Many parents probably think that a baby taking a bottle is not a big deal. Millions and millions of babies take the bottle. Not newsworthy at all. Somehow though, my first two kids did not take the bottle. How lucky for my wife and I!

As you can imagine, have a baby strapped to their mother almost 24 hours a day for almost the first full year of life can be extremely taxing on her. She never got any breaks at night with our first two kids and honestly with our first, we both had no idea what we were doing. It also didn’t help that my first two only wanted to be held by their Mommy. Postpartum depression, burnout, exhaustion, stress, and many other things followed. It was a constant struggle to get through that period of time and my wife and I were both hoping for a different outcome with our third.

With our third, he did take a pacifier right when he popped out of the womb. It was a welcomed change for the first few hours since he helped soothe him. He did get confused on how to latch properly the first few times since he was using the pacifier, so we had to stop using it after the first few days. Although we never got to go back to the pacifier, it did provide a glimmer of hope that my third would take a bottle.

Fast forward to the first time this week when my wife needed to be gone for 5 hours. It was worrisome for my wife and if I were to be honest, I was slightly worried also, but I knew that worse case, I could drive to where my wife was at if the bottle did not work at all. I had the whole day planned out where I was going to take a long walk with the baby and our huge 75lb. bernadoodle Chewy, then come back and take the baby out of the wrap carrier cloth contraption that I love to use, baby will be grumpy/upset to be woken up (but I have to change his diaper and clothes somehow!), and after calming him down…the big show will start…bottle time. I figured the bottle will help soothe him and he would want to suck on the bottle. Somehow my plan worked perfectly (or as well as it could). He did drink about 2oz. from the bottle and I was shocked (with a cry fest and other soothing methods needed about halfway through).

My wife was relieved and I was also happy that I didn’t have to go hunt my wife down with a crying and hungry baby in the backseat. The cherry on top was that after taking the bottle, he slept by himself for about an hour (giving me a welcomed break!). I survived the first extended time with the baby and I definitely am glad that my wife can now (with a peaceful mind) head out for longer periods of time without worrying about how everything is going to work out. Taking the bottle is a game changer for us and I am appreciative of our baby being cooperative!