Tomorrow Lydia will be two weeks old, and the past 13 days have been filled with two activities:

(1) Being absolutely IN LOVE with this face

and (2) Breastfeeding.

I was told that breastfeeding would be a full-time job. The only difference is that with a full-time job, you only have to work 8 hours a day, plus you get weekends off. However, in a classic combination of her Tata’s metabolism and her Mama’s appetite, this little wonder is ALWAYS HUNGRY.

They recommend nursing every two hours, but that two hour clock starts when you begin nursing. So if she nurses for 45 minutes, then wants to be rocked for another 20, I have like 40 minutes before she starts to get fussy again. That is if she’s not cluster feeding, which she almost always does first thing in the morning, and again with gusto at evening time (more on this in another post).

She is also a pretty lackadaisical nurser, meaning, she favors a suck-suck-snooze eating pattern, making feedings a lot longer than they “need” to be. Fortunately, I am growing more comfortable and adept at nursing in various locations, like during a picnic at the lake 🙂

Being the sort of overly-organized, chart-maker that I am, I was inclined to download an app to time and track Lydia’s breastfeeding sessions. Huge rookie mistake. Looking at the charts and times led me to second-guess her hunger cues (“You couldn’t possibly be hungry again!”), which in turn led to two days of a very fussy baby. We do implement other methods to sooth her when she’s fussy, but if she is making the baby-bird, lip-smacking face, chances are she is genuinely hungry. It doesn’t really matter when she ate last, or for how long. She is trying to gain weight and she needs to eat whenever she wants to! So, in short, I deleted the app, and I trust Lydia to tell me if she wants food, even if this means we are nursing a lot.

I love that we have this time together. I love that my body is able to provide nourishment. As an added perk, I love that she is helping me lose the baby weight. But, I’m not gonna lie, I am counting down the days until I can start pumping (so that I can take a shower or a nap without worrying about her getting hungry) and introducing a pacifier (to help calm some of the times when she is probably just nursing for comfort). But no matter how hard it is for me to sit still, or how sore my nipples get, or how hungry or tired breastfeeding makes me, it is more than worth it to see her peaceful, satisfied face.