Saturday (5th July) it was time for another smaller social event: Auntie Wendy’s house warming. As we live only a few minutes away from her ow, both kids got plonked in the double buggy and we headed off on foot. Conrad try to form slept through most of the event, unperturbed by being passed around and not taking the slightest bit of notice of his big sister climbing the stairs and running in and out of the house.
Yesterday (Monday 7th July) I took Conrad and Jessica to the Baby Café again, to see the breast feeding advisor. She sat down with me and Conrad straight away in a quiet corner, while Jessica was playing with a shape sorter toy by our feet. The advisor had a look at Conrad’s tongue and said that it looked fine after the ‘snip’, but that he still wasn’t using it the way he should for breastfeeding. Also, she had a second look at his chin, commenting that him pulling it back as far as he does really presents a problem.
As Conrad was coming up to wanting a feed, we had a couple of goes at helping him latch on before he got too hungry and it was time to give him the bottle of expressed milk that I’d brought. So no joy this time either… I just don’t know how to help him and, to be honest, that makes me feel really inadequate. I’m his Mum, so I should be able to guide him to sort this out. The advisor suggested trying nipple shields – it might help Conrad latch on as it would be more like drinking from a teat, which he is fine with. She also suggested seeing a cranial osteopath. There isn’t much scientific proof that what they do works, she said, but some people have found that what they do has made a huge difference.
The three of us joined a circle of breastfeeding mums around a padded area full of toys, and Jessica got stuck in playing alongside the other toddler and older babies, while I fed Conrad. The health visitor responsible for the café together with the advisor offered a mug of tea and then to look after Conrad for a bit while I drank it. As I always worry about hot drinks near wriggly babies I welcomed the suggestion, and Conrad enjoyed ten or so minutes being admired by yet another person.
So another option to try: nipple shields. But it feels a bit like we’re heading into ‘desperate measures’ now, running out of ideas…
Gabriella