While I was in the hospital, I was given the high pressure sales pitch to start using a nipple shield to nurse Hattie. Unfortunately, Hattie learned to nurse on the shield and when I tried to feed her without it, she did not know what to do. I've been increasingly anxious about this for the last couple of weeks, I really want Hattie to be confident in nursing without the shield before we introduce bottles, which we will have to do before I go back to work. So we've been practicing nursing without a shield every day. This usually leads to Hattie screaming and turning red, and me feeling upset and guilty-guilty for making her cry as well as guilty for letting her nurse on the shield to calm her.
Today Hattie and I nursed with the shield before getting up for the day, then changed her diaper. I sat down to nurse her on my other breast, but as we were trying to get latched on, I removed the nipple shield for a practice session. Hattie latched on ok and even swallowed a few times! I kept waiting for her to become frustrated and overwhelmed...and it never happened. She did become upset when she released the suction and there was no gigantic nipple just sitting in her mouth-we had to re-latch every time she let go. But each time we just reconnected and she went back to drinking! We haven't used the shield all day, I am nipple shield free! I am so proud of my little girl, its like suddenly everything fell into place and she just knew what to do. Again, she is training me to trust her. Not to worry about things that may happen in a month, but to trust that she will figure it out when she needs to. She is so amazing.
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