Bottle Envy... or not so much

So Dave was home for 6 weeks on paternity leave with the girls until early November. During that time it didn't seem as though there were too many bottle issues. I woke up in the morning, fed the girls, then pumped, then off to work. When I arrived home in the evening, I came back packin' a cooler with the good stuff.

Then Dave went back to work and I started part-time. So in essence that meant, more one-on-one time with the babies, or you could say two-on-two. On the days Dave was home, and hence the girls took the bottle, we have begun to have issues.

It's really hit or miss on whether they are going to eat from the bottle nowadays. Our doc told us not to worry and if they are hungry enough they will eventually take their chow from good ol' Born Free, but what we have been finding is that they don't and they just get super super distraught and eventually cry themselves to sleep until mamma gets home (there have been a couple times that I have actually had to leave work).

It seems as though Lucy is the primary mischief maker in denying the bottle. I guess she has the infamous stubborn quality of a first-born:) A co-worker recommended that we try another bottle that has a nude colored nipple and that maybe that would work better-- it's not very exciting to think of purchasing another (most likely $$) bottle just to test it out... argh.

On another somewhat related note... I am still determined to give them only breast milk until they are 6 months but its becoming harder and harder to make extra to store so that I can leave for more than 2 hours at a time (shopping, maybe happy hour??).

If I am feeding them and then pump I only get maybe an ounce. I do find that if I can motivate myself in the morning to hook up to the Ameda after I feed them I will get more. I think its because they eat less frequently at night (every 5 hours, versus 2-3 during the day) I have more leftover after they are done.

My blonde nature shown through when I thought placing a frozen milk bag (plastic) in a pot of boiling water to thaw it out, only to find boiling milk and an empty bag shortly thereafter. That was 7 oz. down the drain. We also found that some of the frozen milk had gone bad; I think we froze it too long after it was pumped.

And... my sis and I have grand plans of hitting the town when we are back for Christmas and I guarantee that I will likely not have enough. I can only travel with so much milk on the plane and I will not be able to pump enough once I arrive so I am thinking about sneaking in some formula gradually a couple weeks before we go back to MN-- we'll see.