Bottle Battle

When Isaac was born, we gave him one bottle every night.  When I decided he wasn't latching on well onto my breast thus needed to be trained well, we stopped giving him the bottle (and pacifier as well).

We still gave him a bottle once in a while, but we let it lapsed for too long (over two weeks), he seemed to have forgotten how to drink from a bottle and started refusing it.

We tried forcing the issue.  I found the original slow-flow nipple was too slow for him and bought some medium flow nipples, but he seemed to choke on them.  He would actually let the nipple into his mouth initially, but refused later on as if something wasn't quite right.  That frustrated us (and him) to no end, and led to some tensions between us. ("Why aren't you trying the bottle every day??  Have you given up on it already??" was an accusation I didn't want to answer.)
As I needed to do some baby-shopping on Monday, I went to Toys'R'Us to specifically look for the most natural-shaped nipple. I found the Adiri Natural Nurser.

At $16.99, the bottle was expensive! But I decided it would be worth it if Isaac doesn't refuse.  I debated between getting stage 1 (0-3mo) or stage 2 (3-6mo).  On one hand, Isaac is 3 months old and is a fast eater.  However, the instruction manual of the bottle suggested using a slower flow bottle when (re)introducing bottle to an exclusively breastfed baby.  I ended up buying a stage 1 bottle.

My next stop was to Dear Born Baby.  Guess what?  The Adiri is $1 cheaper!  Not quite remembering which bottle size did I buy at Toys'R'Us, I bought a stage 2 instead and decided to return the one I bought from Toys'R'Us for refund.

Next come the test.  I read the articles linked from Adiri's website on (re)introducing bottles and decided to give it a shot yesterday.  I filled the stage 1 Adiri with hot water to warm up and soften the nipple, then poured a small amount freshly pumped milk into the bottle.  I gave the bottle to Isaac when he wasn't too hungry, and, to my pleasant surprise, he didn't refuse it!  The bad news is, he was just nibbling and wasn't drinking much from the bottle.  More milk seemed to be on his face than inside his mouth...

I tried again today.  As he wasn't in a very good mood (because I forcefully woke him up after he has just fallen asleep), he refused the bottle.  I then decided to put him on the breast for a little while before giving him the bottle again.  That worked!  This time, he was even drinking!  The stage 1 seemed a little too slow for him, so I'll try stage 2 tomorrow.