Adventures of a Maude in Training

This week has been a wash. S. is cutting a canine and a molar and is miserable. He went on a bona fide nursing strike starting Monday. He flat out refused to nurse at all after 10am on Monday until 8am on Wednesday. He kept asking to nurse but wouldn't open his mouth because, we assume, it hurts. He also refuses to suck on ptor's finger which he pretty much will always do if he is tired or upset. So, things have been stressful here. I've been expressing as much milk as I can (not much at this point in the game--S. can get it out of me, but pumping and hand expression only yield minimal amounts these days, despite hours' worth of effort) in order to give him some milk and keep my ducts from getting clogged and to help with engorgement. What really sucks about all this (there is a lot) is that he won't sleep. He typically nurses at night, then goes into his room with ptor and sucks on his finger for a while and goes to sleep. His refusal to suck/have anything in his mouth means he isn't settling down and it is taking hours for him to go to sleep--he hasn't been asleep earlier than 12:30am all week. He nursed yesterday and today in the morning in our bed (and slept and slept) but that also means we have been sleeping late and getting up for our activities is a no-go. He is so tired. I am frustrated because our activities are things he really likes doing (music and gym) and help break up the day, but getting him out the door by 9:45am is not possible when he is going to bed after midnight and waking up at 6 miserable and crying--it has taken quite some time for him to calm down and nurse the past two mornings. We made it to swimming last night and he enjoyed it. I need to figure out something for him to go do today.

The nursing strike is stressful on a number of levels and I actually got incredibly depressed late Tuesday. At least he nursed yesterday morning and this morning. He refused to nurse the rest of yesterday and I am not holding out a lot of hope for today. If he is ready to reduce his milk intake to the two feeds he is doing in the morning I am OK with that, but we are certain there is certain more going on there as until Monday he was nursing 6-8 times a day and this is not, by any means, typical weaning behavior. His refusal of ptor's finger is also really weird. His mouth hurts and he is miserable. It is really, really frustrating not to be able to do anything to help him.

Please do not suggest that I take the opportunity to wean him. I am not interested and from his behaviors, S. really isn't interested in doing so either (nursing in the mornings like a fiend, asking to nurse then not opening his mouth during the day, etc.).

So, that has been our week. Pretty much focused on the nursing issues and not a whole hell of a lot else.