Amazing Aimee

Something amazing happened today. Aimee breastfed for the first time. Not just a dabble or a lick - proper full on thirty minutes a go breast feeding just like all the propoganda those leaflets from the NHS show. It's a bloody miracle and I can;t beleive it has actually happened.

It started this morning. Aimee had her feed from the bottle but only finished three quarters. She seemed happy but not sleepy so as Cat began her usual slog of expressing nilk inthe other room, I was playing with Aimee. I noticed after a short time that she began rooting with her mouth. Unusual I thought since even a 3/4 feed would normally stop her from feeling hungry so soon. I placed my finger knuckle close to her mouth and she reached out with her mouth to suckle on it. Blimey, I thought, what if my knuckle were a nipple instead?
I ran over to the other room and made Cat present her nipple. With Aimee held vertically under the arms like a floppy kitten, I put her to the breast....Darn! It worked. Soon she was gulping down milk like a seasoned breastfeeder. You cannot imagine the feeling we had watching this phenomenom when we thought all hope was gone. I nearly cried.

Then, this afternoon we tried again, with semi success, we still needed the bottle to finish her feed. Then, tonight, she protested quite a storm, but after a lot of calming, she eventually took andfed for 40 minutes. Really gulping too. We need to learn the best time to do it. Too early and she is too asleep, too late and by the time she is crying, we need her to calm down. The silicone nipple protector helps too as it fools herinto thinking itis a bottle teat. Other than that, it is persistence I guess that will eventually turn her into a permanent breast feeder.

It is only the beginning and it won't be easy, maybe it will never happen again, but it has given us hope to continue trying her on the breast. This is truly a significant breakthrough and I am only too happy to continue reporting in the next few entries Aimee's progress from bottle, to breast (surely a minor miracle after 3 whole weeks bottle feeding).