For breastfeeding, that is. I really really wanted to commit to 1 full year of breastfeeding. I forged through a very difficult first few months (thank goodness for an awsome lactation consultant, and two nurse friends who helped me immensely!) M2 was exclusively breastfed for almost 6 months before we started adding one bottle a day of formula. Since quiting work, I've kept up with pumping 2-3 times a day to provide her with bottles of breastmilk.
The past few weeks I've tried countless times to get her breastfeeding throughout the day, and she just won't do it. She gets really distracted and unlatched 10+ times, or she will either bite me or grab and twist my nipple (and those actions are as painful as they sound). She does this while bottle feeding too, but it's a lot easier to stick the bottle back in her mouth than to get her relatched. So for now I've been pumping and bottle feeding, though not my favorite thing (kind of time consuming to pump, wash the pump parts, and bottle feed her). Another problem is that as she gets more mobile it is really hard to sit and pump and keep her happy for the 20-30 minutes it takes me to pump. I can't have her crawling on the floor since I can't get up and move her if she gets into trouble. I try to pump when she is napping or in her exersaucer, but I'm not sure how much longer I can do this.
All along she has still breastfed first thing in the morning. I enjoy my quiet little bonding time with her, and because she is still sleepy and very hungry upon waking up, she hasn't had any issue breastfeeding in the AM. Until this morning. She bit me, and hard! I unlatched her, said "NO" firmly and then latched her again. She bit again, and harder! Three times of me saying "NO" and giving her another chance, she started laughing as she bit down. Evil, evil, baby! Frustrated I unlatched her and hopped out of bed to go make her a bottle. She started wailing, and Mr.P calmed her down while I mixed her up a bottle. I handed it to him and told him to feed her, I was to angry to do it.
All this time I've kept a glimmer of hope that I'd be able to get her exclusively breastfeeding again, but I think that hope is fading. I can't reason with her about the whole biting issue. I'm going to set a small goal for myself for now, rather than think about how if I want her to have breastmilk for the first year I'm going to have to pump for 4+ more months...rather I'm going to give myself another month and see how it's going, and then go from there.
I would talk to an LC if I were you about the issues you have been having. An LC might be able to help and offer ways to get M2 to breastfeed throughout the day... just a thought. GL
ReplyDeleteMy first born did that to me too. She would bite, I would call out in pain, she would cry, and the cycle would repeat. She bit me so often, that I would tense up at every nursing session. It stopped being enjoyable for either one of us. At 7 months I decided to completely wean her, and I think it was the best decision for both of us at the time. Now, my 2nd born, only bit me once and then never did it again. I made it to a year with her. Best of luck in your decision!
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