Can you believe this picture? It's Benjamin actually sleeping!! We had a breakthrough. The first week and a half was extremely difficult. Benjamin literally eats all the time. The lactation specialist came and said that I should let him eat until he detaches and is done. So I did an experiment that night to see how long he would go. After 2 hours on ONE side I detached him because I was convinced he would never let go. He has to be sucking on something at all times. I didn't realize how extreme he is until Faith was telling me that she heard of a lady whose baby ate FOREVER - 45 minutes on each side. At the time I was detaching him after an hour on each side and he was still fussy and begging for food afterwards! I knew he was getting adequate food because he was back up to his birth weight at 1 week and the midwife was very impressed saying they like to see birth weight by week 2.
Even though I had decided that we would follow the AAP's recommendations and not do a pacifier or pump/bottle feed til he's over a month old, we've already done both. They're like magic! He's only satisfied after eating 4 ounces from the bottle (I'm still breastfeeding - just pumping too and then giving it to him after about a half hour of nursing) and then will usually suck on his pacifier until the next feeding. My mom slept on our couch the first night I pumped and took him until 5:30 a.m. when she had to leave. We caught up on some MUCH needed sleep and life has been a lot better since. Between the bottle and pacifier (and newly acquired Moby wrap) I'm starting to feel sane again!
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