Belly up to the Milk Bar

Warning: this is a mommy topic post. If you are squeamish about or not interested in the topic of breastfeeding, skip this entry.

Ever since I brought my son home from the hospital, breastfeeding has been a bit different for us. According to the Occupational Therapist who specializes in breastfeeding he has a "tight suck." Basically he crushes the nipple when he latches on and doesn't let go, much like a bulldog. After 2 days of trying to feed him in the hospital, I had sores from trying to feed him. There is a lactation clinic here in my town. I went in. They gave me a nipple shield. It's a cone shaped piece of silicone that goes between the nipple and the baby essentially protecting the tender skin and giving the right shape to the baby to promote sucking properly. It took a couple weeks for my disappointment to wane. I wanted to feed him normally and I was a failure (not really, but hormones will do funny things to the thought process.) Every now and then I would try and feed him without the nipple shield. It was a very painful and demoralizing process. Eventually I just came to the realization that in order for me to breastfeed, there would be this little piece of silicone between us and I would do whatever it took to provide all the nutrients I could. I went to the store and bought a couple extra shields so we would have plenty whenever my little Frog Prince wanted to nurse. In other words, I got over it.

Recently I went back to work. Now I have a real low-stress kind of job in the software industry—if you believe the low stress part, I have some prime coastal property in Arizona to sell you. Returning to this environment has impacted my production but not my desire to breastfeed my child. My production declined rapidly. Once I got back from my first business trip, which Dad and Son bonded quite nicely, my little FP refused the nipple shield. After 3 months of always using this little piece of silicone, now he wanted nothing to do with it? And here's me thinking that all that has happened between now and his birth is that he's bigger and stronger than he was before. After a bit of panic where I wasn't really sure I wanted him anywhere near my unprotected nipple, I gave in and offered it to him. Why? (I mean beside the fact that he was hungry.) I was sick and he desperately needed the antibodies in my milk to keep him from getting sick. Yep, I got the hubby sick too. FP really needed those antibodies. Barracuda boy latched on and believe it or not, I survived. The interesting thing since then: he refuses, absolutely positively refuses, the nipple shield. I've tried. He likes it au natural and won't have it any other way. He also went through the 3 month growth spurt and was feeding all the time. Luckily FP isn't as destructive to the nipple tissue as he was at first. Either that or . . . never mind!

So I guess the next round is on me (pun intended) as he bellies up to the milk bar.