Determination vs. Ignorance

Breastfeeding should be a primitive instinct for babies...right? That's what I heard, and I kept getting my hopes up that Kara would successfully latch and the never-ending chore of cleaning bottles and pump accessories would wane.

On Tuesday, Kara latched! I was so excited! This was it!

However, how long is too long to be feeding?

Sometimes we would have "short" feeding sessions...these lasted an hour to an hour and a half.

Sometimes we would have "LONG" feeding sessions...I'm embarrassed to say that these would last over 3 hours. I just kept switching sides every 30 minutes. Then we would have to give her a bottle so she would finally be full.

Why wasn't she ever satisfied?! My expression of milk was fine, my technique was good, and darned if anyone had more patience to sit there and wait on her to finish.

Finally, I had to get over my denial. She is just a bad sucker, and this was no way for either of us to be spending our time.

I have nothing against bottle feeding; I just kept thinking a light would go off in her little baby head or the Lord would lead her to breastfeed effectively. Neither happened, and I think we're both content to go back to plan B (breastfeed for 10 minutes on each side, bottle feed, then pump). It's a bit of a routine, but it's better than the other option where we sit for hours and she never gets enough.