Going on week five...

I started this blog as a spin off of my main blog. I have been wanting to share, vent, or just plain rant and rave about my experiences breastfeeding but I did not want to include all of that information on my main blog.

Baby Ben will be 5 weeks old this coming Monday. He has definitely been one of my most difficult nursers. He even has trouble latching onto a bottle. The structures in his mouth are OK. He is not tongue tied or have a weird palate. He just can't seem to suck very well let alone suckle. Since he is my seventh child you would think I was an old pro at this. Well, every baby is different and every mama is different at that point in time. I do think I am more knowledgeable of the nursing dyad and more patient but Ben and I just don't click as a nursing pair. I do feel that we are bonding well though. A big part of that is the fact that he sleeps with me all night. There is something about have the warm breath of your newest creation flowing over your skin to cement a love affair. He did not take to nursing as well as I had hoped from the beginning. I have had them all. One of my babies was a preemie that did not latch on till she was 3 months old and nursed for 14 months total. Even my first born when I was merely 21 years old did alright. He nursed from the beginning fine with just the typical sore nipples and one bout of mastitis to overcome. Oh Ben, what shall we do? I have even toyed with the idea of stopping my breastfeeding journey with Ben. I know that would be rash at this point and is just my lack of sleep talking. My standard goal is to nurse my children for at least a year. That doesn't always work out but it is a goal. With Ben I keep rethinking the whole thing. Maybe I'll make it to one month, OK done that. Now maybe I can make it to two months and revisit the third month as it approaches. I know it takes a while to get a milk supply regulated but I am a little frustrated by so much of it flowing. I have been trying to re-adjust my supply so I am not uncomfortable in between pumpings. This week for a day or two I thought I was getting a blockage. I never want to have a breast infection again so I worked on this problem. It seems to have worked its way out. We will see what happens next.