Thursday, January 1, 2009

Bye Bye Bottles.

Sarah did a post the other day with a similar title, except "bottles" was replaced with "binky". I think we may have put the girls' bottles away for good. That is correct - 20+ months after Sarah delivered the girls, the Dr. Brown bottles may have seen their final use in our house!

This is a big deal for me. For those who don't have the low-down on baby bottles, you should know that Dr. Brown bottles are made to reduce the amount of air bubbles, therefore reducing the frequency of gas for the baby. Great, right? I don't have experience with other bottles, so I actually cannot comment on how effective Dr Brown bottles are versus other bottles. What I do know is that Dr. Brown bottles are comprised of 5 parts (6 if you count the cap)! The 5 parts are the bottle, nipple, nipple holder, and a two-piece tubular shaped part. We have three babies, so you can probably guess where I am going with this...

Each five part bottle has to be disassembled, washed and then re-assembled with every use. Let's do the math here. Three babies to be fed, on average, 4 times a day = twelve bottles, on average a day. 12 bottles x 5 parts = 60 parts to be disassembled, washed and then re-assembled again. Note that these estimates are conservative and reflect feedings when the girls were between 6-12 months old. In the first few months, we were feeding the girls on demand. In hindsight, that period of time was pure anarchy.
Can't you just picture me, a sleep-deprived new father of triplets given the task of putting together one of these bottles? Here's some additional things to help paint the picture: charts to track how much and at what time each baby drank, bottles lined up on the counter and cases of baby formula stacked in the dining room:
not to mention crying babies, dirty diapers and three sleep-deprived adults trying to manage all this.

Do you have a small glimpse of what it may have been like? Sheila (Grammy), Sarah and I have spent many hours over the past 20+ months with Dr. Brown's bottles. I cannot speak for Sheila nor Sarah, but I am very happy to announce that we may never have to feed one of our daughters with a bottle again! Good-bye Dr. Brown (or, as I use to say, Dr. John)!

Gotta go - surprise, surprise Anna is crying instead of napping...btw it is COLD outside!

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