By now I've become much more comfortable with the idea that there are no theories that will fit every child and some babies do things that seem strange. I feel like I got the breastfeeding situation from the last post figured out - Jupiter was wanting the fast flow of the let-down for the duration of the feeding and was getting frustrated - but who knows, really? He does it much less now, either because I've started using compression techniques when he starts pulling at the nipple, or because that phase has simply ended. I was also worried for a week about his feeding "schedule" or lack thereof. I thought babies around this age (6 weeks) ate every 2-3 hours. Our baby wanted to eat sometimes every two, sometimes every three, sometimes every one, and sometimes after only a half hour had lapsed. For a type-A organizer and figurer-outer, this was distressing. Was he regressing behaviorally? Do I have enough milk? Is he just feeling like sucking? Or he is actually hungry?
Turns out it's all or none of the above, except for the regression idea. I learned at the nursing mother's support group at Kangaroo Kids (every Thursday at 12:30 for those in St. Louis) that babies in more traditional societies get breastfed sometimes several times an hour, especially in the late afternoon and early evening hours. The mothers in those societies don't watch the clock - they watch their babies. And it turns out that those babies tend to have dramatically less colic and evening fussiness than babies in more clock-centric, schedule-happy societies. Sometimes babies like to nurse for comfort, sometimes for food, sometimes for both. And if you have the time and the inclination, responding to both of these needs (comfort and food) will mean you'll nurse more often for a short time (up to four months) but you won't have as fussy of a baby. I have definitely found this to be true. For now. For all I know, Jupe was heading into a less fussy period anyway. Theories abound but there's no way to know. At least I know he's getting enough food. Our boy already weighs close to 14 pounds and has graduated into 3-6 month clothing.
So I've started nursing more on demand and it hasn't been all that demanding. It's only about two or three times a day that he wants to be fed one short hour after the last feeding, and I am lucky to have a baby with a turbo sucker who only needs 10-15 minutes to slurp down a full meal.
Taking another cue from more traditional societies, I've started wearing the babe more regularly. He takes all of his daytime naps in the sling - about two hours in the morning and two or three hours in the afternoon. Prior to this newest development, I would try to put him in his crib either swaddled or unswaddled (again with the experimentation) and he would never stay asleep for more than 45 minutes. He tended to get overtired and fussy in the evening and sometimes would sleep in smaller chunks throughout the night as well. For the last week or so, at the first signs of tiredness (rubbing his eyes, yawning, subdued behavior) I sling him tummy to tummy and within five or ten minutes he's asleep. FOR HOURS. And I don't have to be home during naptime because naps can happen wherever we are (except in the car). Now, I can't vacuum or wash the dog or take my own nap (for now) with this method. But he is much less fussy at night and sleeps better as long has he hasn't had an overstimulating day. So many caveats!
Basically, I don't really know anything except what is working this week. And I think that's all I can ask for. That and all the smiles he gives me these days, and all the cooing and gurgling, and all the brightness that he expresses in his face when I walk into the room. That, my friends, is about all any mama could ask for.
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I love this face! What an absolute doll!
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