Differences

My 4YO girl was so different than my baby boy is. I know babies are different, kids are not the same no matter what, but I guess I didn't think they could really be so different. At the beginning of this year, I prepared my "bringing home a newborn" home life just as I had when I had my daughter 4 years ago. I brought the glider chair out of storage. I set up the crib. I put together the bassinet. I put the changing table top back on the kid's dresser. I took the swing out of storage and set it up smack dab in the middle of the living room.

I did all those things. I assumed I'd run the new baby ship the exact same way I did for my daughter. I was wrong. Let's see…I've sat in my glider ONCE...the first night I came home from the hospital. I've changed the baby's diaper on the changing table a handful of times. The baby has been in the swing less times than he's been on his changing table. All that preparation and work…for pretty much nothing.

I guess I learned different things toward the end of having my first infant around that I didn't know at the beginning. Tricks that make life easier. Tricks like…

Who the hell gets out of bed to nurse in the middle of the night when you can lay in bed and fall asleep while the baby sucks away and eventually drifts back to sleep?

And…why change the baby on the changing table when there's a huge bed in my bedroom that isn't as high as the changing table. A bed that is in the exact location we will be in when I finish putting on his jammies.

And…why put powder and lotion on a baby after EVERY bath when he's already so deliciously soft and squishy?

And…diaper ointment? Meh…not unless the kid's butt is actually red.

There are other differences too. Let's talk about eating, shall we? While I was on maternity leave my son ate and ate and ate and ate some more just when you thought he was DONE eating. My daughter did too. Boob rules according to my kids. At 3 months old, when it was time to go off to school when I went back to work, my daughter would POUND 5 oz bottles like she was going to the chair. For my son, this time around? I haven't put anything more than 3 ozs in any given bottle. My son is a boob man all the way. If he's hungry enough he'll take a bottle, but he'll suck down 1 oz and fall asleep on his care givers. He rarely finishes a whole bottle. I've tried every bottle. Believe me, I'm not exaggerating. I've tried, Evenflo, Tommee Tippee, First Years, Dr. Brown's, Mamm and Playtex drop ins. He wants no part of any of them except the Playtex drop ins but not with the normal nipple, they have to have the orthodontic nipple.

I've found that the nipples on pretty much every bottle are super long and he chokes on it when he tries to eat and that's when he gets pissed off and gives up or scream bloody murder. The orthodontic ones are slightly shorter and more natural to what a nipple is actually shaped like. Why do companies make these big round long nipple things on bottles? No wonder kids have nipple confusion, because some MAN (probably) designed a baby bottle nipple not taking into account what a baby would like. I've been around the block on baby bottles this time and it's frustrating. With my daughter 4 years ago, she took the Dr. Brown's and that was the end of it. Once we realized she was easy, we did away with those labor intensive Dr. Brown's bottle and switched to Playtex drop ins. I figured my son would like those right off the bat. Not so much. He takes them, but only because he won't take any other bottle type. And I'm hating those damn things. I don't know what the hell they did to these bottles or the drop in sleeves, but they LEAK…A LOT!!! The sleeve falls out the bottom of the bottle and dive bombs to the floor causing me to cry over spilled milk. It is didn't just happen once. It's been multiple times and they've leaked no matter how straight you keep them upright. I wish he'd take a different type of bottle. Anything but the Playtex Drop Ins.

Because he kept falling asleep and not finishing or not even starting a bottle his care giver recommended putting an extra hole or 2 in the end of the nipple. I tried that, but the holes don't really work, it would have to be drilled out. I am not about to buy the drop ins for the bigger Playtex drop in bottles because I absolutely despise the expandable sleeves they make for that bottle because you can't tell how much you've put in or how much the baby has eaten while you're giving him a bottle. And that seems to be the only sleeve they readily sell for the larger bottles. It's really hard to find the regular large sleeves. And why would I try those larger Playtex drop ins if he's not even eating an ounce or two at a time?

I hope in the next couple months his mouth gets bigger or something because he's gotta take something beside the Playtex drop ins. They are awful bottles. We never once had this problem when my daughter used the Playtex drop in bottle. I am so done with them. I am on the verge of writing Playtex a scathing letter. Putting that on my to do list. In the mean time I need to break this kid of taking the Playtex and move on to something else.