Challenges

Erik is having a challenging weekend. This past week he began cutting back his food intake. He probably ate half as much solids and nursed a third less than usual. But then Friday night he went on strike. He refuses to nurse. We are hoping it's because he appears to be cutting three teeth at once. If that's the case, he should go back to nursing when it's over. (Although, you'd think if he was striking from teething pain he'd still nurse once we'd given him Tyleonl.) It was really tough at first because he wouldn't take his milk from a bottle either. However, I do have a couple sippy cups that the liquid just pours out of, and he's been taking a couple ounces at a time from that. Also, Joe was mixing milk with cereal and at least we knew he was getting some calories. However, now we're not giving him cereal any more because he's taking more ounces from the cup and because the cereal seems to have stopped up his digestive processes if you know what I mean. We're a little nervous about that.

When I had nursing trouble when Erik was born, I had a lot of people who could offer advice because they had been there. Now I have to read books and the internet because most of my friends weaned their kids at 5-7 months, and the friend who made it all the way to a year, her son didn't cut any teeth until the last month. So we're plugging along, hoping for the best. I'm kind of down, but I'm trying to keep it in perspective that it isn't a catastrophe, it's just an inconvenience. But I really miss nursing.