Joylyn--

I loved your personal story . . . . it was beautiful.

I'm going to tuck that one away.

K. Koncelik


On Tuesday, December 16, 2003, at 12:38  AM, joylyn wrote:

> Jennifer, I've had quite a bit of experience with nursing strikes, both
> with my own babies and with moms.
>
> My own Janene had the worst strike ever.  She was 5 months old, a
> premie
> who was always a bit (ok a lot) small and who we were doing weight
> checks on every 2-3 days.  Any other ped and I would have had to give
> aritifical milk but I managed just barely to keep her growing at her
> own
> very off the chart curve.  At five months she got her first tooth and
> bit me.  It caused me to have an open cut which bled, but that was not
> the problem.  The problem was I yelped, loudly, and she is/was such a
> sensitive child that she was afraid to nurse because she was afraid to
> hurt me again.  She didn't nurse for I think it was 10 or 11 days (how
> soon we forget).  She had always refused any liquid, even my pumped
> milk, in any other container--and we tried them all (as I was woh from
> 10 weeks).  I basically came home or my dh brought Janene to me every
> few hours.  I tried all the tricks--nursing when we were moving,
> nursing
> when we were still, nursing only in a dark room, nursing when she was
> half asleep, nursing while other babies were nursing, pumping to get
> the
> milk to let down then nursing, but she would NOT latch on.  She did
> latch on occassionally during the middle of the night when she was
> asleep but any daylight nursing or nonasleep nursing just didn't
> happen.  She lost weight.  She would NOT take a bottle or cup or
> anything, regardless of the type of mommy milk (fresh, cold, warm,
> stuff
> frozen a few weeks before, etc.  I was so worried, my ped (actually my
> still great nurse pract.) was worried, formula wasn't even an option,
> only because she simply wouldn't take mommy milk, let alone ABM.
> Finally, I decided to take drastic action.  I sat down with her in a
> quiet, dim familar place (our comfy nursing chair) and apologized to
> her.  I told her I knew she didn't mean to bite me, and that I forgave
> her for doing so.  I told her how important it was to me and to her for
> her to cuzzle again and how I knew that it was likely she might bite me
> again and that I would do my best not to yell out.  I told her that
> we'd
> handle the bites together and that I still loved her and that I wanted,
> needed her to nurse.  And she did.  Really, just like that.  After I
> finished talking to her, I offered my breast and she latched  on like
> there had never been a strike.
>
> I do not think that we can underestimate the value of talking to our
> babies, because while they may not understand our every word, they most
> certainly will understand our intent.
>
> On a side note, this child did not drink from a cup or take any form of
> liquid, including water or mommy milk, until she was 14-15 months old.
> Before then the only liquid she would take was BM right from the
> source.  She was willing to nurse from a friend, and did so once or
> twice, but we didn't have someone who lived close to us whom I trusted
> to act as a wet nurse... She did eat solids early at just under six
> months of age, her first solid was a Ruby's French Fry she grabbed from
> my plate and stuffed in her mouth, gumming it happily until it mushed
> up
> and went down.  After that she gladly and enthusiastically ate homemade
> baby food, quickly graduating (by 8 months) to eating slightly mushed
> or
> cut up table food.  By a year she was eating everything we ate,
> including, I remember specifically, garlic shrimp I made one day and
> could not peel fast enough for her.  (Never give a child shrimp or
> lobster or expensive sea food, cause if you do they will be ordering
> off
> the adult menu and not be satisfied with popcorn chicken and fries
> (Same
> child as above, at four "I'd like a lobster tail, please, with garlic
> butter, and crab legs, and garlic mashed potatoes.") )
>
> Back on topic, I think often if we can determine the cause of a nursing
> strike (teething pain, trauma (as with Janene), sore throat or other
> illness, distractions, etc.) then the strike can be more easily solved.
> I've seen some serious strikes, ones that lasted a week or longer, and
> I've never seen one where the mom was driven for the baby to return to
> nurse where the baby did not do so.
>
> Joylyn
>
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As always . . . .
        Wishing you all the best!
--K

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