Today I had my very first power struggle with my daughter.
And she’s only TWO MONTHS OLD.
She suddenly is repulsed by my right tit. She REFUSES to eat off of it. She screams and throws herself back and GAGS. I switched her to the otherside, just to see what she would do, and she got all happy and started sucking away.
But I wasn’t having that.
I took her off (Because she had already eaten off of that side and after an entire night of no eating, the tits tend to get REALLY FULL and REALLY BIG and REALLY PAINFUL, so I had to “empty” the right side) and I tried giving her the right tit again.
She started screaming and throwing her head back and GAGGING again.
I looked at her and said “Listen, oh little queen of the world, there is nothing wrong with this tit. You WILL EAT FROM IT! I refuse to have one tit the size of a pumpkin and the other one the size of an orange. THEY MUST REMAIN EVEN IN SIZE AND IN MILK PRODUCTION. NOW STOP GAGGING AND SUCK!”
And she was like “MAKE ME.”
And I so I did what any mother with an enlarged, aching tit at 5 in the morning would do.
I started to cry.
I am sure this is just the beginning of power struggles to come. Today it’s “I don’t want your right boobie!”, tomorrow it’ll be “I don’t feel like sleeping, and if I don’t sleep, YOU don’t sleep.” Ten years from now it’ll be “I HATE these stupid pants, so I’m not wearing them and you can’t make me.” And on and on and on and on.
If she didn’t have the cutest damn toothless smile in all of the world, I could probably get mad at her. Lucky her.
It sounds like your right breast might be too engorged for her to latch on properly – could that be it? I always do a little squirt from that breast to get them going (too much information?). But if she didn’t nurse at all on that side, try to pump a bit for yourself so you don’t get a clogged duct.
I just posted about my own breasts. Mommy breast issues must just be in the air.
squirt her with your right tit…that’ll show her… 😛
Caelyn is the exact opposite. She favours the right, and never wants the left.
Little bugger. 😀
Could she have an ear infection or something and not like lying on that side?
nope. no ear infection. she just doesn’t want that side. grrrrrr
I was going to mention the engorgement too. If there’s too much milk the nipple is closer to the skin and not as easy to latch on to. I would empty out about an ounce and then see what she does.
I don’t know if this is less than helpful… but when that happened with my first, I wound up nursing the next two babies on one side only!!
There just wasn’t much produced by the left, and the right was like a fire hydrant. When the babies got to a certain age and figured that shit out, they were all, DON’T WASTE MY TIME. I swear they know what they’re doing…
Ack!! I am there and doing that! After talking to a lactation consultant turns out I am spraying the milk down her throat and choking her basically from all the pressure of the milk spray and she hates and it does exactly what your gabby is doing. So I have to either leak a bit ar go and pump a half an ounce and then try again and as soon as the pressure spray of milk isnt streaming down her throat she is fine.
I hear ya about the sore titties though. Man – o man if I don’t nurse or pump every 3 hours they are like a bag of rocks and i have huge 44 DD’s knockers. In fact I am at work right now and left my 8 week at home with her daddy. I just talked to him on the phone and heard her in the background. The sound of her goo’s made me have the letdown reflex and now I must go pump in the ladies restroom. Nice huh?
Another suggestion/thought. Does Gabby sleep on her side? is it on the left or right? because if she sleeps on her right side, then that is the position she is most comfortable with and when she is nursing on your left side, she is lying on her right. Try nursing her football style on your right side so-as to trick her into thinking she’s on your left.
I was going to say what Rae did. Try the “football hold”, maybe she will be tricked. My first baby really put me thru a lot with the nursing issues. Ain’t motherhood fun!??!?
LOL
I just posted about the same thing! Only my right boob has stopped working entirely so the good boob is about the size of an orange and the bad boob is back to it original size which is like, a walnut. If it weren’t for the sight of my son on my breast, or the sound of him humming as he eats, I would have thrown in the towel week two. I’ll say it loud and say it proud: Breastfeeding Sucks!
I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a while.
Thanks, Y!
hmmm, when my daughter fought too latch on to my left one…. turns out she had a stiff neck and it hurt her to turn her head that particular way…. we had to do exercises… kinda like at-home PT…. maybe Gabby doesn’t have something that big of a deal… maybe just slept one way with her head funny and has a bit of a sore neck?….. Have you tried different positions… like hanging over her, or holding her a different way so she’ll be in a different position? It is very frustrating… hope it works out!
Well, whatever the problem was, she’s over it. The right titty is back in business, folks!
(p.s. I love when you guys try to help a momma out by leaving your experiences and advice! Thank you!!)
Glad to read ‘righty’ is back in business 🙂
Having had this exact thing happen to me in the recent past…
If it happens again, here’s most likely why and what to do:
Your boob is too big, too engorged, nipple isn’t supple enough, you’re most likely spraying like you’re putting out a fire….
Put a nice warm, moist, towel on your boob and then give it a good massage. Now squirt out some milk until your nipple is supple and not so tightly embedded in your tit.
Now compel the little cutie to take it and just hole your ground. At the next couple of feedings, give her the ‘offending’ side first. It should work itself out in a day or so.
Oh, maybe I should introduce myself. I’m a nurse/lactation consultant.