In a message dated 02/21/2003 5:52:51 PM Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> she really hasn't experienced much joy from breastfeeding
>
Rachel,
I missed your original post but just came across several responses and got
goose-bumps as I read them.  In many ways this sounds  like my youngest child
and the mysteries I experienced as I nursed him.  There was little joy in
nursing him for a long time.  He did fine for a couple weeks but when my milk
became incredibly over-abundant and he had reflux, he refused to nurse most
of the day.  I spent hours a day trying to feed him, both of us crying, me
worrying, etc.  He saw a speech therapist, who said it was a lactation
problem, a couple IBCLCs who all said it was a neurological problem, our
family doctor who did cranio-sacral therapy on him and prescribed meds for
reflux, chiropractors, an OT who said he had torticollis (resolved before we
were able to get treatment), and on and  on.  Still he screamed for hours a
day and would only nurse for 5 minutes every 3 hours.  He hated to nurse and
did enough only to survive but did not thrive.

It is tempting to say that breastfeeding should be abandoned, as I read from
another post.  Yes, it seems emotionally traumatizing to keep it up.  I could
NOT abandon nursing him; he never had a bottle until 6 months when I faced
emergency hospitalization and then only a few times ( I was told he loved it
but I never saw that).  He seemed ready to wean around 14 months, hardly
nursing at all since he was then well on solids.  I remembered, as an LLL
Leader, talking to so many moms who let their young toddlers wean at that age
and feeling so sad for them, and I could not let it happen.  I clung to every
nursing I could get out of him, most of which were when he was half-asleep
and less likely to resist me.  My point here is this:   At 16 months he cut 6
teeth at one time and all the sudden he LOVED to nurse!  I was thrilled and
so confused.  He nursed happily after that until past his third birthday. In
the end, I had many months of happy nursing with him.  I do hope  this mom
can find some way to stick it out and is similarly rewarded in the end.

Amy Brown, IBCLC


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