The little guy wailed. He has tried to go to sleep for almost an hour to no avail. Frustrated, he sought the
I nursed him for a few minutes, and then I took a magazine and read. The little guy sensed that I was doing something else when I flipped a page. He turned, looked at the magazine, looked at me, then continued sucking.
After a while, the rhythm of the sucking became slower, and slower, and slower, then stopped altogether. I took a pacifier and quietly replaced my nipple with it.
He shifted. I stroked his head, patted his tiny butt, hoped he would settle back to sleep. No, he didn’t.
He dropped the pacifier. Opened his eyes big, looked at me in the eye for a few seconds, then his eyes started brimming with tears. He wailed as if I have betrayed his trust by taking out my nipple and shoving a pacifier in. The sneaky mom felt a pang of guilt instantly. You couldn’t helped feeling very guilty with that sad innocent tear streaked face looking at you like that.
When I placed the tip of my breast back into his mouth, he didn’t suck at it quickly as he always did. He looked at me with his teary eyes while slowly latching to my breast, then he stopped latching and while looking at me, wailed again. I said sorry a few times, kissed and hugged him, promised that this time I would wait until he let go by himself. Only then he stopped looking at me, started latching and happily nursing while drifting to sleep.
Never underestimate a six-month old baby.
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