Bye-Bye Baby Food and Bottles

My little girl is becoming a big girl and I am so excited. I am giddy as a kid on Christmas morning. We have battled feeding this child since birth. It began with NICU lactation nurse telling me to be patient but she would finally latch on and then trying her on this horrendous bottles for cleft palate called Habermans (which cost $50 each) and still struggling with feeds. Then we found out that nursing was not an option for her and moved to using a pigeon valve bottle that didn't work so we took the valve and tried it on every possible bottle and nipple made on the market until Dr. Brown's traditional bottle nipple was found to be a success. We were able to remove the valve at the end of the summer at 18 months old and just give her a bottle. Then she transitioned to taking her milk just last week in a Nuby bottle that was meant to help her transition to a Nuby cup. Then today we moved to the Nuk, silicone, sippy cup and it was a HUGH success! She drank 10 ounces of formula at bedtime tonight without any air sucking, crying, playing around, or any problems at all. WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

On top of also giving away all of her baby food a few weeks ago to our neighbors and friends with babies, it has really put the cherry on top of my happiness. She will always be the baby but she is finally showing signs of normal childhood. I can feed her cut up grapes, green beans, turkey, chicken, and give her soy milk formula in a sippy cup. This is a very liberating feeling for me as a mommy. I know that she would not have entered kindergarten with a bottle in hand but the fear of her using the bottle as a crutch (much like some kids use a pacifier) was eating me up with guilt and jealousy for the moms that never face this challenge. I am super proud of Kyleigh for her willingness and cooperation and the smooth transition she has made in such a short time span of 2 weeks. Go Kyleigh..Go Kyleigh...you are becoming mommy and daddy's big "little" girl and we are so very proud!