Feeding Jack

Jack's First Bottle

Before Jack was ever born, one of the things I looked forward too most was nursing him. I loved nursing Lily and was pretty upset when she decided to ween herself when I got pregnant with Jack. I consoled myself by remembering that I'd have another little one soon to nurse.

Nursing Jack, however, has not been at all like I dreamed it would be. It seems to be one challenge after another. I had a few problems with Lily, but nothing long term and felt like because I had been there before, it would be much easier this time. My doula wisely pointed out that although I had nursed before, Jack hadn't, and, honestly, he's just not good at it. I think it's mostly due to a pretty major recessed jaw, but he just doesn't want to latch and nurse properly.

The Funky Frog Nursing Position :)

In about the first week he had torn my poor nipples up to the point they were scabbed and bleeding (sorry for the TMI). It was super painful to nurse him. I went into survival mode and went to see a lactation consultant while also starting to pump quite a bit in an effort to heal. Then my supply (which had started out abundant) dropped way down to the point I couldn't pump enough to feed him and had to give him formula. Then, with a new position to try and healing nipples, we started to get better.

Then a week and a half ago, at the lactation consultant because I was afraid we had thrush/yeast (we don't - Jack has an Epstein pearl), I found out he was loosing weight. So, I began to try to feed him more by supplementing with bottles of pumped milk, only to have him again stop nursing very well.

We've gone to the chiropractor (much to Josh's skepticism) the lactation consultant, and even an ENT to make sure there were no physiological issues. We've tried all sorts of positions and the nipple shield. Sometimes he nurses well, sometimes he doesn't. I'm not totally ready to give up and pump exclusively yet, but I may be getting close. It is exhausting, and frustrating, and by far the hardest thing about Jack so far. I just hope he will grow into being a good nurser!