It's All About the Food

Daphne was in the NICU for so long partly because the girl refused to eat. I don't know what her little problem was, but she usually fell dead asleep about 2 minutes into her feeding time. That's why she had the tube in her nose: anytime she didn't finish a feeding they pumped the milk straight to her belly. If her feedings didn't get better but she was otherwise doing well enough to come home, they were considering sending her home with that tube. Meaning David and I would have to learn how to put it into her nose down to her stomach. Horrors! Fortunately she turned into the little porker we knew she truly was and started finishing her bottles like a good girl.















She tried a regular bottle while in the hospital, but because of her cleft she has some sucking issues. She can't get a good suction, which affects her eating and also the ability to be able to hold a pacifier in her mouth without us holding it in for her. She was in love with the paci for awhile, but seems to be growing out of that need. I am happy about that!

Anyways, her bottle is called a Haberman, and it's designed for us to do a little squeezing on the nipple while she's sucking so that she doesn't have to work as hard to get her milk out. The nipple has a slow, medium and fast flow setting so that she doesn't choke. At first she was having issues sucking, swallowing and breathing at the same time, so we used the slow setting. She still has a tendancy to choke a little, so I stick with the medium flow. We hold her upright a bit to give gravity a chance to help the milk go down, and on her side a bit so the milk doesn't go shooting down her throat. Holding her upright also helps her baby heartburn. Being upright 10-15 minutes after a feeding keeps her reflux from acting up, and her projectile vomiting all over my clothes to a minimum. Feeding this girl is truly an art form.





























These bottles cost a whopping $27.95-ish each. Can you believe it?! I've thought about buying more, especially since now she goes through 1 and 1/2 bottles per feeding. (Each bottle holds 80cc's. There are 30cc's in an ounce.) But we kind of have our groove down with washing bottles every couple of feedings, so I don't know. I'm not even sure where you buy them. I think maybe a pharmacy?

Now when you see Daphne's funny looking bottle you know it's story. Thank you Mandy Haberman for your cool bottle invention. Maybe now you could make them in pretty colors? Or make them only $3 each?