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Nursing report.
Feb. 16th, 2009 12:27 pmWe went back to the pediatrician's office today for a weight check. Since Thursday, Colin has gained 4.5 ounces, bringing him to 7lb, 12.5 oz - just a few ounces under his birth weight. So now I feel as though I can finally relax and say that nursing is going well.
After the total nightmare of trying and failing to breastfeed Alex, this is a huge relief. I've been so worried that history would repeat itself with Colin. But from the very first, he's been a completely different baby to feed.
Within a few hours of birth, Colin already had strong feelings about how he wanted to nurse. I would try to latch him on a half-dozen times and he would refuse. Then I'd hit the right combination of size, shape, and angle, and he would latch on like a remora and start sucking vigorously. Over the first 24 hours, he figured out how big he should be opening his mouth, and latch-on quickly got a lot easier. Whenever he nursed, he was focused and persistent. When I took him off the breast and rested him against my chest to burp him, he opened his mouth like a baby bird and sort of bounced it along my chest, actively searching for the other nipple. When I put my finger in his mouth, he slid his tongue rapidly and firmly along it in a repeated milking motion.
What I'm getting at here is that from the first hours of life Colin has been a vigorous, enthusiastic, reasonably skilled, and rapidly improving participant in our nursing endeavors. And I had no idea. After Alex, I had no real understanding that the baby was supposed to contribute all this stuff. I thought of nursing as something the mother was supposed to get right.
It's possible that someone more skilled, persistent, supported, and experienced than me coul've made nursing work with Alex. But any half-alert halfwit could successfully nurse Colin. The baby makes a huge difference. And in our collective societal rush to make breastfeeding the hallmark of good infant parenting, we totally neglect that difference.
I'm glad he's my second baby. Because there might've been a possibility that I would have been one of those judgmental and sanctimonious nursing mothers, if I hadn't had such a clear demonstration of how little I've earned our nursing success.
After the total nightmare of trying and failing to breastfeed Alex, this is a huge relief. I've been so worried that history would repeat itself with Colin. But from the very first, he's been a completely different baby to feed.
Within a few hours of birth, Colin already had strong feelings about how he wanted to nurse. I would try to latch him on a half-dozen times and he would refuse. Then I'd hit the right combination of size, shape, and angle, and he would latch on like a remora and start sucking vigorously. Over the first 24 hours, he figured out how big he should be opening his mouth, and latch-on quickly got a lot easier. Whenever he nursed, he was focused and persistent. When I took him off the breast and rested him against my chest to burp him, he opened his mouth like a baby bird and sort of bounced it along my chest, actively searching for the other nipple. When I put my finger in his mouth, he slid his tongue rapidly and firmly along it in a repeated milking motion.
What I'm getting at here is that from the first hours of life Colin has been a vigorous, enthusiastic, reasonably skilled, and rapidly improving participant in our nursing endeavors. And I had no idea. After Alex, I had no real understanding that the baby was supposed to contribute all this stuff. I thought of nursing as something the mother was supposed to get right.
It's possible that someone more skilled, persistent, supported, and experienced than me coul've made nursing work with Alex. But any half-alert halfwit could successfully nurse Colin. The baby makes a huge difference. And in our collective societal rush to make breastfeeding the hallmark of good infant parenting, we totally neglect that difference.
I'm glad he's my second baby. Because there might've been a possibility that I would have been one of those judgmental and sanctimonious nursing mothers, if I hadn't had such a clear demonstration of how little I've earned our nursing success.
