1st Battle with Henry!

Since Saturday, Henry has been drinking mostly from bottles, and had only nursed a few times. Well, today, we decided that would all change. The day nurse encouraged me to exclusively breastfeed him today, with the help of lactation consultants if it was needed.

It all began at 9:00am...Henry did really well. In fact, I was shocked. He didn't need to use the nipple shield and latched on almost immediately, with very little assistance. He completely emptied what was in the breast that he was nursing on, was burped, and offered the second one. Well, long story short, he was not interested. This had happened yesterday, too, and so I went on the advice given to me yesterday, which was to pump the other side, and then give it to him in the bottle. So, after trying for 15 minutes, I pumped, and gave him 30cc in the bottle.

Fast forward to 12:45ish, when it is time for Henry to eat again. This time the lactation consultant came in at the beginning of the nursing session, and stayed with me and watched me get Henry latched on. We did it ourselves, and I was pretty proud of us! All went well as we nursed our way through the first breast, and we had multiple burps in there too!

Then came the battle...trying to get him to eat from the second breast. He would NOT latch on...no matter what we tried. He cried and screamed, and hollered, and screamed and cried some more...you would have thought I was torturing the poor boy! The lactation consultant came in, and said right away that Henry was simply just being stubborn (which I had pretty much assumed), and that I had to choose...fight back, or give in, pump, and give him the bottle. The next hour was pretty brutal as he continued to cry, did not want to be consoled, and would not latch on to anything (pacifier, breast). Finally, after an hour, he calmed down and went to sleep! It is 2:45pm, and he is still sleeping! One can only hope the next feeding will go well, and he will realize his mama means business! It will be so much easier to not have to pump anymore...I definitely did not realize what a time commitment nursing, and having to feed baby on top of it was.

Here's to hopefully a happy baby at the next feeding, who will learn his lesson quickly! Or else--this saga could continue on.