Soothing

We put off trying a soother with Baby J to avoid what they call "nipple confusion". This happens when a baby normally eats from the breast (nipple #1) and sometimes a bottle (#2) and then you introduce a soother (#3). It can be confusing and the baby might prefer to eat from the bottle and won't breastfeed. Not something you want to mess with in the beginning.

Turns out, breastfeeding has been a big challenge for us. In the beginning, Baby J was just lazy and not latching well and therefore not getting a lot of milk. Then I had to deal with engorgement - not something I would wish on anybody. It was painful but thankfully lasted only 36 hours. We were finally getting the hang of it though sluggish 45-minute feedings were the norm, when I had severe muscle spasms in my back and physically couldn't do it. The pump became my best friend. I can pump enough in 15 minutes to feed him at least once, sometimes twice.

Since then we've been through a growth spurt where Baby J was hungry constantly and I was thankful that I could pump and bottle feed him. It spared me some pain. I've breastfed him only a few times in the past couple of weeks and haven't decided if we'll give it an honest go again or stick with what's working now.

All that to say that we're bottle feeding the little guy so nipple confusion isn't as big a deal as if he had only known the real thing. And the kid likes to suck so we busted out the soother. Took him a day to get that he wouldn't be getting milk from it but now he likes it and we like that he's quiet between feedings. Mostly.



You can't deny that he's cute!