Happy 3 week birthday and some firsts

Connor turned 3 weeks on Friday and boy did he ring in his 3rd week of life with a bang. He experienced 2 firsts with complete success.

Since his birth, it's been pretty apparent that Connor was soothed by sucking. Even at just a few days old, he had found his hands and was making pretty feeble attempts at sucking on them. At about 1 week old, Jeff found that he enjoyed sucking on Jeff's finger. Despite our knowledge that Connor was soothed by sucking, Jeff and I had been committed to keeping him off a pacifier until at least 3 weeks or later until we felt nursing was fully established. Apparently, if you start a baby on a pacifier too soon, they get what is called nipple confusion and have trouble going back to the breast, because sucking on a pacifier is so much easier than pulling milk from a breast. (Sorry for the graphic detail).

Anyway, Connor had been having two particularly bad days in a row, but he was eating great, so I thought, heck, it's his 3 week birthday, let's give the pacifier a try.

Well, wouldn't you know it, he LOVED it. Within moments of giving him the pacifier he went from loud crying, to awake and contented, to fast asleep. It was amazing.

Jeff and I are still going to try our best to use the pacifier only when necessary and try other means of soothing first, but just as we had suspected, our little man loves to suck. It's like he's found his happy place, and that makes Mommy and Daddy very happy too.

If taking a pacifier wasn't a big enough milestone, Connor took it a step further and ate from his very first bottle with Daddy serving him. We figured if we are doing the pacifier, we might as well try a bottle feeding too. I had pumped some milk a few times, so we were prepared. We got our first bottle ready and propped Connor on Jeff's lap. Without even a little hesitation, Connor drank from the bottle like a champ.

It was such a precious moment to see Connor and Jeff making eye contact during a feeding. I know I cherish nursing as a great bonding time with Connor and it just made me so happy to give Jeff this same opportunity. We may start having Jeff feed him at least once every night when he gets home from work.

There was also another benefit as well. Momma got to have a beer and a glass of wine. Since I was skipping a feeding, I had my first experience of what is lovingly called the "pump and dump." So my milk supply would stay up I had to pump and since Connor had already been feed, I could dump it out, along with the alcohol. What a treat.

Honestly, the best news about all of this, is that when it came time for me to feed Connor again, he was able to latch on like a champ. No nipple confusion for him. He was a little slow at first, but he got the hang of it and we have had at least 4 successful feedings since. I am very proud of him for adapting to these changes like a trooper. Way to go Connor. Again, I'd say he's brilliant.

Without a pacifier.

With a pacifier. Can you tell the difference?

Daddy feeds Connor for the first time.

So sweet...look at that eye contact.

It's not so bad getting to relax, while Jeff handles the feeding.

A shot looking down on him. He looks pretty happy to me.