Bottle Fix

During the past few weeks I have spent the majority of the time rocking Timmy. I love holding and cuddling him, but the time was anything but relaxing. Timmy was struggling in pain because of gas and, despite numerous changes in formula and medication dosing, nothing was providing relief. We were essentially held hostage by his gastrointestinal distress, forced to hold and soothe him in a fruitless attempt to ease his pain.  It is terribly frustrating watching your baby suffer!

By the time the weekend rolled around Timmy and I were both exhausted from our gas focused routine.  We were both pale and developing deep circles due to his lack of restful sleep. I was at my wits end, desperate to find a solution to his tummy troubles.  On a whim, I asked my mom (whom I was visiting) to pick up another type of bottle. I was doubtful that the change would make a difference, but having exhausted every other variable I figured it was worth a try. At that point in time, I was willing to try anything to help him.

My mom came home with two new bottles, both exorbitantly expensive but touting to deduce colic and gas. Unimpressed by the claims on the package, I skeptically examined the institutional looking bottle. The Dr. Brown bottle is certainly complex, featuring a straw like valve which I knew would make cleaning a multi-step process. But by this point Timmy was red faced and sweaty from screaming so I tore through the package and made him some fussy baby formula.

Almost immediately I noticed that he was latching on with more intensity, and that the constant dribble down his left cheek was gone. (I had asked his pediatrician about the difficulty he was having sealing around the nipple but was informed that he had some muscle tone weakness and was assured that it would resolve with time.) He gulped down the bottle in record time and, for the first time in weeks, seemed content.

I was encouraged by the expensive, complicated bottles and decided to keep using it for each feeding. Within 24 hours my cranky baby was gone, allowing me to become reacquainted with my sweet little Timmy. I had no idea that switching bottles would make such a difference. I wish I had thought of switching earlier!

Before coming home on Monday my Mom and I made one stop: we went to Babies R Us, where I stocked up to replace all of our bottles with Dr. Brown's. The relief that has been yielded by using the bottle makes it well worth the hefty price tag. As for the difficulty cleaning, I would rather spend a little more time at the sink if it means that my little baby is happy and calm.