She slept through the night! Becca ate at 8:30 last night and after Daddy worked his baby magic and got her to sleep, she didn't wake up until 5:00 this morning! That definitely counts as sleeping through the night.
But after her early morning breakfast she was WIDE awake. I tried bringing her to bed with us--I didn't have to get up until 6:30 am and since I'd gone to bed at 1:00 am, I was still pretty tired--but Becca was not at all interested in sleeping in our bed. She started fussing and then outright crying. So Brian got up and took her downstairs. After another hour of sleep--hooray!--I came downstairs and found them snuggled up together on the couch, sound asleep.
It probably helps that Becca is finally getting enough to eat. Last week she got more and more fussy as the week progressed--I even took her to the doctor thinking that SOMETHING must be wrong because this baby never fusses. No ear infection, no throat sores, nothing. And then I finally figured out what the problem was. For one reason or another--probably her binky--she'd forgotten how to nurse. It takes a certain suckling technique to nurse properly and she'd been getting progressively worse and worse until she was at the point that she barely got any milk at all at every feeding. And the poor thing was always hungry!
And my milk was just about gone, too--it's the baby's emptying that tells your body to make more. So I could either switch her to formula and start her on cereal or figure out how to re-teach a nearly-five month old baby how to nurse. I'm just not ready to give it up, yet.
After two hours online of reading forum after useless forum on breastfeeding Q&As (IS there an actually helpful breastfeeding resource anywhere?) I finally remembered the breast shield I'd bought when she was a newborn and couldn't nurse properly to save her life. With that thing, she finally had her first really good meal in a long, long time. And suddenly, just like that, she was happy.
Since then, she's been nursing like a pro--although her feedings take at least half an hour and it's killing me to sit still for that long every three hours when I have FIVE MILLION THINGS TO DO. But Becca's happy. My sweet, happy, smiley baby is BACK and that's worth every quiet minute.
And now--maybe--she's going to start sleeping through the night... Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...!
7 comments:
Yay! What a great story. And with a very happy ending. Good to hear little sweet Becca is back!
good luck with the breastfeeding problem, hope it is really over for you so easily. i've had the same problem, but no beautiful solution yet, just supplementing.
Isn't it always the simple things, like food and sleep that make us happiest?
Enjoy your 30 min of cuddle time while you can get it. They change so quickly. The dishes will still be dirty, the laundry too, but babies never stay babies.
Nursing is such a challenge at times but so worth it. I really try to stick with it for a year. Brighton weaned himself two weeks before his birthday! Close enough right???
I think you're amazing. Really. Truly amazing! Lucky little Becca (and the other 3 munchkins!) Thanks for letting me steal her on Sundays!
Ah the memories of breastfeeding! I have to admit I do miss it. Thank goodness for those breast shields. Isn't it amazing how you feel when our baby start sleeping through the night? It feels like we won the lottery. Now if I can just get everyone to stay put during the night I will have arrived!
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