Yum

When Gillian was first born, I thought that her feeding was going to be much easier than Allison Clare's. Gilly latched right on in the delivery room and nursed for an hour and twenty minutes, whereas it had taken Allison Clare about three weeks, with lactation consultants and little plastic aides. Gillian did feed right away, and on a decent schedule, but soon she started choking a lot and would stop breathing for several seconds, to the point where she would turn very blue. For a while, these episodes happened as often as every feeding, and she had to go get a bunch of tests done.

They all turned out fine, and she seems to have learned to coordinate her swallowing and breathing much better these days. She hardly ever chokes, though her feeding is definitely not as untroubled as Allison Clare's was after the first few weeks--Gillian has to stop and re-start many times, and she arches uncomfortably and fusses sometimes while feeding. All of this makes me really grateful when her feedings go well and when she seems contented afterwards. My favorite after-feeding compliment comes when, just after finishing, she licks her lips thoughtfully and smacks them together several times, like a plump little balding gourmand savoring the last notes of a fine wine. How appreciated I feel!