I'm going to sound like a bad mummy here and lose all crediabilty BUT
Elana has been able to hold her bottle herself for very small periods of time before she gets bored and gives up for over 3months - even as a newborn she'd place her fists either side of the bottle to "hold" it.
Anyway I was feeding her and a really really had to pee so i lay her down on the mat - no I didn't prop her or the bottle up -- put the bottle in her mouth she clasped her hands around it to hold it up and kept sucking while I bolted to the loo. I was expecting her to let go and cry when she dropped it but from the loo I could hear her sucking (she's a noisy EVERYTHING) as mentioned previously Elana is a talker not a listener.
I came back and she's still happillyy drinking - so I take this opportunity to photograph the moment -- camera comes out, bottle goes down.
Oh well - she still fed herself way longer then I expected.
clever girl.