Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

I don’t like making these decisions

posted by lizzie    « 5 Comments »    tied to motherhood, Oliver   

Oliver is sick. For the past three days he’s been pretty lethargic. He slept most of today. He doesn’t have much of an appetite and he has vomited 4 of the last 5 times I’ve nursed him. This last part is the part that worries me the most. I assume it is my milk that is triggering it because it happens within minutes, if not seconds, of him finishing nursing. He doesn’t seem as interested in nursing (probably because the loss of appetite?) but I don’t know if he is really ready to wean, or if I am ready to wean him. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting to wean him soon because Simon weaned a few weeks after his first birthday and Oliver turns 1 on Thursday, but I don’t want to wean a sick baby. I want to wean a healthy baby.

(Pardon me for taking pictures before I helped him out of the box.)

Help me sort this out. Could the milk be causing him to throw up? Do I bother pumping to keep up my supply until he has recovered, and then end up weaning him a few weeks later? Or is it okay if I just let things go and use this illness as an easy way to wean?

I know that this is ultimately my decision (or maybe things are going to happen whether I want them to or not), but I’d appreciate any insights or words of encouragement you may have to offer.

Comments

  1. melissa says:
    October 20, 2010 at 9:24 am

    Have you eaten anything different or done anything different lately? If not I doubt it is your milk making him sick, it probably is the case that anything he ingest right now, will make him sick. Maybe he has the stomach flu or something like that. Can he eat or drink other things?
    If he is nursing let him continue to nurse, if you don’t want to wean or pump. Even if he throws up because at least he is still getting something that is healthy for him in his body and it will keep up your milk supply.
    Hope he gets better soon! Good luck with whatever you decide!

  2. beccalecca says:
    October 20, 2010 at 8:09 pm

    I second the opinion that if you haven’t changed your eating habits, it’s more likely a virus making him sick. And if you don’t want to wean or pump, let him nurse whenever he shows interest. Supply and demand would (likely) mean that you could let the supply dip, and it should come up later when (if?) he increases demand.

  3. Heather says:
    October 20, 2010 at 8:15 pm

    I agree. If you want to keep on nursing, I think it’s safe and healthier to just go right ahead, even if he does throw it up. Everything I’ve ever read has advised nursing through either the mother or the baby’s illness. Just nurse next to the bath tub for easy clean up :)

    If however, you feel ready to wean, I think it’d be fine to do it. I ended up weaning Anna while my parents were visiting for her 1st birthday. She was so excited to have them here, her (already waning) interest in nursing was pretty much gone so after we missed a few feedings, I just let the rest go.

    But, I would have hated it to have happened so nonchalantly had I not been ready for it. So, like you said, I guess the decision’s up to you. Isn’t that helpful of me?

    Either way, good luck. We’ll be praying that he feels better soon.

  4. lizzie says:
    October 20, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    We had a successful feeding today . . . no throw-up afterward, and he seems to be regaining his appetite and such. But the past three days he didn’t really show much interest in nursing. I nursed him because he wasn’t eating much else, I thought it would help him feel better (the first few times), and I didn’t want to lose my milk. It all happened so suddenly that I wasn’t quite prepared to wean him. Maybe he is losing interest and I just haven’t been able to see it because I’m worried about his illness, but I think I am going to go ahead and keep nursing him on schedule until he is better and then if he loses interest after that, then I guess we’ll be done.

  5. Natalie says:
    November 14, 2010 at 2:45 am

    I’m afraid I saw this too late to be able to offer any relevant advice, but I’m sorry he was so sick. There’s nothing worse than having a sick child!

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