curiosity kills the cat

Val has fallen in love with this new world- he can't take his eyes off everything, even the room he's been sleeping in for four months has become an enthralling sight. Since last week, he's been stopping halfway through his feeds, to stare at my face - intrigued at the details he can now see. Hmm.. why does mommy have metal resting on her nose? Why does mommy have two eyes, one nose and one mouth? Then he grins (aw, a heartmelting one) almost proud of what he can do now.... then, if he remembers, he goes back to the breast to finish the job... but if he gets distracted, he FORGETS his hunger and struggles to be 'free' of mommy so that he can continue playing with grandma, grandpa or with his toys......

And so, that's my sob story for the month.... battling Val's curiosity and his erratic feeding pattern. From nursing for as long as 40 minutes, he's now become a 5-10 min sucker. Then TODAY, he totally decided to go on a breast strike. He would 'complain' loudly with his cries whenever i put him to the nursing position, and struggle to sit up (even though he still can't). And if i persist on giving him the breast, he then starts crying loudly. So many times i tried to coax him to nurse today....and so many times he refused. We even tried giving him the bottle, but no, now he recognises the bottle and cries when my mom brings it closer to him. Gosh........What to do??? I was so worried cos it had been hours since his last feed. Finally, we tried the spoon and he actually drank like 20 spoonfuls - but because he still hasn't learnt to sip well, a lot of the milk spilled out. Sigh...in the end, i think he drank 30 ml.

i still can't figure out what is making him so fussy? is it really his curiosity or perhaps the 2 painful jabs he got on Monday? or is he teething cos he's been drooling so badly but i can't find no bumps in his mouth! aiya......so difficult. i sms a few fellow moms but no one else seem to have had the same dire situation as me. I call my lactation consultant and was advised to either 1) get out of the house completely so he will not hear or see me and thus will drink from bottle 2) nurse him in a very dark and quiet room. So i've tried both and failed.

Finally, at 7pm, i put on the baby carrier to see if he might feed - it's worked before. Thankfully, he finally agreed to take the breast and actually emptied both quite completely. The lil bugger was so hungry but somehow something was putting him off his feeds. I still don't know what it is. I just feel so exhausted and worried. Luckily Val is still quite cheerful and sociable despite not drinking. most of the fellow moms just reassured me that as long as he seems happy, i shouldn't worry. But still... that's easier said than done. Let's see what he'll do tomorrow.

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