Thursday, June 4, 2009

From Booby to Nuby!

Kaylani hasn't had a bottle since she turned 2 months old. Well, she hasn't had more than an ounce or two of milk in a bottle since then, and it's not something we've tried very hard to remedy. Mommy's been okay with breastfeeding for now, even though she had previously said she would try and ween Kaylani off at the 6 month mark. And honestly, we haven't even tried the bottle for a few months ever since our last experiment failed. But with Mommy feeling pretty tired lately, we thought we'd give it another shot so Daddy could help out in the mornings or at night. But this time, we mixed it up a little bit.

For the most part, Kaylani's been decent at drinking water out of her Nuby sippy cup. If you watched the end of the Veggie Puff video, then you can see that she likes to shake her cup around, turn it upside down, and maybe take a few sips every now and then. Well that's all fine and good when it's just water (except when she grabs the spout and makes a giant mess), but when we decided to try it with breastmilk (or liquid gold as we like to call it), there would be little shaking and leakage tolerated.

On Tuesday morning, Mommy gave Kaylani 1 oz of breastmilk in her Nuby sippy cup right after she woke up. And wouldn't you know it, she took it! Sure she shook it around and there was a little spillage because Mommy couldn't see her, but she took it. First thing Wednesday morning Daddy gave it a go. He gave Kaylani 1 oz of breastmilk to start, and after Kaylani grabbed it and pumped most of it onto her bib/shirt (oops), she took the refill of 1.5 oz just fine. And this morning, Kaylani took almost 2 oz of breastmilk from her Nuby sippy cup. So after 3 attempts, I think we're ready to call the Booby to Nuby experiment a success!

We may have declared success, but we're still going to work on it just a little bit. 2 oz is enough to hold her over so Mommy can sleep an extra 30 minutes to an hour in the mornings, but it's not enough to let Mommy get away for some solid Mommy time. Once Kaylani gets up to the 4-5 oz mark, then I think we'll be officially ready for a full half day of Daddy-Daughter time. And after that, maybe it'll even mean there's time for Daddy-Mommy time. That'd sure be something!

So we'll keep you posted on how our Nuby experiment goes. Hopefully she won't be a noobie with her Nuby for too long so I can give Mommy a real break and spend some good Daddy-Daughter time with Kaylani. But until then, we're more than okay with a whole lot of family time. And since it's Thursday night, that means its time for me to wish everyone a Happy Fatherhood Friday! Don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for all the other great FF posts. And while you're there, check out my latest Sports IllustraDad post on why Lebron James sucks for brainwashing kids!

Fatherhood Friday at Dad Blogs

7 comments:

Melisa Wells said...

My older one went right to a cup (but w/ formula in it) at around 8-9 months (can't remember!) because he used to shriek when we tried to get him to use a bottle. It was highly annoying, because I couldn't leave him for more than 4 hours at a time, EVER.

Congrats on your experiment!! Life is going to get a little easier for you three! :)

Andrew's Daddies said...

Our son has always been a bottle baby. Obviously no one in our household can breast feed. He is now using a sippy cup and an occassional sip of water from a regular glass held one of his daddies.

WeaselMomma said...

She'll be a pro in no time!

Otter Thomas said...

Congrats to mommy. An extra 30 minutes of sleep is worth a lot.

HeirApparent said...

We attempted this exact trick when our daughter gave up the bottle. We thought we were pretty clever - sadly she disagreed. Now it's either right from the tap or it's a no go - we're envious of you...

SurprisedMom said...

My oldest was great. She would nurse, or take a bottle. She would drink breast milk or formula. She was easy. The youngest, however, wouldn't take anything fake, i.e., pacifiers or bottle nipples. It had to be the real thing. I nursed her for seven months, then she went right to the sippy cup and formula. Not bottles for this one. Good luck with your experiement. I'm sure your little one will be a pro in no time!

JonnyTam13 said...

Thanks everyone! Our experiment has kinda taken a little break over the last couple of days (damn busy weekends!), but she did take prune juice from her sippy cup today. Sure hope that doesn't confuse her...