams and starts gagging, which explains why she doesn't like pacifiers, bottles, etc. So, we have one more bottle coming in the mail to try that has a very short nipple (an Adiri bottle) but if that doesn't work, she showed us how to 'cup' feed Riley using a medicine cup or a shot glass, and Riley actually did pretty well that way. It's more tedious and a lengthy process, but at least it's a way for DH to feed her if he really needs to. Hoping it means we're making progress.

meryltheresa · October 2011

Oh good! I'm so glad you got some advice and that the cup worked!

Irisheyes1247 · October 2011

Wow that is awesome that your friend was able to come over and help you guys that way. Very interesting discovery she made too! I can't imagine doing the cup feedings - we did with C for a day or two at the beginning when she wouldn't latch but we didn't want to introduce a bottle and it certainly was tedious (and that was only 10 cc's!) but if that is what works for her, it is good to know that going forward. Here's hoping the bottle works!!

xKimx · October 2011

We did cup feeding with Paul for a little while, and he did eventually take a bottle!

jnk062602 · October 2011

I'm glad you had someone looking and now you know why. We had to cup feed dd in the beginning too when I couldn't nurse (also using a medicine cup) and you are right - it is very tedious. Hopefully she outgrows that soon though!

wendyj · October 2011

That is so great that you had a friend to help you! At least now you have a better idea of what the problem is and some bearable solutions. Good luck with the new bottle!