I recently saw a premie, now a month past due date, who still hadn't nursed.  Of course by now the baby was convinced that breasts don't work and this new mouthful of them wouldn't work any better than the old one did.  In the midst of getting and not getting let-downs, getting and not getting milk, she began complaining, coming off the breast - sometimes after just a mouthful or two - then sometimes actually *lunging* to reattach, *whomp*.  She never stopped complaining, but she never stopped trying.  I've seen this before, and it suddenly hit me what I might be seeing.

Can you remember learning a bicycle, or yo-yo, or hula hoop, or tennis?  You hate it.  You can't do it, it doesn't work, you're evil-tempered and sputtering... and the only thing you would hate more than continuing what you're doing would be having to stop doing it!

Now that I look back on other babies who worked and worked and worked, complained and complained and complained, and maybe never did feed well here but never really broke down in a screaming fit either...  they tend to go home, sort it out pretty quickly, and do well.  Maybe it's really just bicycle frustration - the last hurdle before ditching the training wheels.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com  

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