Michael and I had a rough day yesterday. It was a tough youngest-child kind of day. Right when he was ready for his morning nap, instead of being placed in his comfy crib, he was jacked into his Barbaloot suit, buckled into the car seat, and driven to Andrew's pre-school where he was taken back OUT of the car seat, carried through the bitterly cold parking lot on my hip, then back into the car seat and THEN taken to the grocery store and made to ride in the Bjorn for an hour while I shopped. Poor kid. He did have fun at the grocery store, though, because he is getting a nice shot at Lily...who is in the seat in the cart. They play/harass each other through the whole trip...Michael desperately reaching for Lily's barrettes...Lily tickling his knees and playing peek a boo...Michael sticking his fingers in her mouth as he investigates her teeth (his favorite past time for all of us...future DDS?).
Anyhoo, we finally get back home and I stick Lily in front of the tv and race Mikey upstairs for a quick bite to eat and a very quick nap before we have to go back to pre-school to get Andrew. At this point, Michael is near hysteria with hunger (he was a little overdue to eat) and fatigue. We nestle into the rocker-which-no-longer-rocks (grrrr), and he eagerly latches on to drink. And then he BITES me. HARD. Which feels pretty much like you'd imagine. So I gasp and pull him off and yell at him...LOUD. Poor Michael (poor Mommy too). He was startled and scared to death. He immediately starts screaming and when I tried to latch him back on, he refused. Pushed away my breast and sobbed. I finally put him down and he quickly fell asleep. Until I woke him up 40 minutes later to go get his brother. Poor 3rd child.
Well, I figured he'd be STARVING when I woke him up...but I had no time to feed him. I tried to give him a quick nip...minus the nip. But he took one sip and then pushed me away and started to cry. I'd made him some formula in a sippy cup...he also refused that. So he cried all the way to get Andrew and all the way home. We all rush in the door and the older kids have to wait for me to make lunch because the baby is so frantic. But he only nursed for 2-3 minutes before totally rejecting the breast. Hmmmm...I start to wonder if this little biting episode is the end of our nursing relationship.
But the thing is...he refuses the formula. So I'm on to his game. No solids until he drinks some breast milk or formula. THAT is where his real nutrition is...no getting around it.
By 5 pm, Michael is a complete and utter mess. So hungry, but refusing formula AND breast milk. Mean old mommy won't give him baby food. What is a baby to do? Jeff got home and Mike and I went upstairs. He again refused to nurse. He actually drank about 2 ounces of formula. Begrudgingly. So I fed him some cereal and watermelon and carrots. At bedtime, he latched on and drank like a pro. Apparently our fight was over.
So we'll see. I can't help but yelp when he bites me...it is an involuntary reaction (must. get. teeth. out. of. nipple.) Hopefully he will stop biting...because he sure gets his feelings hurt when I yell. Little stubborn man.
2 comments:
I have had days JUST like that with our 3rd. I hate having to wake him up to go to preschool pick up or drop off. AND he has bitten me more times than I care to recall. Many, many times. Ouch.
Ugh - Katy started to bite me when she was about 8 months old, and that was the beginning of the end of nursing for us. I tried and tried to stick with it, but I was so sore and she kept biting, no matter what I did. Finally I figured out that she was biting in frustration because my milk supply was slowing down. So she started taking bottles of formula (finally) because she was hungry, and I gradually weaned her at about 10 months. So anyway, all that to do that it SUCKS to be bitten. And I also hate rushing in the door with a hysterical baby - I do that more often than I care to...
but LOVE that bunting...I'm jealous :)
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