tough love

Before Yohann turned 2 months old, he already refused to drink milk from his bottle. I had to mix-feed him a few days after birth as my milk wasn't enough to satisfy his hunger then. When my milk supply increased, I did direct feeding, no more formula or bottle. Now that he's 3 months old, I'm teaching him again to drink from his bottle. I need to be away from home some days and would leave him milk, but he would refuse to drink from his bottle.

Last Friday after coming home from an errand, I was told he refused to take his bottle and had to be fed with a dropper. How tiring is that?! So I immediately got him a bottle of milk and started to pep talk him into drinking it. At first he would take it in his tiny mouth, lick a little, and then push it out with his tongue. So I would offer it to him again. And he would react in the same manner. Repeat this five times and he would end up in a crying fit. After that I gave up and just fed him.

This morning I needed to go out, so last night we did the same routine, trying to get him to feed from his bottle, with little success. Because of that, plus his early morning tantrums today, I wasn't able to leave. I decided that today we will practice some more until he gets used to his bottle.

The whole morning I refused to feed him. We tried having his grandma give him the bottle, but he refused it. Afterwards I tried too. Again, he refused, and turned toward my chest, but I also refused to give it to him. Much crying came after that. Whenever he would calm down and turn quiet I would give him the bottle again. He would play with it a little, then cry. When he got tired of it, he just slept without eating. Mon was already teasing us, saying we were both sticking to what we want and not letting the other get what he wants. Lol. I vowed I wouldn't give in to his crying, he'd better learn to do this or else go hungry whenever I need to go out without him. I had to teach him to do it no matter what; this was tough love, I told myself.

Six hours later Yohann had already downed 3 ounces, little by little, with many tears and fussing. I was satisfied enough with that and so I made him go to sleep and gave him my breast to feed on as a reward. After he woke up, I gave his bottle again and - lo and behold! He doesn't like it again! Hahaha!