Nipple Confusion

What is it? My son has it… but I joke that he’s not confused. He’s very aware (and obvious) about his preferences. Here’s the breakdown:

If it's plastic, and breastmilk comes out of it - he's interested. (Bottle)
If it's plastic and milk doesn't come out of it, he's not interested. (Pacifier)
If it's got an epidermis and milk comes out of it, he's not interested. (Boob)
If it's got an epidermis, and milk doesn't come out of it, he's interested. (Fingers)

Is that odd?

And yes, I did say "breastmilk" out of the bottle. I am so sold (brainwashed?!?!) on the benefits of breastmilk, I pump 40 - 50 ounces a day so my little one doesn't miss out on the antibodies, etc. So that pretty much means, that before we even calculate in feeding, I've got about 4 hours a day dedicated to pumping alone... (That's half a work-day at the office!!!)

In true Sabrena fashion, I couldn’t just let the nursing thing go . Yeah, apparently it’s not enough that my kid’s getting breast milk exclusively… I have apparently bought into the LeLeche Leaguers (LLL) mantra that if it’s not from the boob it’s not as good for the child (ouch!). Um, it’s hard feeling guilt about EVERYTHING!?!?!

I was getting so worked up about being rejected by my guy (or for him to prefer plastic to me… PLASTIC?!?! SYNTHETIC?!?! I am obviously not raising a green baby. Doesn’t Holden know nursing is best for the environment?)

So this past week, I’ve been on the phone with the Triple-L’s national hot line, used the SNS nursing system (Holden is NOT a fan), fed him with a spoon (it only took an hour to eat 3.5 ounces and I swear an ounce of it ended up on his bib!), cried, prayed, cried some more… and then by divine intervention, my mother-in-love hooked me up with a copy of “On Becoming Babywise.”

I’m not going to give away the secret to “Babywise,” I’m sure that some of you are already familiar (and I can see how in this day and age how controversial this school of thought could be)… but I will say, that by the simple switch of giving Holden a little more structure time-wise, he latched on three separate sessions today – which is HUGE because yesterday he would literally turn away and purse his lips together when I’d “offer” the goods to him. (He obviously never got the memo about how infamous “the twins” were in Junior High…I was a very early bloomer.)

I still gave him a bottle afterwards because it was more of an apperatif than an actual feeding…

The LLLeaguer told me to be patient and just keep trying... which I've never believed in the word "try." I'm like Yoda, there's no try... only do or do not, right? But I'm committed to a breastmilk-fed baby... Holden just doesn't seem as committed to feeding from the breast.

Which reminds me, it's time to pump....again.