Joseph Nurses

Today was Joseph's baptismal day and in the shadow of the great gift of sanctifying grace in his soul, I am joyfully basking in the gift of having a successfully nursing baby!

Joseph had his tongue tie corrected on Thursday afternoon. After that, he needed only two more bottles. I had every expectation that this transition to exclusive nursing would take weeks and maybe a couple of months. I began doing as many "intake weighs" as I could, during which I'd weigh him on the intake scale, nurse him, and weigh him again to see if he needed any supplementation by bottle. Suddenly on Friday he was nursing so much better, transfering at least an ounce and a half each time!

Friday into Saturday marked an unexpected milestone of his first overnight without any bottles at all! Preparing and warming bottles in the night is so tiring--it is not something I'd ever want to choose.

I went into Saturday feeling very startled and cautiously hopeful about this rapid improvement. I watched Joseph nurse all day, waiting for when he'd need a bottle, and he never did.

Sunday morning marked 36 hours without a single bottle--when he had been consistently taking two thirds or more of his calories from bottles. When I weighed him today--the day of his upcoming baptism--he had reached eight pounds.

He had gained two ounces in the prior 24 hours of nursing alone. All week he'd been gaining one ounce per day, so gaining two ounces without bottles was like he was just showing off.

I shed tears of joy. I think that most of this challenging one-month journey is behind us now! All that remains is to ensure he is a strong-enough nurser to maintain my supply on his own.

Thank you to my friends for all your encouragement and prayers! Thank you to those who let me break down and cry to you. Thank you to the professionals who helped us! Thank you to my husband for unfailing support and his stance that my helping Joseph learn to nurse was of top priority for our entire family, even if that meant (many) other things had to be neglected. Thank you to Our Lady of La Leche!