The nursing necklace

I didn't really blog about it much here, but AJ spent two months on a nursing strike (I hate this term, because it's not like they're NEGOTIATING, but that's what they call it), from three months to five months.  She would take the breast when she woke up from a deep sleep, so in the middle of the night (if she woke up at all during the night--she sometimes doesn't), and first thing in the morning, but other than that, she'd basically scream and try to hurl herself bodily away from me.  It was awful, and pretty much none of the general literature accounts for the fact that a baby that young would even GO on a nursing strike (although apparently I did at TWO months), so a lot of the advice on how to deal with it was impossible (for example: she wasn't even capable of taking a spoon or a sippy cup; bottles were pretty much our only alternative feeding option), and the rest of it was useless anyway because none of it made any damn difference.  I got pretty sick of the Lactation Clinic consultants telling me to "cuddle her more."

Then we went to a specialist recommended by our awesome GP, who talked to me for like five minutes, diagnosed the problem as boredom, and told me to make sure AJ faced in for bottles (thus not getting a good view with them) and to wear a necklace of toys when breastfeeding to keep her attention.

This pretty much ended the "strike" immediately.

She's still very easily distracted, but that's very different from the shrieking and trying to launch herself off my chest.  She needs the necklace to focus on a full feeding about half the time, but sometimes can even get a full feeding in a pretty distracting environment without it--I had forgotten to put it in the diaper bag when I took her downtown to run an errand on Friday, but still managed to get her to nurse at a coffee shop.

Saturday at the park we had it, though, and we got some pictures, which I mainly wanted to share because let's face it, it's pretty hilarious looking:

It's made from some cheap links we got at Target, along with a set of three cheap toys meant to be attached to the bar over a stroller or car seat (also from Target).  One of them has a chime in it (the specialist specifically recommended something that made noise), and that was AJ's favorite for some time, but lately she seems really into the ladybug.  That leaf she's grabbing here crinkles, and she does love crinkly things.  (She got a crinkly toy purse from her great aunt recently and she goes WILD over it.)

Here you can see the chime (black and white stripes); the bug under it is a butterfly, I think.  The third toy is a bee with a rattle.  I include this photo mainly so you can see how big she's getting!  Look at her!  Giant baby!