My Baby Won't Nurse

Oliver has never been as attached to nursing as Destructo was.  He nurses for nourishment but not a whole lot for bonding and comfort except over night and then he wants the boobs.  And nothing but the boobs will make him go back to sleep.  But while he is a bit too busy to nurse some days, nothing like today.  

Owl last nursed at 2:30 AM.  I finally broke down and pumped this morning around 10:30 when  it became very clear he wasn't going to nurse.  I figured it was a fluke thing.  Until hours went by and several attempts to persuade him to nurse failed and I pumped again.  He will either scream and push me away, latch suck for a minute and then frantically sign all done and scream, or just sit with his lips pursed and refuse to even look at me.  He is also grabbing his ear so I am wondering if it is teething, an ear infection, or just a nursing strike.  I suppose I should pump one more time before bed but I don't wannnnaaaaaa...  Pumping hurts me for some reason this time around probably because I have literally pumped more today than I have in the past six months lol.  

Why don't babies come with instruction manuals?  I mean I don't want to waste time and money taking him into the doctor to be told he is teething.  I know he is teething.  No doubt.  But what if it IS an ear infection?  Ugh.  Someone look into your magic crystal ball and tell me the answers I seek.  

What is my plan going forth you might wonder?  Well I am about to go in and see if I can get a dream feed into Owl.  He normally doesn't sleep through me opening his door but maybe because he just feel asleep I will get lucky.  Or if he does wake maybe he will be drowsy enough to nurse.  I plan on taking him into his pediatrician tomorrow morning if he refuses to nurse all night and/or tomorrow morning.  If all physical causes are ruled out, I will offer pumped milk in a sippy cup.  I tried a bottle tonight (even though I prefer not to go that route and end up having to exclusively pump) but he refused.  

Hopefully this nursing strike is ended very soon.  If you guys want to read more about nursing strikes, kellymom has some great links.

Surviving the Flu

Yeah the blog has been quiet.  Eighteen days has gone by since my last blog post.  That could be a record and not the kind I like to make.  The day after I last posted I woke up with mild cold symptoms.  By the end of the day, I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck.  I even had a mild fever and I never run fevers.   I told my mom and Mr. Destructo I had the dreaded flu.  I went to urgent care the next day and low and behold I had it.  I was in so much pain.  The joint pain was intense.  The coughing was awful and I could not sleep from it.  And the chills.  My gosh I was just shaking all over from the chills and it hurt to even exist.

Source  How can something so small make someone so sick?

Did I mention I cried a lot over the next few days?  Not only did I have the flu but we had just gotten back from my parents cabin.  We left for the cabin the day after Christmas and the house was still in chaos from Christmas.  Then we came back and had unpacked the car but nothing was put away.  You couldn't walk in the living room.  We had no groceries at all because we had been gone for eight days.  

But it gets worse.  On top of all the above mentioned not funs, Mr. Destructo was scheduled to travel to Montreal.  You know like Canada.  Like far far away Canada.  He was due to leave Wednesday before the sun was up.  Which meant I had exactly two days of him being home, two days of him working nights, and then he was gone.  I had to recover fast.  But wait... there's more.  Sunday morning when Ollie woke to nurse I noticed he was sneezing and coughing just a bit.  He woke up with a 100 degree temp.  But then he never got worse.  But Destructo did.  He woke up Monday morning with a 103 degree temp, saying everything hurt but especially his belly, and very stuffed up.  You got it.  Both boys also had the flu.

We took them into the pediatrician to try to get tamiflu.  They wouldn't prescribe it to me since I was nursing Ollie which was silly since they prescribed it for Ollie.  But when we went to pick it up it was going to be 400 dollars since we haven't hit our deductible yet.  Needless to say I am so glad we didn't shell out that kind of money.  Both boys bounced back in two days time.  Ollie never got more than super mild cold symptoms and a bit fussy.  Destructo was pretty sick but within three days was completely recovered except for a nasty cough that just went away recently.  The more I read about tamiflu, the more I decided it's side effects make it not worth the benefits.  

So what did we do to recover as quickly as we did?  Well first off we all took elderberry syrup every day and once we got sick three times a day.  I make my own from  one cinnamon stick, 1/2 cup of dried elderberries, and a cup of raw honey.  All of which can be ordered off Amazon by using the links above if you like.  (affiliate links).  I found the recipe I use here.

Source

Another thing you can order off Amazon that I think helped immensely is Boiron Oscillococcinum .  You take these little sweet pellets three times a day and they help ease flu like symptoms.  They work well.  Very well.

Finally the other standard advice to rest, drink plenty of fluids, take Tylenol and Advil as needed, etc etc etc also applies.  

This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!

Top Posts of 2014 and All Time

The top posts of 2014 were fitting.  They were pretty much all review/giveaway posts which garnered the most attention.   And Oliver's birth story.  This was fairly expected though since life has been crazy cakes since Ollie was born and the blog has taken a back seat to the craziness.  I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope your 2015 is happy, healthy, and wonderful.  Thanks to all my wonderful readers for sticking around through yet another year of my rambling.  

In order of most page views:

Favorite Things

Moraki my Moraki a Review

Glow Bug Diaper Review

Buttons Cloth Diaper Review

Lucky Little Ones Giveaway Hop

Spray Pal Review

Rumps Arounds Thirsty Rumps Review

Ollie's Natural Birth Story

A Cloth Diapering Journey

Huge Rock a Bums Giveaway

Here are this blog's all time top posts.  

Great Car Seat Safety Blog Post

Great Toddler Activity Blog Post  (Yeah real original titles.  I actually just found these blog posts on the internet but they were so good they were worth sharing with you guys before I had my blog's Facebook page to share things.)

Top Ten Things I Wish I had Known as a New Breastfeeding Mom  (This is one of my favorite and most truthful posts.)

What Traits make a Spirited Child Spirited ?

The Bare Essentials Baby Registry Checklist  (This post is probably the post that took me the absolute longest of any post ever to write.)

Pro Breastfeeding Post from the Alpha Parent (Again just shared from the internet)

Favorite Things Giveaway

My Mastitis Experience  (I shudder when I remember this time.)

Moraki my Moraki a Review

Check out my Guest Post!