Hi!

I tend to just lurk since my days go by in a blur. I have a 2.5 yr old daughter
and triplet 5 month olds (2 boys, 1 girl). I delivered at 35 weeks and they all
came home w/in a week. All were nursing after a little bit of work and I was
also pumping to have bottles for the baby not nursing. I am feeling really
frustrated and disappointed lately because my dd has not wanted to nurse for
close to a month now (she never seemed too fond of it and always seemed to
prefer bottles b/c they're "faster") and now one of my boys is no longer
interested. I was really surprised that he's now reacting the same way that she
does. When I turn them towards me, they cry/fuss/fight and want NOTHING to do
with nursing. They'll sometimes put their lips to nipple, but then turn away
like, "NO. I can't do it." I honestly think that they'd rather just have a
bottle and be able to look around vs. nurse/face me. I've tried different
positions and my son still nurses at night when he's sleepy, but not during the
day. My other son is in love with nursing and I don't see him stopping anytime
soon.

I'm torn. I feel like I worked so hard to get my supply up to support 3 babies
(although I do/did supplement with formula 2 bottles a day at first b/c of drs
orders and then to alleviate some of the pressure w/pumping) and I'm so upset
that I might be done before I'm ready. I'm thinking of just weaning everyone
and although the thought of not being tied down to a pump makes me happy, I'm
sad about not nursing my babies.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to how I can work with the two who
aren't interested? I'll be honest in that I don't have a lot of time to "work"
with them, but I'm still hoping to find a way to keep all 3, or at least 2
nursing. This doesn't feel like a "nursing strike". It's more severe in their
response to me when I try to nurse them.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Colette

Declan, Keira and Ronin (35 weeks to the day) 1/13/09
Big sister Mckenna (40 weeks to the day) 12/15/06
Surprise baby #5 (a boy) due April 20, 2011

I had a hard time with nursing too. I don't have much advice unfortunately, it was all I could do to keep them nursing to almost six months. One possibility with your son not wanting to nurse is he could be teething. The pressure bothers their gums and they will keep letting go. I got so sore from this b/c my daughter would latch on then let go and cry, then latch on again.
Also if you are really committed to nursing you could keep nursing the one and trying occasionally with the others and eventually if they do become interested you could build your milk supply back up.

I have to say I was not strong enough to do that, I ended up quitting completely. Life got sooooo much easier after I quit though! I started to feel like my old self and was able to go for walks again (I couldn't do much before or my milk supply would be even less). I also got to start drinking coffee again The guilty feeling eventually went away and now I'm just glad I made it as far as I did.

Anyway I'm rambling and probably not helping much, but I understand what you are going through, just wish I had better advice!