Synthetic Jude

Last night I had to bust out 'synthetic jude' or as Ryan called it 'Robbie 5' (whatever that means).

A few days ago, Jude began acting a little out of his element. At one point he was drooling and running a mild fever. We shrugged it off as teething. Then a slight diaper rash started to spread. That mixed with a baby who would wake up screaming inconsolable tears... Meant a trip to the doctor. We had just been in for his one yearvisit, so I had no idea what to expect. They had the same assumption I did, ear infection.

However, after a quick and thorough exam, we found his ears were fine. Instead he had a common virus. Apparently this virus explained the rash, fever, and uncontrolable crying. The poor little man has little bumps in his throat making it oh-so-sore to swallow. He refused to nurse, wouldn't suck his thumb and would whine between bites of food. Considering nursing and thumb sucking are two of the things Jude does best, we were in for one heck of a night.

At this point Jude and I are at about 2-3 nursing sessions a day. Typicallly two in the morning and one before I normally would go to work. When he skipped his afternoon nursing (by flat out rejecting me) I knew we were in trouble. I then thought maybe this is my chance to wean him? But I knew I couldn't just drop three all at once. So, when I woke up to a cryIng Jude who again wouldn't latch on around 4 AM, I broke out old faithful. I plugged myself into 'synthetic jude' and got out what I could. I was surprised that between both sides, after not nursing for almost 24 hours, I only got about 6 ounces. Perhaps weaning was closer in our future than I thought?

This morning though, he latched on with little convinceing - but again refused me in the afternoon. So, currently, we're headed towards nursing once a day... Whether I like it or not.

At this point I plan to (ugh!!) pump until Jude is fully recovered. If he still requires convincing to nurse in the morning, then we will offcially
be done.... It's quite bitter sweet.

PS - so much for 'they usually nurse even when rejecting food!!'