With Moo buying bottles was easy...the day we came out of hospital we dashed to boots picked up the Avent bottles from the shelf (as it was the only brand I recognised) and went home.
With Teddy...boy has it been tricky.
When Teddy was delivered the midwife had explained that he was tongue tied but that if breast feeding was successful there would be no need to cut it. For the first 5 weeks I found feeding 'easy' mainly because:
-I didn't need to get out of bed at night to get/make bottles.
-In the day I had a free arm to cuddle Moo.
-I didn't need to get up at all after having c-section. (Which helped me heal quicker).
Then week 5 one breast started to dry up...I think on reflection Teddy just couldn't latch on enough, which consequently ment he was just sucking air. It ment my other breast was over working and so was engorged a lot and when Teddy fed, my let down was so much he would gulp, splutter and choke on the fast flow. He also started to get green poo's-which is an indication among other thingshe wasn't getting the hind milk.
I swore to myself before I delivered that if I started to stuggle with breast feeding I'd stop straight away. It took me around four days of trying time and time again to turn things around. But as the feeds went on like this I found I started to resent feeding and so over those four days I introduced the bottle. While justifying to myself why I was giving it up-feeling the guilt again-worrying if I stopped would it be easier? What if it got harder?! Was I giving up too fast?
This time though I followed my instinct-I had to make a decision and stick to it.
So I cleaned my old Avent bottles and sterilised. Adding cow and gate stage one formula. Confident in my choice to bottle feed I sat down excitedly as I put the bottle in between his hungry lips. Well he gagged as the bottle went in and then after another disastrous feed inhaling air in every gulp and swallow-he projectile vomited everywhere.
I also then changed his milk to cow and gate reflux formula. As Moo had reflux too I knew even when breast feeding that Teddy had it- the annoying thing is though you do need to change the teats to size 2 because the milk is thicker and just doesnt get through a size 1 teat!
My milk 'dried' within three days after I stopped
So being unable to breast feed successfully I now couldn't bottle feed successfully. I felt quickly that my experience with Moo feeding was happening again. I was petrified of asking D to feed and that it would put him off. How would he ever bond with Teddy? So after scrolling the internet I decided to try the MAM bottles maybe this was the answer-they are designed to help with colic. I dicovered very quickly that infact it made no difference.
The only thing I could think of was tonge tie, after all Moo had one and so did I as a baby and my Dad. Now the next challange, its Christmas so limited appointment times, we also waited two weeks with Marty on NHS waiting list while breast feeding. As I was now bottle feeding I suspected it would be even longer.
As the trapped wind in his little belly was getting more painful and my patience threading as I became more and more tierd, I did the only thing I could, I regained control. I looked for a private practice that I could get to cut Teddy's tongue. I found one in Tiverton, Liz at 'Healthy Babies' suggested among other things a shorter teat could work better for his gagging. That infact he perhaps couldn't 'latch on' because of his palate being too far forward still. Liz was hopeful it should rectify itself hopefully by the time Teddy's three months old (fingers were very tightly crossed). Once the consultation was finished we popped into tescos and on the off chance they had some 'Tescos Loves Baby' standard bottles. To my amazement they did look shorter.
Once we got home he drank from the Tescos bottle with ease, sitting up after and burping before peacfully falling asleep. It was a miracle. But it ment his reflux got worse as the reflux formula couldn't fit through the teats! However I'd rather a sickie baby than a baby in pain!
Teddy is now 9 1/2 weeks old and he has started to flatten the teats-now going up to size 2 teats wouldn't of worked as the teats are longer in the Tescos brand. I was also conscious of the amount of air bubbles in the bottles. So out came the MAM bottles again they are designed to reduce colic and the teats are flat and slightly shorter than other teats anyway.
Its remarkable he's back to the 'easy and content' baby he was born as. I still have to do lots of baby massage, especially in the evening. During the day he lives in my Bjron to help with his reflux.
So the question is was it the crainology, cutting his tongue tie or changing bottles? I think it was a combination of all three...I guess we'll never know!
