"When I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself..."
There comes a time in every child’s life when he must learn to do things for himself, to fight his own battles and not rely on his parents every time he needs help. That’s why I’m making the twins hold their bottles during feedings. That, and I can use the time I save by not being attached to the floor.
I think this is about the age when I made Abbie hold her bottles. Things were different back then as I could afford to sit with her splayed across my lap for 20 minutes each time watching her eat, making sure she wasn’t taking in air, and correcting her technique as needed. Now Abbie has mastered holding a bottle, and has moved on to holding a sippy cup, throwing it on the ground, opening the refrigerator, and grabbing something tastier to eat.* Such toddler activity is why I can no longer afford to sit motionless for 20 minutes.
Ellie was the first to realize the boys can hold a bottle. While feeding someone, possibly Tory, one night, she noticed him grabbing for the bottle. I notice them grabbing at the bottle all the time, but I assumed they’re reaching to grab my fingers in a vestigial expression of the infant grasp reflex, or possibly an early manifestation of comprehending the “pull my finger” gag. Either way, I let them clutch my finger, but Ellie had the idea to direct his digits onto his bottle, and soon he was holding his bottle like a champ in the eight-month-old and under division.
In spite of the obvious time saving implications, it took me a few days to try making them hold their bottles without Ellie home. They would have to eat while strapped in their high chairs, and I had concerns about how far they could drain their bottles while only tipped back about 45-degrees, and about how well they could really hold their bottles without a parent’s hands hovering nearby. Plus, as a schedule-oriented person/closeted obsessive compulsive, I had an elaborate mealtime routine to ensure everyone eats fully cooked foods at the optimum time that I would have to adjust.
The most elaborate routine is for supper. In our pre-self-feeding days, I would start boiling water for my rice, feed the boys solids, start cooking Abbie’s carrots, prepare the boys’ bottles, carry the boys into the living room, add my rice to the boiling water, feed the boys their bottles, burp them, start cooking Abbie’s broccoli, throw her supper in the microwave, wash her hands, sit her in her booster seat, present her with the various courses of her dinner while preparing mine, and finally sit to eat my meal including perfectly cooked rice. Throughout the routine, I would periodically break to check on a baby and investigate why he’s crying.** Oh, and I also stopped to breathe.
Now that I have free space while they self-feed, I need to move some events up. The boiling water and cooking carrots start before the solids. The parts about feeding Abbie happen while the boys self-feed. The breathing has to wait until I sit down with my meal since there’s no time between checking on the food status of three children simultaneously.
The boys do okay holding their bottles. Their grip does the job, though they insist on holding it with clenched fists instead of open palms, which leads to the bottle’s angle slipping downward with their fists. Occasionally they drop the bottle, but they seem adept at reinserting it. The biggest problem is they insist on tipping the bottle back just far enough to skim off the surface. This leads to too much air intake, too slow formula intake, and too much formula left when they decide to quit trying and just suck air. Ian does better at tipping the bottle back than Tory, as Ian tends to give up with about an ounce left, while Tory stops drinking with two or more to go. I always have to sit with them and hold their bottles at a sufficient angle to drain them, so they’re not quite ready to leave the nest yet.
* Like spaghetti (no sauce, just the noodles); that’s what I caught her snacking on last time.
** It’s usually because he fell.
I think this is about the age when I made Abbie hold her bottles. Things were different back then as I could afford to sit with her splayed across my lap for 20 minutes each time watching her eat, making sure she wasn’t taking in air, and correcting her technique as needed. Now Abbie has mastered holding a bottle, and has moved on to holding a sippy cup, throwing it on the ground, opening the refrigerator, and grabbing something tastier to eat.* Such toddler activity is why I can no longer afford to sit motionless for 20 minutes.
Ellie was the first to realize the boys can hold a bottle. While feeding someone, possibly Tory, one night, she noticed him grabbing for the bottle. I notice them grabbing at the bottle all the time, but I assumed they’re reaching to grab my fingers in a vestigial expression of the infant grasp reflex, or possibly an early manifestation of comprehending the “pull my finger” gag. Either way, I let them clutch my finger, but Ellie had the idea to direct his digits onto his bottle, and soon he was holding his bottle like a champ in the eight-month-old and under division.
In spite of the obvious time saving implications, it took me a few days to try making them hold their bottles without Ellie home. They would have to eat while strapped in their high chairs, and I had concerns about how far they could drain their bottles while only tipped back about 45-degrees, and about how well they could really hold their bottles without a parent’s hands hovering nearby. Plus, as a schedule-oriented person/closeted obsessive compulsive, I had an elaborate mealtime routine to ensure everyone eats fully cooked foods at the optimum time that I would have to adjust.
The most elaborate routine is for supper. In our pre-self-feeding days, I would start boiling water for my rice, feed the boys solids, start cooking Abbie’s carrots, prepare the boys’ bottles, carry the boys into the living room, add my rice to the boiling water, feed the boys their bottles, burp them, start cooking Abbie’s broccoli, throw her supper in the microwave, wash her hands, sit her in her booster seat, present her with the various courses of her dinner while preparing mine, and finally sit to eat my meal including perfectly cooked rice. Throughout the routine, I would periodically break to check on a baby and investigate why he’s crying.** Oh, and I also stopped to breathe.
Now that I have free space while they self-feed, I need to move some events up. The boiling water and cooking carrots start before the solids. The parts about feeding Abbie happen while the boys self-feed. The breathing has to wait until I sit down with my meal since there’s no time between checking on the food status of three children simultaneously.
The boys do okay holding their bottles. Their grip does the job, though they insist on holding it with clenched fists instead of open palms, which leads to the bottle’s angle slipping downward with their fists. Occasionally they drop the bottle, but they seem adept at reinserting it. The biggest problem is they insist on tipping the bottle back just far enough to skim off the surface. This leads to too much air intake, too slow formula intake, and too much formula left when they decide to quit trying and just suck air. Ian does better at tipping the bottle back than Tory, as Ian tends to give up with about an ounce left, while Tory stops drinking with two or more to go. I always have to sit with them and hold their bottles at a sufficient angle to drain them, so they’re not quite ready to leave the nest yet.
* Like spaghetti (no sauce, just the noodles); that’s what I caught her snacking on last time.
** It’s usually because he fell.
posted by Matt at
11:46 PM
1 Comments:
We used to lean our babies back on pillows and put a blanket across their chests so they could hold their bottles at a higher angle and rest their elbows on the blanket, keeping them up longer. Yes, it's technically propping (which some believe is taboo), but it worked for us!
By
Brenda, at 9:18 AM
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