Well I am somewhat happy, but somewhat sad to say I am DONE. By done, I mean done breastfeeding Miss P. On one hand it's really nice to not be the only person who can take care of her when she is hungry, it gives me so much more flexibility and freedom that I had somewhat forgotten about! But on the other hand it was something so special and a responsibility that I didn't mind doing...especially because sometimes it got me out of things I didn't necessarily like doing...like dishes :)
Before Paisley was born I wasn't nervous at all about having another baby. I thought I knew what it was all about and that I had everything somewhat under control. Boy did I learn my lesson that no two babies are the same.
With Marshall I didn't have any issues with nursing. He latched extremely well, ate 10 minutes on both sides every time he nursed his whole 11.5 months of nursing, when we introduced solids he was such a good eater, he ate anything we put in front of him. We had no issues with weaning him, and it only took a couple days before he figured out his sippy cup...which was no big deal as it wasn't a real necessary thing that he be using one.
Paisley on the other hand was pretty much the complete opposite! From day one she wasn't latching properly but soon figured it out. We were doing pretty good until somewhere around 3.5 months where she decided she would eat on her own schedule...which meant she sometimes would go 7-8 hours between feedings during the DAY. This was a very stressful time for me as I KNEW she needed to eat more often, especially with her being so tiny weight wise. I would try to feed her every 3 hours, sometimes trying to get her to latch for 40 minutes at a time. Sometimes she would scream and cry, turn her head everywhere but in the right direction and just flat out refuse to eat!
After about two weeks of this non-sense and going to the Dr multiple times ( I thought maybe she had an ear infection, but did not) she was back to somewhat on a regular eating schedule.
Sometimes she would nurse fine, other times she wouldn't nurse very long at all, and often she would refuse.
She got to be very picky about the places and circumstances in which we could nurse. If there was noise - forget it, sometimes she would only nurse if she was covered, but then other times she would only nurse if she could see my face...but I could not look at her! If she could hear Marshall or if Marshall got too close while she was trying to nurse it was game over! -needless to say I was at my wits end!
After "playing her game" for almost 4 months I couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't sure if it was me (milk supply) or her. Prior to this I was doing everything I knew to try to increase my milk supply: stopped working out, drinking TONS of water, eating healthy foods, taking herbal supplements, TRYING to nurse often, and trying to pump in between everything else!
SO at the beginning of March I finally decided that I NEEDED to monitor how much our little girl was actually taking in! I borrowed a pump from a friend and started exclusively pumping. Although at this time Miss P still wasn't taking a bottle...but after putting up a hunger strike for 9.5 hours she finally realized that the only way she was going to get anything was from a bottle!!
We then ventured into the world of pumping!! I started to learn a lot about my body!
[travel back in time for a minute] When Marshall was nursing I never felt let down at all, not once. I had no idea what it was...My first appointment with the health nurse she asked me if i had felt 'let down'..."Let down, what's that" was my reply...she explained and said it was okay as some mom's just don't feel it!
WELL after Paisley I knew what other mom's were talking about -wow!...I guess I never put 2 and 2 together...I think i felt let down for about up 3.5 months...which is the time Paisley started having nursing issues!
After I started pumping and could actually see what was going on I realized that Paisley wasn't nursing long enough to allow the let down happen (as I realized it took a full 5 min for something to happen....no wonder the poor thing was so frustrated!!
I seriously felt like that's all I did....ALL DAY! Pump, feed Paisley, drink water, play with the kids, put Paisley down for a nap....and the cycle started all over again!!
After doing this for 3 weeks I was at the end of my nursing days...I dried up! We made it to 8 months...I gave it all that I had, and I'm okay with that! The most important thing is that she is eating relatively well, enjoying her solids and bottles (although this does now depend on her teething status!!) I love our little girl :)
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