Googling "Nipple Shields," and Code Brown

The last few days, my nipples have started to hurt. I think it's from nursing a baby who is constantly getting new teeth. I can't exactly figure out the mechanism of injury, but I think her brand new canines are grazing my nipples when she nurses.

For the first time, I'm thinking about weaning.

I've always had an easy time nursing. Maybe there was a couple of days of discomfort in the very beginning -- I remember a painful white sore in the first few days. But I used nipple cream less than a handful of times, and that was all in Calliope's first week of life.

I've been incredibly blessed to have such an easy time. Plus, I don't know many women that have worked full time and still managed to produce enough to feed their babies exclusively breast milk, never mind having enough to share with another baby!

But now.... Oy. I emailed my pediatrician, who is also a lactation consultant, to ask what to do. She emailed me back to say, "try a nipple shield for a week."

I was sort of hoping she would say, "come over to my house and bring the baby and we will examine your latch."

Not quite as ludicrous as it sounds, as she did invite me over once, pre-baby, to discuss becoming an LC myself. But still, not in the realm of likely.

And since I took a personal day to stay home with Calliope yesterday so the nanny could go to traffic court for riding her bike on the sidewalk (ridiculous waste of her time and taxpayer, aka my dollars!), I can't take another day off to bring her in to the doctor's office when I have 7 days left of work before summer vacation. And this weekend we have to go to MA for my mom's bat mitzvah (yes, I know).

So that means: minimum ten days of discomfort/pain?

Ouch.

So nipple shields it is. Only Amazon can't get them here for 5 business days. So I'm going to have to take the bus to Park Slope tomorrow, most likely, to pick some up on my way home from work. Unless the baby store near me carries them and I can get there at lunchtime. Which means going for a long walk in the 97 degree heat at mid-day.

All sorts of awesome.

Now I just feel guilty that I'm sort of praying that Calliope sleeps late tomorrow so I can pump and not nurse in the morning.

This is not a feeling I've ever had before.

Okay, totally disjointed but here's tales from yesterday's day off together...

Ice cream with friends after the playground made for a tired, tired baby. Her diaper was dry all afternoon so after the potty I let her sit in the high chair bare bottom (even though she didn't pee when I put her on the potty). She peed in the highchair. Then, when I was dealing with washing the high chair cover and starting her bath while she played in the living room... she pooped on the rug! And then crawled through it, and smeared it into the rug!

Code brown!

Even though I had JUST offered the potty! 

I was mad at my baby!!!

And didn't even feel bad that she was crying in the tub because she was so tired and also confused because I just dumped her in the tub, rinsed, made her stand up, dumped out the tub, then refilled with water that was possibly too hot...  I was too mad to care. 

But then "nurses" made it all better for both of us. She was crying crying crying (i had the audacity to diaper and dress her after all that) but then 1 minute of nursing and she pulls off to give me the hugest toothy grin. She nursed a long time but kept pulling off to grin at me.

Then we went into the bedroom and I was so tired that i sat on the bed to sing our goodnight song instead of standing by the crib. And in the middle of snuggling and singing... she suddenly tipped herself upside down in my lap. When she was supposed to be getting sleepy.

I was so surprised I couldn't help it... I burst out laughing. Which of course made her ever so pleased with herself, and made her have to do it again and again. I kept trying to admonish her that "this isn't getting-ready-for-bed behavior" but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to lecture her.

Oh well. I'm sure there will be lectures aplenty in our future.