Four months and zero bottles

 Our Little boy is four months old. A little bit about this little gentlemen.....He likes sweater vests (especially made by a dear friend), chewing on his burp cloth, rolling over, his soft blankie, and long snuggles with Mommy. In other achievements he is no longer taking bottles. These days have passed quickly yet getting to this four month mark has felt exceedingly long in our feeding journey. He has after surgery and weeks of physical therapy finally become willingly eager to be fully breastfed. We are still working on his endurance which needs to greatly increase. He feeds frequently all day long which is quite exhausting for me but no more bottles! What a long way to our goal it has been. 

When we came home and had days of struggle it felt so impossible to simply nourish him. He built stamina with the bottle and I presumed going right to the breast would be easy. Oh I was so wrong! I was glad to have the confidence and experience of breastfeeding four previous children to help guide me. It was that experience that first led me to believe that DK had a feeding problem that was preventing him from eating properly. That did not save me from frustration and disappointment. I was challenged every day to remain positive in my effort to keep trying. When I finally realized that the baby was struggling far more than necessary I knew it was time to seek help from a lactation consultant. 

During his recovery we were still unsure if he would be able to breastfeed. There is a lot involved in the team effort of breastfeeding. For as much as I was willing to keep trying being positive and encouraging ultimately it is the baby who has to want to do it too. We began slow with once a day and once at night sessions. He seemed to find it easy and enjoyable. Eventually he worked up to breastfeeding most the day and one night feeding. Then he decided to not take a bottle at all during the day and would only take a few bottles at night. Then one day he refused all bottles. Bottles from me, bottles from Dad, bottles from his sisters. It was then that I knew we were going to be all done with bottles. He has been nursing about 2 weeks, developing more regular feeding patterns, and is keeping on weight. His breastfeeding journey has been a rough one for this Mama but, we made it, by golly, we made it!