At 8 weeks of age, Kingsley has learned to take milk from a bottle. The silicon nipple is nothing like mine, (and the child is completely besotted/obsessed by my breast) but both are conduits to a thirst quenching drink of breast milk. Every now and again it is impossible to whip out my boob to feed the hungry cub lest I offend delicate sensibilities on say the Metro or at a supermarket, so a bottle is imperative to have filled with some milk.
We waited till King was over 6 weeks of age and breastfeeding was well established before introducing a bottle. Because sucking milk from a bottle requires different mouth and tongue movements than breastfeeding, it took King a little time to get used to the change. As an extended family we tried some tricks to transition the baby smoothly:
- Offered King a small amount (30 mls) in the comfort of home, to start with, and
- Used a slow-flow nipple so that his mouth would not be flooded with milk, and
- Let someone else feed her the first bottle: here it is Jiajia Dora while we are out for coffee in the Bastakya area of Dubai