the nursing strike is over

Over two weeks ago, Evie started to show a lot more signs of her development by becoming more distracted while nursing. The TV, her brother and even a sneeze would have her unlatched and arching her neck to see what was going on. At first, I had no idea what was going on. I realized she was distracted, but it really didn't dawn on me that she was starting a strike. She has been in daycare for over a month now and during the day was when she seemed to have the hardest time nursing. We tried over and over until we were both in a fit of frustration and tears until I finally pumped and gave her a bottle. I called our lactation consultant twice. We saw her three times in two weeks and Evie gained a total of 4oz. My little petite girl! Trust me, I was concerned at first with how little she was gaining but there are a few things I had to remember: 1) she IS gaining weight and not loosing and 2) she is healthy! She has little rolls in her legs, chubby cheeks, and eats often enough that she is healthy. But the nursing strike was quickly becoming discouraging. There's nothing quite like getting her to latch for 20 seconds until the let down and then she unlatches and, well, milk goes everywhere!

Everyday was different. I continued to pump and she ate well at daycare. It has been such trial and error in trying to decipher if she is truly hungry or just really tired. Her cries are nearly the same for both, at least for now. She is such a different baby than Logan. I feel like a new mama all over again.

So a few days passed and she started to nurse a little more during the day. Then early last week, on Monday, she nursed in the morning when we went to our lactation appointment and then refused to nurse until the next night. Over twenty four hours. I was so worried she was over the breast. That night after work, I took her into my arms, shushed into her ear, turned off the TV, set my phone aside, took our tops off and said a prayer. She latched. I nearly cried I was so happy! And not just for a few minutes. She nursed for a solid 10 minutes without stopping, something which she had not done in well over a week. We continued to nurse better and better each day this week.

Then Logan got a cold and gave it to all of us. I faired the best of everyone while Evie and B seemed to get it the worst. She is very congested so for the first day she had trouble staying latched because it was so hard for her to nurse and breath through her nose. Thankfully, I believe this little cold of hers has brought our nursing relationship closer. We are nursing laying down, which seems to be her favorite position (mine too!) and overall I think it's safe to say the strike is over. I am so happy that this is really the first time we have had any issue with nursing in 4 months. No mastitis, clogged ducts, thrush...a strike seems so much easier than all of those things!

Here's to another month down! My next goal is 6 months.