Advice Update

In Anne’s comment, she said something that ended with “…for 10 minutes”.  That got me thinking, how long should it take to nurse? Since I use the SNS for supplementing, I always thought it took 1/2 hour or longer to nurse and never really thought how long it took for other women. Sure, I have seen my friends nurse and notice that the baby was on and off in just a few minutes, but generally the baby was a bit older, so I thought they were “nursing on the fly”. So I sought out another friend, to see how long it takes for her to nurse. She said her baby takes no more than 15 minutes to nurse.

I started thinking. I do not want to switch to bottles yet, as he is getting breast milk from me. I also enjoy nursing him, he is a good guy and we have so many little “conversations” while he nurses. No, not ready to switch to bottles, but I also cannot be nursing him for 45 minutes at a time, while the kids do all sorts of naughty things.

Well, the answer was pretty obvious, well for me, well maybe not for me, but it should have been. The SNS comes with three different sized tubing. I had been using a smaller sized tubing and switched to the bigger tube. What a difference it has made! Our 45 minute nursing sessions are down to 20, tops. The first few feedings after the tube switch, he ate too quickly, and spit up a bit. (Of course, all over my shirt and I was about to leave for grocery shopping, thanks kid ;)) However, things are going well  now.

Middle of the night feedings no longer scare me, as I know we won’t be up together for an hour. He eats around 1230 and I put him down no later than 115 (and that is after a burb session, diaper change and a snuggle). I have started staying up until that time, also, as he has been sleeping until 630 or 7oo. If I went to bed at say, 10 and woke up for his 1230 feeding, I have had just enough sleep to be awake for a good part of the night. Of course, now that we have figured out something that will work, things will change and we will be back to trying to figure things out again!

So, this brings me to Caecilia. Now that I am only “tied down” for 15 minutes at a time, she is much more manageable.  So far today, all she has done is dump out a box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. That only happened because I did not realize it had been left on the counter last night, after making laundry soap. Oh, she did walk out of the bathroom with the plunger but put it back when instructed to do so. Then I found her in the bathroom, with the toilet brush, scrubbing the toilet for me. We washed hand for a good long time afterward.