Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Reid's Nursing Strike

On Friday, August 17, 2012, Reid decided that he no longer wanted to nurse.  He went from nursing about 5 times a day and throughout the night to refusing to latch.  This was also a big week for Reid as he mastered walking (and running!) and decided to start eating every type of table food that he could reach.  A day before he stopped nursing he bit me while nursing.  When I pulled him off and told him "no bite", he had a temper tantrum on the floor in front of me.  Yes, you read that correctly-- my almost one year old had a temper tantrum.  This kid is very opinionated and very feisty. The few days right after he started striking were very stressful in our household.  Reid and I were both emotional about how everything was going and I was trying to work through my emotions while getting as much advice from my go to lactation consultants and LLL leaders as possible.  I was told that he was on strike and that a baby would not wean himself at this age or this quickly.  We also had the added stress of trying to figure out how to keep REid hydrated as he had never been interested in a sippy cup and now we needed to get some pumped milk into him.  For the first few days he only took in about 3 ounces and most of that was when i added the breastmilk to his yogurt, cereal, pureed food etc.  We especially struggled at nighttime because Reid had always woken up often and nursed to soothe himself back to sleep.  So we had a screaming baby who refused to nurse and refused to take expressed milk from a sippy cup.  Over the next few days i tried everything that the lactation consultants had suggested with no luck.  Every time I even clicked my nursing tank top, Reid screamed and tried to jump off my lap.  Unfortunately, Reid has still not returned to the breast.  I have been pumping four times a day and am making a lot more milk than Reid is drinking.  I have been freezing it and am hoping that I can work things so that he can continue to get the breastmilk through the winter months.  I am very saddened that our nursing journey may have ended so abruptly.  I remember sitting in the nursing chair many nights and nursing my sweet little man thinking that i wanted to truly cherish and enjoy those moments.  IF you had asked me a a month ago how long i planned to nurse Reid, I would have told you that I was planning to let him self wean , which usually happens in the 18-24+ month range.  I still have a little hope left that REid will be one of the few toddlers who return to the breast after a few months or when they hit their next develpmental milestone but in the meantime I'm working through things.

Below is a pic of my adorable little toddler enjoying eating table food :)



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