Da de di do du

When Cael was born, we decided that she'll be breast-fed. Only the best for our first-born. Imagine our frustration when Cael couldnt quite latch on to her mom's dede. My wife spent hours trying to make her suckle; hours that ended in tears, not all of which can be attributed to post-partum depression. Needless to say, we had to do something. We werent giving up on breastfeeding, but we needed to do something until Cael gets the hang of it. And the next best thing was expressing the breast milk with a pump and feeding Cael that milk through feeding bottles.

I knew back then that the choice of feeding bottle nipples was crucial. If Cael gets used to them, and the ease with which she gets milk from using them, she might not be interested in getting milk from the real thing, so I decided to buy a variety of feeding bottle nipples: different shapes, different materials, different 'feel'. That way, when we introduce Cael to the real deal, she'd think that it's just another type of nipple and she'll get milk from them just the same.

So off I went to Landmark to buy the stuff. I didnt know where all the baby stuff were at the time and had to ask around. I asked a saleslady on the first floor and she told me to go to the third floor. I went. I located the baby section and didnt want to waste any more time looking so I homed in on the first saleslady I saw for help on the different types of feeding bottle nipples.

"Hi, miss," I said with my best new dad smile. "Patingin nga ng mga nipples nyo?"

And I soon as I said that, I knew it was.. wrong. If only there was a way to un-say them. I was ready to apologize profusely, but the saleslady, to her great credit, and to my relief, was unflustered. And professional that she is, simply said, "This way, sir." And showed me where they were.