Ivy was never breast-fed. As a heart baby, the doctors felt her heart was too weak to put so much effort into eating. She was fed through a tube in her nose for the first 5 weeks of her life. On week 5 they decided to try feeding her with a bottle. It was a struggle for a long time, and she still had to have the feeding tube for a few months after coming home from the hospital. Eventually, she learned to love her bottle, and loved to eat. She became pretty attached to the bottle. This is something I hadn't experienced with the boys since they were breastfed and weaned straight to a sippy-cup. I used the bottle to give her all of her medications, by adding them to milk, then she'd drink it, thus getting her meds without any problems. Ivy is now 22 months old, and in my eyes, WAY too old for a bottle. I've been thinking about this for a while, but didn't have the determination to go through sleepless nights and forcing Ivy to take the meds like a regular person. Last week I decided now is the time. I put all her bottles away, got out Dexy's old sippy-cups, and cut her off. That day I gave her the meds like I should have been giving them to her all along, and she took them without fighting or crying. I put her down for a nap without a bottle (this is the part I was most nervous about), she slept. That night we gave her the night meds normally as well (with a little fighting), and laid her down for bedtime. She cried. For a long time. We held strong. Finally she slept.
Its been 5 days now, and she is doing great. She takes her meds twice a day without crying or fighting, and she goes to sleep at naps and bedtime with minimal protests and crying. What a superstar. Our little girl is growing up!
Here she is sleeping in her crib/toddler bed without the aid of a bottle. Yay!
