The bottle story

Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her mother had to go to her master's class once a week, during which her father and/or grandmother would take care of her. Since she was a breastfed baby, her mother pumped her milk during the class' scheduled break time and always ensured she left a good supply of breastmilk at home. From the time she was three weeks old until she was approximately two months old, this worked very well. The little girl had no problem with the Medela Calma nipple, which claimed (as did most nipples) that it was the most breast-like nipple EVER!

And then one day, she woke up. The newborn baby girl had become a REAL baby girl and did not like fake nipples. "You can't fool me" she thought. The following weeks were harrowing for her father. Instead of nicely drinking breastmilk from a bottle and drifting off to sleep, she cried and cried and cried. She would become red in the face and her father would try to calm her by saying, "There is nothing else I can do, you have to drink your milk from this bottle. I have no breasts." But the little girl would not listen.

Her mother became increasingly worried about leaving her, knowing that she would cry so much and that both the little girl and her father would suffer when she left. So it was decided that different techniques would be tried out.

First, her parents tried changing bottles, which seemed to work, for about a week, but that was the little girl's trick. She just wanted to keep her parents on their toes and make them realize that she would change her mind as often as she wanted.

Second, her parents thought they would try while her mother was at home. This idea was quickly abandoned, as her screams were so intense her parents thought the neighbours would hear.

Third, her mother tried feeding her out of a cup, which was an idea she had found on the Internet. This seemed to work, but the little girl was just playing around and spitting out most of the milk. The mess she made was not worth the tiny bit of milk she had ingested.

Fortunately, her parents have very good friends and family who were all willing to help. Remember the little girl's grandmother? She was able to give her a bottle once, with a fair amount of screaming, but still, she succeeded. Another couple of friends encouraged the girl's parents by saying their son had had a similar experience and that they should just keep trying different bottles until they found the right one. This is when the girl's mother decided to do THE GREAT EXPERIMENT.

THE GREAT EXPERIMENT began like this:

Every single bottle was tested by her mother, who made a little game out of the bottles. She tricked the little girl by feeding her when she really wasn't very hungry. She first gave her daughter a few sips of milk from the real breast and then would quickly switch to the bottle. She proceeded to do this with all eight bottles, automatically deleting the ones the little girl refused.

After the first round, there were approximately five bottles left in the running. A few hours later when the girl was somewhat hungry, her mother tried again. She refused the first two quite vehemently, but then became more interested in the third, to the point where she eventually sucked and gulped from the bottle rather than just playing around with it. Her mother was ecstatic, but did not want to count her chickens before they hatched.

A few hours later, her mother continued her routine: a few sips from the breast, a few sips from the bottle, going back and forth until the little girl had successfully drank half an ounce from the bottle.

Even later, her mother decided to try with a full once of milk. At about this time, the little girl's father came home from work. He decided he wanted to try too. The little girl kept drinking until the full ounce was gone! It seemed like the parents had a winner with the Avent bottle!

Since the little girl's parents now know that she is a trickster, they will continue to try the bottle once in a while, to ensure she continues to take it, because they know that what happened yesterday may never happen again...