Milestones

Since she was born, Sophie has hit all her developmental milestones almost on the dot (I mean, the moment she was ready to pop at 37 weeks, our girl was all set. Talk about being punctual...): growth spurts at 7 days and 3 weeks, lifting her head 45 degrees at 3 weeks, and making eye contact at 4 weeks- she's done it all. Yesterday, as she turned a month old, Sophie turned another two corners, so to speak- 1) she finally outgrew her Newborn diapers and has moved up a size, and 2) she's grown too big for her Newborn clothes and had to start wearing her 0-3 month onesie today. It would seem that Mama's milk is doing our little girl a whole lot of good :)

Speaking of milk and milestones, another one that Sophie accomplished today is taking to her first bottle. I go back to school in a couple of weeks and Jude will be home on my meeting days to watch her so I'll be expressing and storing my breastmilk so he can do her feeds. Also, we didn't want to wait too long to try or it'll just make the transition even tougher for her. Our breastfeeding instructor recommended that we start introducing the bottle 10 days before and to start with just an ounce to see if she'll take to it. And so this morning, with the grandparents by her side cheering her along (literally!), Sophie was given her first bottle by Daddy. We were told that she may not take the bottle if she senses me nearby so I sat on the stairs watching from afar. And crying. First it was from the anxiety of seeing her initially reject the nipple and not getting the milk she craved, but once she latched on and drank merrily away, I started crying even harder at the prospect that I was no longer her sole provider of sustenance :( If it's possible, I think I actually felt a twinge of resentment against the bottle, in all its well-designed BPA-free glory...

Now that I've regained some semblance of perspective though, I'm really glad at how it all worked out and so proud of what a little trooper Sophie was. Also, I comfort myself by saying that I'll still be breastfeeding her whenever I'm home and Jude and I will switch out for night feeds so that things will be a little more sane for me. Like our friend Tanya reminded me, I'll always be her Mama, and a silly little bottle isn't going to change that... Besides, now that we know Sophie will take the bottle when she has to, Jude can be a real part of her feeding experience and not just the person who carries her to me in the middle of the night :) Daddy-daughter bonding FTW!

As for the whole bottle experience, we were expecting a real struggle with this transition and so afraid of how many bottles we'd have to try before we find one that Sophie will like. Thankfully, we started right away with the Adiri Stage 1 bottle and we couldn't be any happier. Designed with the help of moms, doctors, and lactation consultants, and with a nipple that's molded like Mama's breast, the Adiri bottle is highly recommended by many of the mommy websites I've been perusing. It's a little costlier than regular bottles, but judging from how quickly and easily Sophie took to it only after a minute of fussing, we're not complaining- it's totally worth it!