// This post was sponsored by NUK as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central, however all opinions expressed are my own. //
I am so glad you all stopped by to read this post. I love creating content for my audience and I really appreciate that you've stopped by to learn something new. As many of you know, like with my first child Melanie, I exclusively nursed Finn until he was six months and we've been working hard to get him used to drinking pumped breast milk from a bottle. I have some classes that I teach and a few out of state conferences coming up so being able to leave him with his dad and a bottle plus pumped milk would be very freeing for me. Also, my husband is looking forward to getting to share more one on one feeding time with his little guy. We've been trying various bottles to no avail but then had the chance to try out the NUK Simply Natural bottles and – we appear to be on something! This bottle's nipple is designed to mimic the shape of a breast and provide a perfect fit for Finn's mouth. Plus, it is made of a really soft silicone with a pliability that allows Finn to create a create a stable latch with the nipple. I feel like these bottles must really feel like my breast to him while he's feeding.
Bottle feeding Finn has been a much easier experience since we introduced him to the NUK Simply Natural bottles. Before filling it with pumped milk the first time, we let him hold the empty bottle and suck on the nipple. It was sweet to watch his little chubby face light up as he realized how much more like mommy's nipple it was. He couldn't stop smiling around a mouth that was full of NUK nip. Apparently, it is thoughtfully designed to resembled more of a natural feeding experience for Finn – it's supposed to be just like nursing from my breast! This process has been a gradual one for us since we're very concerned about Finn getting nipple confusion. First, we waited as long as possible to even begin introduce a bottle to him. Then, we let him play with an empty bottle. He got the chance to figure out on his own how to hold it, put the nipple in his mouth, and basically do a dry run with bottle feeding. Next, we filled a bottle with freshly pumped (i.e. warm) breast milk and I left the room completely while my husband introduced the filled bottle to Finn. We did this because Finn has a tendency to see me and nothing else but me (and my boobs) so, the theory was, if he can't see me, he can't fuss for the breast instead of a bottle. Then, my husband just gently introduced the bottle to Finn by putting it in our little guy's hands and encouraging him to try the nipple himself. He just continued to do this until Finn recognized that while the delivery system was slightly different, the end product was the same.
It was so awesome to see how this bottle's design was able to maintain and sustain the strong bond between the two of us during feeding time. I have always been very concerned that he would either reject the bottle's nipple completely or like it all too much and reject me. I am just so completely delighted that these well designed bottles have up to nine separate nipple holes so they are just like mommy’s breast! It also has three different flow rates so that it grows with baby. Be sure to pick up your NUK Simply Natural newborn gift set or bottles at Walmart or Target today. The NUK Simply Natural bottles also work great with the NUK Freemie which are available at Walmart and Target (be sure to add them to your baby registry! You will soooo want them).
Did you experience issues transitioning your breastfed baby to a bottle? Follow me on Instagram so you can share more breast and bottle feeding stories with me!
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