This is Christine. I went back to work this week starting on Wednesday. After only a two day transition period, Patty did a great job taking care of Katherine and managing the house. Every day, Katherine made more and more progress to take the bottle from Patty.
- Monday: She only took 2 oz after crying for 10-20 minutes and ate nothing else from the bottle the entire day – despite Patty’s valiant attempts.
- Tuesday: We didn’t have much more success, until Patty remarked that the Avent nipple seemed too big for Katherine. I pulled a Gerber bottle out of the back of a drawer, and voila…Katherine emptied the entire bottle! She drank about 7.5 oz that day.
- Wednesday: Patty switched entirely to the Gerber bottle. She fed Katherine 10 oz over a couple feedings (right before she fell asleep) and brought Katherine to work so I could nurse her.
- Thursday: She drank 14 oz. over four feedings, although she ate only when she was tired.
- Friday: Katherine drank 14 oz. readily over three feedings with no crying or fussing at all. This has been huge progress!
Katherine is now drinking from a 3-6 month moderate flow Gerber nipple. The only downside is the fact that we invested in 10 Avent bottles and a bunch of Avent nipples (which she still refuses to take), but this is a small price to pay for bottle feeding!
Other huge news – Katherine started to sleep through the night this week. She fell asleep at 9AM Tuesday night and slept the entire night! I work her up, much to her dismay, at 7:30AM the following morning to feed. Her schedule has started to solidify. Both Wednesday and Thursday nights she feel asleep by 8:30PM. Unfortunately, she did wake at 1AM Friday morning with a wet diaper, but it was an uneventful night otherwise.
Between her sleep schedule and acceptance of the bottle, parenthood has gotten so much easier. Our only remaining challenge is Bisco, who came down with a nasty case of kennel cough after our LA trip. While he is no longer congested, he’s sneezing quite a bit. On Wednesday, Katherine came to work with white stuff in her hair. Patty explained that Bisco sneezed on Katherine’s head, and that she wasn’t able to clean it all out. Oh Yuck. ๐
Katherine is also developing her motor skills. She grabbed her little plastic keys from my hand a few nights ago and shook them enthusiastically as I made my dinner in the kitchen. She’s also taking walks with Patty around the neighborhood in her Baby Bjorn facing forward. I’m looking forward to this weekend and spending two quality days with Katherine, learning more about her developments this week.
I’ve include two pictures Steve took of Patty playing with Katherine.
