Day 58

She did it. Aerin nursed successfully and got an entire nutritional feeding. Thank goodness for lactation consultants - Beth helped so much. We tried using a breast shield and that was all it took. She can latch onto the nipple without the shield, but her mouth is so small that it's very hard work for her to elongate the nipple. As Beth put it, there's no such thing as a preemie-sized breast. The breast shield fixes that problem and she ate like a champ for the entire 30 minutes. She seems to like it better than the bottle, although she slept during most of it. Nursing is so much better than pumping - there's really no comparison. She and I are perfectly at peace during and after nursing.

Aerin has entered a phase where she won't go to sleep unless someone is holding her. I think it's adorable and am always happy to oblige her. She's a big girl now - 3 pounds, 14.66 ounces.