Holy Nipples (Not Those Nipples....)

Duh....I wish there were a step-by-step handbook on how to effectively and successfully raise a child. I know there are many books {and I've read plenty!} and I get every weekly email from every baby website imaginable telling me what to expect "this week" with my baby. So how in the world did I not know I should change out the nipples on little man's bottles at certain stages in his life to help him eat better/differently/more quickly?

It's always been {really...always? he's only been here for three months} a running joke with the hubby and I just how sloooow little man eats. I can remember early on when he was waking up every three hours to eat so that if he woke up at 1am we fed him until 1:45am-2am and then he would sleep {hopefully} two more hours until getting up again. I mean, that was the story my entire maternity leave. Since then he continued to be a very slow eater and we could always count on it taking a half hour {minimum} for him to get through his bottle.

Today when I was picking him up from day care, he was in the middle of a bottle with Ms. Ida and she commented on how slow he eats. I agreed and told her he's always been a slow eater {see, that was the common response we've always given}. She asked me if I have changed out his bottle nipples. "Um, no" I told her.

"Well you know they have different nipples for different ages, don't you?" she responded.

Hmmm, I vaguely remember one of the grandmas mentioning something about that...but for some reason it must've drifted into the back of my mind. "Um, no. But now I do."

"You'd better go out and buy some of the three month nipples, he will eat much better for you," she said.

And what did I do as soon as I packed up the little guy into his car seat? I promptly drove us to the nearest grocery store and stocked up on ten of the 3+ month nipples. As soon as I got home, I set my little kitchen buddy up in his pompesan chair and washed all of the nipples I had just purchased and then filled all new bottles with said nipples.

And what was the result you ask? When I fed little man before his bedtime, he scarfed down his entire bottle in basically 7 minutes flat. Seriously.... So I ask myself, how did I not know that I should change out the nipples on his bottle at different stages in his life. I guess that's something I must've skipped over in all of my "what you should know about baby" emails.