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My dear, sweet little Guppy is on a nursing strike.
It happened suddenly. We were fine yesterday night, in fact she nursed more than usual during that night. Then, after the Knight left for work, I settled into our armchair in order to nurse the Guppy like I usually do. That is when she threw the fit.
I didn't think anything of it, really. I figured, Okay, she doesn't want to nurse right now. But she didn't want to nurse later either. Or at nap time. Or at bed time. She will cry and fuss and sign the word nurse, but any attempts to put her on my breast leads to her throwing another fit.
*sigh*
I spent most of my day yesterday consoling the Guppy, trying not to neglect the Mermaid, and pumping at least every two hours to keep my supply up. I was really, really worried about how long this strike is going to continue.
Finally, during the night, I woke up to the Guppy asking to nurse. She finally nursed. All through the night. But then, when we got up, she went back to refusing.
Please send good vibes/prayers/thoughts my way. Now the Guppy is signing that she wants to nurse. Wish me luck!
5 comments:
Good luck to all of you. It sounds like a real challenge. I hope it will end soon!
Could it be teething or some other type of mouth pain?
I agree with the teething.
Hang in there mama!
Why do you boycott Nestle?
I'm in no way trying to ruffle your feathers, just had a question...are you against formula, or parents that choose/need to use it?
I did both and it simply made no difference in my child's development like so many formula haters claim.
~V~
bicentbaby76@aol.com
You asked:
I'm in no way trying to ruffle your feathers, just had a question...are you against formula, or parents that choose/need to use it?
I wouldn't say that I am against formula or parents who choose to use it. Formula has its place in this world, for when mothers are unable to breastfeed their children for physical reasons or if the mother dies, etc. That is what it was originally created for, a substitute for when the mother could not be around for her baby.
What I am against is the fact that society will not realize that formula is being grossly over used. It really is not a good substitute for breastfeeding at all unless in the situations I described above. Do I point my fingers at a formula feeding mom and say that it is her fault, that she is a bad mom? Not at all. How you choose to feed your child does not reflect on whether you are a bad mom or not, but rather on the type of environment that you are raised in/are living in. For example: my mom only breastfed my sister and I for three weeks until she went back to work and put us on formula. Does that mean that she was a bad mother? Not at all. It simply meant that she was living in a time and place where there was no support for moms who wanted to continue to breastfeed their children after returning to work. She knew nothing about pumping, or even where she could get a pump. Rather than put blame on the parent, I blame the society in which we live in that has no real support for a new mom who wants to breastfeed, that doesn't bother to train pediatricians and other doctors about the importance of breastfeeding, and that allows formula companies to get away with a lot of crap simply because they can throw money in the right places at the right times.
You also said:
I did both and it simply made no difference in my child's development like so many formula haters claim.
I am in no way trying to be snarky here, but think about this: how do you know if it made a difference or not? You can't know, really, just like I can't know if my daughters would have gotten ear infections if they were formula fed, or would have had more colds. Breastfeeding is so important to an infant's development, but that doesn't mean that a breastfed child will never get sick or that a formula fed child will always be sick. So, although I could argue that my daughters have never gotten an ear infection ever and that is because they are breastfed, I really don't know that, since I don't know if they would've gotten them if they were formula fed. My cousin formula feeds her daughter, and her daughter has never had an ear infection. Her son, on the other hand, is also formula fed and has had tubes put in his ears because of numerous ear infections. So, while she looks at it as, "Formula feeding didn't make a difference because even though my son has had numerous ear infections, my daughter never got any, so it's simply that my son is more prone to them" I look at it and say "Your son is more prone to ear infections, and while breastfeeding may not have prevented them, it certaintly would've helped a great deal, maybe even enough to avoid having tubes put in."
I also want to point out that it is not just "formula haters" that are running around making claims that formula feeding poses risks to the child. There have been countless studies and tests that prove, without a doubt, that formula feeding does come with some risks for the infant.
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