Nursing Strike...

I believe that Jacob has started a nursing strike due to his cute little bottom teeth that are taking their precious time coming in! Jacob goes from having a great day of nursing to not wanting to nurse at all the next day. He is still refusing his bottle but will drink from a cup. I've tried almost everything I know to do to get him to nurse from loading him up on tylenol, coating his bottom gum with oralgel and giving him a frozen teething toy for him to suck on before nursing. None of it seems to help on the days he does not want to nurse. He will only nurse on those days after he has essentially upset himself enough so that he has red splotches all over his skin and he has broken out in a sweat!

We have pretty much tackled the biting that Jacob started when his teeth first appeared. He does not like my 'no biting' voice and usually will not do it again. I have noticed that the only time that he does it is when he is either not hungry, upset that he can't get enough quick enough, or he is mad that there is no more milk. I look for his cues and take him off before any of these things happen.

As for this nursing strike, I really hope it is only due to the teething and not due to a supply and demand issue. I need to start being more diligent and pumping on the days he refuses to eat. I also started tonight, when he was latching on and off constantly, switching him from side to side and he actually stayed on after being switched four times. I read about doing that somewhere. Whether it was helpful or not we will see. I probably also need to stop sleeping on my stomach. Sleeping on my stomach is usually the only way i can fall asleep when Jon is gone but I need to stop that so tonight I will institute my pillow bunker again. Jon will come home and think I'm pregnant again.

I hope this is just a phase with nursing with Jacob. In 12 days, I will have been nursing for 6 months which was my original goal but now 12 months seems like an even greater goal to achieve. And with our upcoming trip I do not want to have to bother with formula, water, or bottles at all! It's much easier to feed him with my ready-to-go flow of milk!