making progress

Elias and I met with the lactation consultant for, hopefully, the last time this morning. I've heard of moms and babies using the nipple shields for anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months, but I've been feeling impatient since about a week in. Several times over the past few days, usually out of frustration with trying to get or keep the thing on, I've tried nursing without it and he usually seems to do pretty well. So my goal this morning was to at least discuss an exit plan; how do I begin to get this kid off his training wheels? We did a feeding sans shield and in about 17 or 18 minutes he got 2.3 ounces. She seemed pretty pleased with that and her official recommendation was to keep doing what we're doing, keeping the shields on hand for when he doesn't seem to be latching well, we're both running low on patience, etc. Our next challenge will be to do all this in public. I'd like to feel like I can go on an outing with him without having to worry about being back home in our elaborate set-up for the next feeding.

After that we stopped at Whole Foods for some probiotics. Elias has developed quite a spit-up habit. It's hard to know what's normal and what's cause for concern, but it does seem like an awful lot isn't staying down at times. Our pediatrician recommended we try the probiotics and if that fails, there's always prescription drugs for acid reflux, which of course I'd like to avoid if possible. His fussiness lately does seem to be connected to digestion, though, so we'll see if this works and go from there. The other thing I've heard helps with babies with reflux is keeping them upright, which we do for at least 10 minutes after every feeding, but the arms do tend to get tired after awhile. I'd been eyeing the Moby wrap anyway so we ordered one and will give it a try when it arrives sometime next week. I've decided to take back the other sling we purchased soon after he was born after several unsuccessful attempts; he's almost big enough to comfortably fit in the front carrier we have, but disliked our first attempt at that just as much. I hope we have more success with the Moby wrap!


If so, that means I can take him on walks without the entire carseat/snap 'n' go setup. We went for another long walk this weekend - not only does it feel great to get out, but it does wonders for my energy level!