Bottle Boot Camp

It's funny how things work out sometimes. This weekend B Daddy and I are off to our LAST EVER retreat with our high school students, which means we are dishing off the kiddos to our amazing parents for the weekend. Every time we do this we reevaluate which children go to which set of grandparents based on age, eating habits and which kids are currently being high maintenance. It's a delicate dance.

This year we are sending the "big" (ages 5, 4 and 2) kids off to B Daddy's parents' home and the New Kid (6 months) is going to my folks' home. We figure one infant = 3 kids. Math was never my strong suit. The main reason behind the imbalanced equation is that our little man doesn't take a bottle. And I will be away from him for about 48 hours, or long enough for him to require a meal or two.

I was gone for a long weekend back in October during which this baby took a bottle like a champ after struggling through the first feeding. As soon as I got home, he discontinued the trick and has been putting sitters and grandparents alike through the ringer as far as taking it goes. He'll simply refuse his bedtime feeding and sleep (through the night!) until I feed him the next morning. I have to applaud his stubbornness.

But yesterday I came down with a yucky bug which is requiring a round of hard-core antibiotics that are not compatible with nursing. I have to pump and dump (GASP! SOB!) milk for a solid 5 days. Which means I'll be putting New Kid through bottle boot camp beginning today.

My strategy is based heavily on his own survival instincts (kid won't starve himself) and the magic of television. Generally speaking my kids have no idea what is going on around them if the TV is on, so I figure I'll pop a Baby Einstein movie in, stick the bottle in his face and pray for minimal tears. (Have you seen Baby Einstein?? Those bad boys will put a baby in a trance - it's scary and amazing.) You can pray for us too if you like. My mother should be thrilled that I will now be the one putting this kid through bottle boot camp instead of her. I'll let you know how it goes down. Any suggestions are appreciated!