on day 9 of Ryans possible nursing strike...this has been the run down since last week, on Ryans 8 month birthday, Sept 29th, he bite into me- hard, I screamed baby no bite, took him off and put him on the floor. For the last few days prior to this incident he had been exceptionally wiggly, pulling my hair and while nursing often, seemed generally never really satisfied- this coming from a baby which I deemed boob sucker of the year.. I did not start to worry till that afternoon and again in the evening, when worry turned to panic when he started kicking and screaming and literally pushing himself away from me when I thought he might want/ need to nurse again...uh oh I thought, I scared him, and he is teething, lets see what happens in the coming hours, the morning rolled around, I was engorged and he was a no- go on the boob. I broke out my old pump, rear- rear-rear, drip drip drip 30 mins later I was empty. Ugg
I immediately enlisted the advice of other mother friends, La Leche and my Drs office for advice. After ruling out illness, we were instructor to keep him hydrated and to ride it out for a few days. Not content to ride it out, I start to panic, see the major rub with this kid is that he does not take a bottle, nor will he really use a sippy cup yet, armed with a medicine dropper and spoons we approach him at meals times to get milk and water and even some pedialite.
day 5, I forked over $150 for a new breastpump ( which I determined equals 5 canisters of organic formula @ target), let's see formula or fresh expressed breast milk... well... if its being spoon fed might as well be the good stuff...although now I starting to feel like pumping is for the birds, my back and arm get cramped, the pump rubs me the wrong way and it's hard to find time in the day , now with Ryan's sit down meals taking upwards of 90 mins not including clean up.....
the big rub is this- he won't take a bottle and the spoon - table feeding is taking forever,and it's messy, and limits us to being on the go.... plus I still think he needs the comfort of nursing if only for his naps and bedtime.. he nuzzles me now instead of fighting me off, falls asleep in my arms in our glider in his darkened room. If it's teething I hope he breaks a tooth soon ( minus anymore the biting) if I scared him off for good, well, now I know I have a sensitive baby on my hands, bit if he is done, so be it, but he has 5 days before I think i will stop offering and might even stop pumping....Word on the street is this strike ( if it is a strike) can last 2 weeks, next Wednesday is his deadline. I am being patient, and somewhat optimistic that he will return to nursing....but for now we are still working out terms and conditions....
