When I was pregnant I prayed and prayed that Georgia would be a good breastfeeder. Prayed hard. I worried about things that may interfere with her nursing, read anything I could get my hands on, and questioned all my certified lactation consultant friends at work. I have always hated to hear "I couldn't breastfeed" I didn't want that to be us. But what I found is usually the reason people "can't breastfeed" is lack of education about what problems can occur and how to fix them.
When I was told I would need to be induced because of hypertension, I instantly got scared Georgia might not be a strong feeder. I sent out a mass text and asked for prayers. Georgia was born strong and healthy and we both figured out the breastfeeding thing pretty well if I do say so myself. Go us!
Then the time for my maternity leave to be over got closer and closer. I started pumping twice a day to build up a "milk stash" that Josh could feed her while I worked. We gave her a bottle for the first time, she hated it, but she drank 2 ounces. After that every other time we gave her a bottle she seemed to get a little better at it, more comfortable with it. Josh was ready for me to go to work and be super dad!
And then...when she was around 9 weeks old she quit taking a binky. No more interest in it. I tried to get her to hang on to the binky habit because studies show it reduces the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and my new mom motto was "Safety first!" But G just wasn't having the binky anymore and I thought ok whatever one less thing to break her from later. But about 2 weeks after I gave up the good fight with the binky, at 11 weeks old, she started refusing a bottle. HUH? I was always worried she would prefer a bottle to breastfeeding, causing my milk supply to decrease and dry up before I was ready for it to. Never did I ever think it would happen the other way around. We started buying EVERY SINGLE bottle EVER manufactured on God's green earth. Nothing. It quickly turned into torture in Georgia's book if you tried the bottle. Oh and the advice you get... "Break her will" "If she gets hungry enough she will take it" NOT TRUE. We googled every piece of advice we could, tried every trick and it seemed hopeless.
My first night back to work I left and cried the whole way there, my baby probably wouldn't eat while I was gone. I was right. A few hours into my shift Josh and Georgia had to come to the hospital and camp out so I could nurse her in between taking care of my patients and charting. Talk about multitasking. A few hours of this and Georgia fell asleep and Josh headed home with her, a 30 minute drive. At this time in Georgia's life she was sleeping through the night so we hoped she would sleep until I got home.
She didn't.
I called Josh to check on them around 5 o'clock that morning and she was screaming so we really couldn't talk. I got home about 3 hours later to a devastated baby and heartbroken husband. Georgia would scream with hunger, suck on Josh's arm, his shirt, anything but still refused to drink from a bottle. Sounds fun? Those people who told us to wait it out to break her will....I say this as nice as possible: Screw you. Who wants to go through that? If you can handle it well good for you Almira Gulch, we aren't down with that.
Now in this horrible experience I did hear from a few women, probably 4 or 5, that had gone through the same thing. You know what they told me? They were never successful in the bottle battle either. Babies like Georgia are called "Boobie Monsters" Once in the middle of the night I forced my tired new mom eyes to stay open to read an article about this particular problem with tips for overcoming it. The article ended with the author saying none of the tips ever worked for her, but good luck anyway. Really?!?
Now when Josh went back to work, I did keep trying. I used one of the most logical methods I had found. When G got hungry offer her the bottle, when she got hysterical, I would stop and console her. When she was calm and rooting around again, offer the bottle again, repeat. It ended with Georgia as a very angry fussy Boobie Monster and I had boobs so full and hard I am sure they would've qualified as shot puts. You think I had time to pump? Heck no the Boobie Monster wouldn't be put down at a time of such anguish.
In the end, I worked one more shift at my beloved Women's Center job. Josh and Georgia just went to work with me that night. Good thing nobody needed CPR while I was breastfeeding. Now I am a stay at home mom, we have said eff you to all bottles and we are doing pretty good. I can't go anywhere without Georgia and we like it that way.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Peace.Love.Boobie Monster.
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