Tuesdays are generally my favorite day of the week, so thus far, this one has not measured up. Had a fight with Jess over which dress she was going to wear (not that I really care what dress she wears, but she wanted me to pick it out, and then insisted that the dress I was describing didn’t exist in her closet – it did, she’s wearing it now) and then Marc randomly decided to draw a line in the sand and was about to head off to Walmart to buy a lock box for his tools to keep Sam from going thru them. I pointed out that telling him to stay out of them would work out as well, and involved less time and money. Everyone is grumpy today and unpleasant, with the exception of Sam, who’s perfectly content playing with his little Star Wars guys, and Julianna – and she’s got every reason to be cheerful, she’s nursing on demand (which for her means about three minutes of nursing every half hour or so). My nipple is KILLING me – I know it’s getting better because I can at least bear it when she’s nursing on it without the shield. But it’s sore before, majorly sore during the latch on, and then drops back down to just painful during the nursing and afterwards.
I’m not sure what to do with Julie. She’s really a VERY frequent nurser. If she starts fussing and I pick her up, she immediately starts rooting around to nurse. She won’t take the pacifier from me, and because she’s nursing so often, she’s not drinking very much at all, she latches on and off and on and off again. Which is a problem on the right side, as the latch on is the worst part. Marc came home early last night, and I actually showered. I had nursed three times in the hour before he got home, so I knew she wasn’t hungry and I handed her over and dashed to the shower. She screamed herself to sleep in his arms, and then slept for at least hour. She startled herself awake and each time, he gave her pacifier and soothed her back to sleep. So when I nursed her that next time, she nursed, really nursed, for a long time and then fell asleep for five hours.
I don’t want to let her cry, and I’m a big believer in nursing on demand, but I don’t know that letting her nurse as frequently as I do is good for her. Or for me, for that matter – because it hurts. So I’m trying to let her go longer, fussing a little more, and not just relying on nursing to calm her down. Carrying her facing out, going for more walks (she naps really well in the carriage). I’m not planning on depriving her if she really does want to nurse, but going to really work on distraction occasionally. Just occasionally.
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