Growing Pains

My baby is growing up too fast! When you know (well, are pretty sure) you've had your last baby FOREVER, the mommy clingy factor seems to go up a bit. Christine is giggling at this, I'm sure...

My plan for this last child, sweet baby Kai, was to breastfeed till at least 6 months. It seems, no matter my intentions, my other 4 babies were 'off the boob' (yes, I'm sometimes known for my less-than PC vernacular) somewhere between 4-6 months. Various life circumstances would inevitably create a situation where switching to the bottle was the best option for the family. I never really had a problem with this, until now. Now, with the deep-seated knowledge that I will never hold another baby to my breast, I am mourning the loss.

If you've been around my home for the past (almost) 5 months, you may have noticed that our 2nd born boy child, 5th born overall child is the fussiest baby on the planet um, not entirely content. A million people suggested that I try giving him more bottles (Christine, Pat, mom), but I was adamant, "he doesn't need more to eat! My body is made to feed him, and I know he's being well fed. For goodness sake, the child is over 16 pounds!"

Pat, love of my life, father extraordinaire, had had enough crying to last him 2 lifetimes - so he insisted I must try this bottle thing. So I would nurse, burp, rotate infant to other side, nurse, burp...satisfied that he was satisfied, I'd put him in one of his many large and brightly-colored contraptions for some play time. Cry, cry, cry. So I'd warm up a 4 oz bottle, just knowing that he wasn't really hungry. A few seconds later, once he finished gulping those 4 ozs back and had burped, and was still looking for more, I heated up another 4 oz bottle. This pattern continued for 3 days until I finally conceded - for reasons completely foreign to me, my body was not creating sufficient nutrition for this chubby little guy. Shoot!

By day 2 of the 'breast-breast-bottle-bottle' ordeal, a new Malakai had emerged. Content to play, full of smiles, shrieks, and giggles, mellow...ah, the peace! As I'm sure you are wondering - how long does a feeding take with this ordeal? Well, folks, too darn long! So we've mostly moved on to the bottle - which is filled to 6 oz every time, almost always drained and more added to finish out the feeding. He's happier, Pat's happier, the siblings are even happier, and in many ways I am too. But I am also just so sad... Never again. It's like the end of an era (lol, okay - that may be a bit on the ridiculous dramatic side)! Sigh.



Note the contented little smile...and the double-chin, thigh-to-ankle rolls, wrist fat...LOL!