Feeding with a cup
Well, Emily is more than 5 weeks post-op and even though we've been trying to get her back on her bottle for two weeks, she still won't take it and prefers to drink from the Soft Sipps. This is frustrating because the Soft Sipps don't hold as much formula (only 3.5 ounces) and don't seem to be made for long-term use. They fall apart after a while and these are not easy bottles to replace!
So this presents a dilemma. Should we force the issue of her bott - simply refuse to give her the Soft Sipps and force feed her until she learns how to eat with her bottle without the NAM? I asked Shelley, the Feeding specialist at NYU and she thought we'd probably have to do that. Apparently it is very rare that a baby won't take the bottle after surgery. Now, we could force Emily, but she's not going to get her bottle after her Palate surgery in April so we'd be going through the exact same thing all over again! Jim and I don't want to put Emily through that torture, so we've decided to transition her directly to a cup. It has to be a cup without a spout and apparently Gerber makes one like this so I plan to buy one soon, but in the meantime I rigged something up from one of Ana's cups and it seems to be working - it is a cup with a lid and a hole for a straw. I put water in it so far and the cup has a raised rim which Emily seems to like. I have to tip the cup a lot and let a little water dribble into her mouth and she actually drinks it (the Soft Sipp is good for training her how to drink from a cup. So far I've only introduced the cup at meal times to help clean out her palate while she's eating. She often eats a few more spoonfuls after she has some water.
It will be a while before Emily can hold her own cup, but if we can switch her to a cup and get rid of the Soft Sipp, life will be much easier. You can put much more fluid in a cup and of course buy them locally.
Our biggest concern with the bottle is that Emily won't be practicing her sucking, but she seems to love her pacifier so we give that to her all the time. She's starting to hold the pacifier on her own and that's a great step to helping her get to sleep too.
So this presents a dilemma. Should we force the issue of her bott - simply refuse to give her the Soft Sipps and force feed her until she learns how to eat with her bottle without the NAM? I asked Shelley, the Feeding specialist at NYU and she thought we'd probably have to do that. Apparently it is very rare that a baby won't take the bottle after surgery. Now, we could force Emily, but she's not going to get her bottle after her Palate surgery in April so we'd be going through the exact same thing all over again! Jim and I don't want to put Emily through that torture, so we've decided to transition her directly to a cup. It has to be a cup without a spout and apparently Gerber makes one like this so I plan to buy one soon, but in the meantime I rigged something up from one of Ana's cups and it seems to be working - it is a cup with a lid and a hole for a straw. I put water in it so far and the cup has a raised rim which Emily seems to like. I have to tip the cup a lot and let a little water dribble into her mouth and she actually drinks it (the Soft Sipp is good for training her how to drink from a cup. So far I've only introduced the cup at meal times to help clean out her palate while she's eating. She often eats a few more spoonfuls after she has some water.
It will be a while before Emily can hold her own cup, but if we can switch her to a cup and get rid of the Soft Sipp, life will be much easier. You can put much more fluid in a cup and of course buy them locally.
Our biggest concern with the bottle is that Emily won't be practicing her sucking, but she seems to love her pacifier so we give that to her all the time. She's starting to hold the pacifier on her own and that's a great step to helping her get to sleep too.
posted by Jackie at 11/10/2004 09:01:00 AM
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