Nursing blues

I love nursing my babies, I really do.  Once you got over the first three weeks of pain (and of course you have to get the proper latch), breastfeeding is really enjoyable.  It is something that only I can do and provide for my baby.  How cool is that?  And of course, seeing the little one getting all milk drunk in your arms is just priceless.  And all the better if you have a good eater, seeing them growing bigger and bigger each day just warms your heart.  

So when Nate was not nursing well and I started to have pains, I was so so confused and shocked.  Why? Really?  Okay, his bottom teeth came out when he was 4 months old.  Everything was good.  When he was about 5 months, he started to bite me.  Ouch!  Even then, I got it figured out (although it was a pretty painful experience).  But blood?  Really?  Are you kidding me?  What the heck?!  I went to the doctor and called the nurse line and read everything I can (btw, how did people survive without google back in the days?), I realized that his top teeth might be coming out and he was just so uncomfortable that he was doing a shallow latch.  And that was NOT GOOD.  

I had to change to different nursing positions and it got a bit better, still painful, but I could somewhat tolerate the pain.  Hubby and a few friends suggested to wean him off, but I wasn't ready.  Nate does not like bottles (totally my fault) so how can he survive?  People kept on telling me they would figure it out, but I just couldn't do it to him.  I already felt super guilty not spending as much quality time as I did with his big sister and now, I had to cut him off?  Well, turns out perseverance is the key and when the wounds finally healed and his top teeth finally cut though the gums, things were back to normal again.

And then there is the introduction of solids.  Sigh.  Man, why is feeding have to be so hard?  Nate is not a good eater.  He only nurses the bare minimum.  Seriously, sometimes, just a few gulps and he would call it a day.  He is distracted so so easily.  We tried a few different solids and he was just not too interested.  After fighting with him for over a month, I decided to ask hubby to take over instead.  He is a bit more aggressive (totally an understatement) than I am.  He would shove the spoon in his mouth, turn it 90 degrees to pry it open and then push the food in.  I was horrified, but I was surprised he didn't really cry that much (at least not as much as he was with me and I didn't even push that hard).  After 3 days, he started to enjoy the solids a bit more.  At least he would open up his mouth and not cry bloody murder anymore.

To all the moms out there, hang in there!  The difficult phase will soon pass!