9 Months Old: It Feels Like We Have Arrived

So much has happened with Declan over the past few months.  And apparently there was a lot going on with me and I haven't had time to update my blog and tell the world.  Declan started crawling at 7 1/2 months, and days after, started pulling up and cruising too.  It all happened so fast!  Maybe that's why I'm busier...hmmm...

Teeth Update
He has had 2 bottom teeth for a while now (I may have already blogged about that?) and he's just started working on his two uppers.  The gums have been swollen for a day or two and I just noticed before I put him down for his nap how red one of them is.  He is still all smiles though.  Teething has never been hard for him.  I blamed a lot of his extra fussy times on teething and we often gave him Tylenol when he probably didn't need it.  "Teething" has never disrupted his sleep, thank God.  I like to think that it's because he's rested and we've trained him well how to sleep.  I'll get to that later though... you know I will.

Talking
He vocalizes a lot, saying "ma ma ma ma" and "ga ga" and more recently loud squawking.  Still working on "da da."

Personality
His sense of humor is coming out.  He likes to make us laugh with his funny faces and playing, "Nighttime, Daytime!" and "Where's the Baby?"  He gives me hugs a lot, and sometimes open-mouthed kisses on the cheek.  He's stingy with hugs when it comes to other people, though.  I think the only other people he has shared them with are Ryan and Aunt Ruthie.



Feeding
The past two weeks I have relaxed a lot on what I give him to eat.  I was following the 4 day rule: introduce a new food and wait 4 days before introducing another one in order to check for allergies.  Thankfully, we haven't had any allergic reactions despite my sudden lack of carefulness.  I am still not giving him any nuts, honey, and we're avoiding eggs, although he does get it in breads and probably other things I don't think about.  I'll ban those until he's a year old.  Anyway, so he's pretty much eating miniature versions of what we're eating.  I'm trying to give him lots of practice with self-feeding.  It's kinda tough though because of the mess (c:  Oh well.

I am still nursing him 4-5 times a day.  He's become very difficult to nurse and doesn't seem interested most of the time.  It started out as him stopping to give me a hug or smile at me.  Then it went to stopping to make a funny face or trying to get into a crawling position while still nursing.  At the back of my mind I wondered if I should discourage these interruptions, but we were both enjoying them and laughing so much that it became one of our favorite parts of the day.  I asked other moms what they thought and nobody seemed to think I should stop him, so I let it go on.  Now, he's wanting to switch so frequently or crawl off and play, then get upset when I assume he's done, that it's become a hassle.  I've started to think that maybe he's not getting enough.  I would be more worried, but I was planning on weaning him at 1  year.  I know they don't often wean themselves before 1 year, but it wouldn't be hard to head that direction if I wanted to.  We'll keep trying for 3 more months though.  Any thoughts on this?

Acid Reflux and Chiropractic Treatment
I'm so happy to report that his reflux has not made a comeback at all.  There were a couple of days in which he was extra fussy and spitty.  I still don't know what that was about - could have been a relapse.  I was very grumpy and got depressed during that time, not knowing what to do next if the reflux was back.  Thankfully it only lasted a couple of days.  Maybe it was something he ate, maybe he was overtired, maybe we'll just blame it on the mysterious "catch all" - teething.  He had more vertebral sublaxation than normal at his previous visit 10 days ago, but he had fewer at his appointment this morning.  Dr. Adams said it was probably due to his pulling up and plopping on his bottom that was throwing his spine out of whack more than normal.  Anyway, it was a good report today, and I have a happy baby to go along with it so... yay!  We go again in 2 weeks.

SLEEP!
And now, my update on  his sleep.  I save the best for last (c:  It has taken a long time for us to get over the overtired hump.  It's a crazy uphill battle, but we're there, finally.  More often than not, Declan takes two 1 - 1.5 hour naps a day, and he's now sleeping 12-13 hours a night.  Last night he went to bed at 6:30pm, woke up around 5am to eat, and went back to bed until I woke him at 7:45 (not sure how much longer he would have slept).  I am pretty sure that's a new record for him.

After all of the frustration and going back and forth, what ended up being the best things for us was:

• The Nap Hour - leaving him to sleep, cry, or play for an hour at naptime no matter what - no exceptions.  Naptime is at 9am and 1pm (biological sleep windows for most babies age 4-8 months).
• Inadvertently teaching him to self-soothe.  I was still rocking him to sleep a couple of weeks ago when he started to squirm and fuss in my arms every time I started rocking.  This got frustrating for me so I just started to put him in his crib when this happened.  To my surprise, he'd go to sleep minutes after I left the room.  So I started to skip the rocking and just put him in his bed.  He usually cries for a few minutes and goes to sleep.  I saw an improvement in both the length of his naps and his nighttime sleep once I did this.
• Choosing an appropriately early bedtime - His sweet spot is between 6:15 and 6:30.  It's not too early or too late.  The night goes smoothly and I usually have to wake him the following morning to maintain our schedule.  

Starting tonight, we're going to work on sleeping through the night.  He's still taking one feeding, but it's moving later and later most nights.  And he's skipped it a few times, so I think he just needs a little nudge to get him sleeping 12-13 hours straight.  I'd let him sleep longer but I think we're already pushing the limitations of his diaper... (c;

Declan's Chiropractor Visit #2

Just got back from Declan's second visit with Dr. Adams.  He adjusted him again and talked to me about what the last couple of days have been like.  He also looked at the 66 pictures I brought him on a thumb drive at his request.

First of all, the past couple of days have been surprisingly normal.  The reason it's surprising is because Declan has not had any Prevacid since Monday morning.  The last time that we took him off of his medicine was after my 4 weeks of dairy elimination (around Thanksgiving).  After he missed his 2nd dose (less than 24 hours), he had a very rough night.  He was gagging and gushing during his feeding that evening, and then he was up every 2 or 3 hours.  I can just assume it was heartburn.  The next day we put him back on it and went on as normal, so I know he was still experiencing symptoms at that point.  So, the decision to take him off of it after Monday's appointment was a cautiously optimistic one. 

Declan recently started sleeping 12-13 hours at night (before we took him off of the Prevacid).  I was a little worried this progress would be damaged if we took him off, but he's maintaining it.  (phew!)  That is the "big one" in terms of indications that his first adjustment helped something.  He's also spitting and spewing less (although it's not completely eliminated).  So, he's either finally outgrowing his acid reflux this week or the adjustments are helping (c:


While looking at Declan's pictures, Dr. Adams said that Declan definitely had birth trauma.  I wasn't expecting to hear that.  When I was picking out the pictures, I looked closely but I didn't think I saw any strong trend of a tilted head.  These are a few that he pointed out in particular:

Turned to the left

Turned to the left

Turned to the left

Turned to the right but slight tilt to the left

He said this was one of the most telling pictures because he's holding his own head, camera is dead center in front of him, and there's still a tilt to the left.

Tilt to the left

Slight turn to the left

Tilt to the left

Turned to the right but tilted to the left

He said that Declan definitely had birth trauma, but it isn't so obvious in more recent pictures because he has gained neck strength.  He said we still might notice it when Declan starts to get tired. 

Now Dr. Adams wants us to have 3 more appointments over the next month and he'll re-examine, but he feels like Declan will be reflux free by then.  He said some kids do take longer but he doesn't think that will be Declan based on the progress we've already seen.

I am playing devil's advocate in my head, just because I don't like to be a sucker.  And because Ryan is a little skeptical of my whole "Chiropractors are Magical" theory.  Declan very well could be outgrowing his reflux on his own (most babies do it by 12-18 months old).  Financially, is it the right decision to go on with adjustments?  After 3 more appointments, we'll have spent $250.  Declan's Prevacid is almost $60 a month.  If he's going to deal with reflux til he's a year old and need the Prevacid, we'll come out even by treating it now.  If he's outgrowing it on his own at almost 8 months old, then we're "wasting" our money. 

I like to think of the unknown things we may be treating, though, by correcting his vertebral sublaxation.  A healthy spinal column enables the body to heal itself, and also allows for optimal immunity.  I don't know if it's a proper way to look at it, but I think adjustments are kind of like a tune-up?  It's preventative maintenance, too.  That is hard to put a price on since we don't know what the future holds.  Financial isn't the only angle to consider, but unfortunately it's a big factor.  It has to make sense to Ryan.

Would love to hear arguments either way if you've got an opinion.

Declan's First Visit to the Chiropractor

I took Declan to his first appointment with Dr. Adams, a local chiropractor who also has a degree in Pediatrics, this morning.  I got a lot of encouragement from my friends for looking into alternate treatment for him.  Some people were confused.  I think that, despite how awesome and practical the work that chiropractors do, it is really, really misunderstood.  Somebody needs to promote them.  I'm doing my part!

The reason I am having Declan see a chiropractor is mostly for treatment of his acid reflux, but I also know that keeping his spine in alignment will "fix" or prevent other problems that we may never even know about.  The list of ailments that preventing vertebral sublaxation can prevent is extensive.  Common things that you might take your child (or yourself) to the doctor for, like ear infections, unexplained crying, growing pains, poor concentration, allergic reactions, digestive problems, etc. are very successfully treated by a chiropractor.  I learned a new term today... (did you see me use it in a sentence? (c;)

vertebral sublaxation

"A lesion or dysfunction in a joint or motion segment in which alignment, movement integrity and/or physiological function are altered, although contact between joint surfaces remains intact. It is essentially a functional entity, which may influence biomechanical and neural integrity."

Thanks, Wikipedia.

So I learned a lot.  I wish I had taken notes!  He asked me a lot of questions, then examined him with a thermo-sensor thingie.  Declan wiggled too much to get a good shot, but he got a good look at his neck vertebra and could see some sublaxation there, including a big bad one up by his head.  He adjusted him.  Declan cried a little on the first adjustment.  Dr. Adams said it wasn't supposed to hurt, but it must have been a pretty sore spot. 

He showed me on a model how Declan's esophagus might be being squeezed when his head is turned to one side.  That explains why Declan prefers nursing from one side as opposed to the other.  He also held him upside down by his feet (!!!) and then let go of one leg.  He said he was checking to see if Declan's head would turn the opposite way.  He tested both legs and it only worked on one side.  So there must have been something else out. 

He also told me that the Prevacid that Declan is on (which neutralizes the stomach acid) might be causing more harm than good.  I told him about how sometimes Declan was still spitting up when it was time for his next feeding, sometimes 3 or 4 hours after his last meal.  This confused me a lot because I know that babies' stomachs should be empty 2 hours after their last meal, especially with breast milk (it is very quickly and easily digested).  The Prevacid might actually be causing that problem because it is inhibiting the acid from digesting the food.  (A while back our pediatrician wanted to put Declan on a medicine that would speed digestion.  I didn't do it because I read on the Internet that it was a dangerous medicine.  Black-labeled by the FDA!).  So he would have been on 2 medicines and one of them would just be to "fix" the problem that the other one was causing!

Dr. Adams could not tell me to take Declan off of the Prevacid, but he did say that it might be hard to tell if the adjustments were working if his symptoms were masked.  It's my goal to get him off of the medicine, anyway, so I'm going for it! 

Before our visit was over, he had the receptionist take a picture of him and Declan.  This is cute and sentimental and all, but he also does it to track visual progress of his patients.  He actually asked me to bring in 50-100 pictures of Declan from birth to present in order to examine trends in his posture and how he holds his head.  He said he might be able to decipher if his sublaxation is a result of birth trauma.  So I have a fun project ahead for Thursday!  Dr. Adams also had me bring in Declan's carseat and he showed me some problem areas on it and told me what I can do to make it better for Declan's spine.  Awesome!

After the adjustments, the doctor said it's not uncommon for babies to take a 4-5 hour nap, or have a big diaper, haha.  Well, he just woke up from his 45 minute nap, so much for that.  Anyway, we have a follow-up on Thursday and he might get examined and adjusted again.  I should add that the examinations and consultation on kids is free, so if you're in the area and are curious about seeing if your child might benefit from a chiropractor (I tend to believe it's great for overall wellness, not just for treating problems), it couldn't hurt to check it out!  The adjustment cost was $50.  Financially, it was an easy decision for us (his Prevacid costs $60 a month!).  A small price to pay for my son's health, especially when it's medicine-free (no negative side affects!), and it allows for his body to heal itself.  I'll be making appointments for Ryan and I, too (c:

OMG, we have a REAL baby!

I don't know if this happens to all new moms, but lately the fact that we have a real live baby, and yes we are really living this life, hits me like cold water to the face.  He does all of these famous baby things, like sitting up, shaking rattles, smiling and babbling, grabbing my face, hugging/kissing, etc.  He's starting to show preferences and opinion.  Sometimes he doesn't want to play in his jumper, he'd rather roll around on the floor.  And sometimes he wants be held and bounced.  Sometimes he is thrilled to be kissed on, and other times he just wants that object 6 inches out of reach and could care less about me. 

All of these things make him more and more of a real person to me.  Our relationship is awakening by leaps and bounds this month.  As Gail put it, my heart is "tied to his."  I miss him when he goes down for the night and it will be hours before I see him again (I don't miss him much during his 30 minute daytime naps...).  I love seeing him hold a toy close to his face, analyzing and calculating.  Then just a second later, wave his arms wildly and suddenly topple sideways. 

Despite the many times he's given me hope of his naps lengthening, he still takes only 30 minute naps for the most part.  He usually wakes up smiling, so I am assuming he's getting enough rest.  So it may be til he's 12-18 months til he starts taking long ones.  I'm finally beginning to accept it and realize that the occasional 2 hour nap does not indicate the breaking of a new normal.  Sheesh.

Nighttime sleep is mostly good.  We have improvements to make, and we've started using that darned ol' sleep training to get there.  After cereal, a bath, and one last feeding, he is either zonked and I can put him in his crib immediately or I rock him for a few minutes first.  We shoot for between 7:00 and 7:30 bedtime.  He goes down really easy, and life would be a dream, but 45 minutes later he winds up.  Ryan would go in there and burp him and calm him down for a second, and then we'd let him cry himself back to sleep.  It is tortuous.  The first night was an hour and a half, with Ryan going in there periodically to turn him over, rewrap him, and give him back his pacifier.  The second night we were encouraged when he cried only 45 minutes.  The third night, he cried for 6 minutes.  Fourth night, for 2 minutes.  We thought we were home free on the 5th night, but he cried for an hour and a half again.  We realized I had forgotten to give him his acid reflux medicine, so we got him up and let him stay up so we could wait the allotted amount of time and then feed him one more time and put him back to sleep.  That was last week.

This week I'm working on being  ALOT more consistent.  I'm taking Weissbluth's advice finally (he has always been right for us, I don't know why I try to experiment a bunch before realizing this again and again).  After 4 months, babies can start adjusting their sleep rhythms to a clock schedule (before 4 months, its best just to watch and respond to their drowsy signals--but have a set bedtime always!)  The past 3 days, Declan wakes between 6:15 and 7:30 (I'm bad, I should be waking him up at 7!), he takes his first nap at 9-9:30am, then 11-11:30am, 1:30-2:00pm, then 4-4:30pm.  And of course bedtime is 7-7:30.  Sometimes I'm tempted to put him down early if he's being a grump, or keep him up if he seems more wakeful, but I am curious to see how a fairly rigid schedule works for him since we've never tried it very consistently so I'm standing firm!  Hopefully between that and the sleep training, he'll stay down after bedtime until his feeding around 2:30am.  And okay, a small part of me still hopes his naps will suddenly grow longer with routine...

I've changed up his feeding routine, too.  I was totally over-zealous with the solid foods thing.  He keeps them down so well and enjoys the cereal so much (plus the whole novelty of it) that I jumped ahead and gave him 2 feedings a day as cereal when you're supposed to start out with one.  I justified it because we started solids kinda late -- at almost 5 months.  I didn't really tie it together because it was gradual - his feedings grew shorter and fussier, but oddly, he wanted to eat more often (I still don't really understand that).  So last week I stopped giving him his mid-morning cereal and just kept the evening feeding.  Within a day, his nursing sessions were more prolonged and relaxed.  His "I'm hungry" and "I'm full" signals are not ambiguous anymore since instead of fussing 30 seconds into the feeding, he will nurse good and then stop, smile, and if I offer him more he will either do so or push away.  So I'm super happy with that.

He's still dealing with the reflux.  Last week I reached 4 weeks of dairy elimination and took him off of the Prevacid to see if things had improved.  After being off of the medicine for a day, the symptoms came rushing back and it was clear that dairy was not the culprit.  I am changing pediatricians, so maybe we'll get some fresh ideas and a GI specialist referral.  Our other pediatrician is an excellent and qualified doctor, it's just that he makes me feel stupid.  He's kinda snippy.  When I felt the Zantac was not working for us, I asked him about what I should do.  He just said, "Take him off of it."  And I was like... well, what about the reflux?  I felt like I was having to drag information out of him.  Anyway, I've always kind of thought that, and that last experience was just enough to make me think we might do better with another doctor.

Doing better all the time, for the most part.  Gotta go make some supper.  Another day gone, but it was a productive one (c:

Eat, Play, {Pray}, Love

Declan is working on his first full day on Prevacid.  His balking at the breast has lessened lately with the use of the shield, so I'm hoping the medicine will help his gagging and spit up, although it's not really supposed to lessen the spit up (shame... my washing machine could use a small vacation).  This morning I found a list of symptoms associated with infant acid reflux on BabyCenter.com.  I was wide-eyed.  Declan has all but two of these symptoms.  Had I found this before, may I have been convinced that it was acid reflux, the very first diagnosis we received?

• Spitting up – common among most babies, spitting up does not always warrant a reflux diagnosis or require medication.  Your baby’s doctor will consider spitting up along with other symptoms when making a reflux diagnosis and determining if meds are needed for pain management.
• Gagging and choking - during feeds or after
• Vomiting – large amounts of spit-up or projectile in nature
• Frequent or wet hiccups – while many babies get hiccups, it’s especially common in refluxers to have frequent and long-lasting hiccups; “wet” hiccups can be an indication of silent reflux
• Abdominal pain – indicated by arching back, either during or after feeds or both
• Bad breath – can occur any time of day but is often most apparent after waking from sleep
• Poor sleep – inability to sleep soundly, frequent waking, and/or crying in sleep
• Over or under eating – while most refluxers will under eat to avoid pain associated with feedings, many will comfort eat to soothe themselves
• Unexplainable, inconsolable crying and/or fussy temperament – especially during or after feeding, while burping or hiccupping, and/or while arching their backs
• Feeding aversions or refusals – usually related to bottle or breast due to the associating pain with feeding, although is not solely limited to formula or breast feedings
• Swallowing or gulping – after a feeding or burping
• Chronic cough – after a feeding or burps
• Chronic congestion – rattling in the nasal passage or chest that does not appear to be related to illness and that doesn’t seem to clear up over time
• Hoarse voice – especially when not related to illness
• Gurgling sounds – during or after feeding
• Back arching – especially during and after feeding
• Apnea – trouble catching a breath or stops breathing
• Wheezing – especially when not accompanied by illness
• Clawing at breast or bottle or pulling off the nipple
• Sandifer’s Syndrome – twitching, grimacing, arching, stiffening, and seizure-like symptoms
• Poor weight gain or Failure To Thrive (FTT)

I would say many of the symptoms have not yet been taken care of with the Prevacid, but one very important one has.  SLEEP!  I don't know if it was a coincidence or the medicine helping to keep the heartburn from waking him, but he took a long morning nap.  Unfortunately, the apartment below us is being gutted this week so the noise ended up waking him after about an hour and a half.  I am looking forward to days ahead as my sweet boy suffers less and less.  I've only had heartburn a handful of times, but it was NOT fun!  And that Sandifer's Syndrome - I didn't know it had a name - that was killer to me.  It really felt like he was having a seizure as I was rocking him to sleep one night.

Some things that are strange:  everyone tells you to keep an acid reflux baby upright as much as possible.  During feedings, for at least 20 minutes after feedings, elevate the head of the crib, changing table, etc. so that he isn't flat on his back too much.  I have noticed that this helps his spitting up issues ZERO.  He can be sitting completely still and calm after a feeding.  I'll talk to him or let him play with my hand or we'll watch TV - whatever to keep him calm and still for as long as possible after his feeding.  Most times, that regurgitation comes right up no matter what.  No doubt he would spill his guts if we bounced him and spun him around like we only dare to do right before a feeding, but still, it doesn't help as much as you'd think.  So, if you've got a reflux baby and you've experienced this, know that you're not alone!

Another strange thing is that he seems to spit up less when I feed him a lot.  Like when I have given him a bottle.  I have read about other moms of 4 month olds feeding their babies about 4-5 ounces.  My kid doesn't stop til 6 or 7 ounces, and even then it's just sometimes that's because the bottle's empty.  The overfeeding may make his heartburn worse (haven't concluded this yet) like what happens when I myself eat too much, but for some odd reason, my husband and I agree: he doesn't spit up on a very full belly.

I am optimistic and relieved!  This beautiful, cool, drizzly day plus cup of coffe + chai frappe have me feeling good.  And Declan's taking another lengthy nap.  So glad he is sleeping better!  Must mean he's feeling good, too.

The Great Eating Mystery

Okay, lots of you know that Declan has been having eating problems.  Yes, you probably thought we had it figured out, too.  Well it came back... again.  We are going to see a lactation consultant in the morning, and I will also be seeking out a chiropractor tomorrow. Anyway, my purpose in writing this is primarily to share our journey in hopes that it can help someone else - because I KNOW we will get through this - and secondarily, to seek help!

His main symptoms  center around feedings.  At most feedings (during the day, sometimes at night) he will latch on when I try to breastfeed him.  On a "good" feeding he will eat for 5 minutes, but usually just a few seconds to 1 minute.  He will repeatedly latch on and pull off several times, seems to get less and less patient each time.  Sometimes he will be fussy or even furious, and then other times he will just look around and coo and even smile at me.  Between feedings he is his happy, normal self.  His daytime naps have not been affected too much, but his nighttime sleep has been broken up.  He will usually wake 1-2 times in the night, and I have taken to feeding him then because they have become the only time he actually will take a full feeding.

This behavior began when he was 3 months and 4 days old.  After 10 days of dealing with it, I took him to a doctor (not his normal one) who diagnosed him with acid reflux and prescribed Zantac.  The medicine took up to a week to work.  On the 7th day of taking the medicine, he had a perfect eating day and I thought it was solved with the Zantac.  The next day, everything went back to bad, and he had additionally developed the habit of waking 5-6 times a night.  I got him an appointment with his regular doctor who told me to take him off of the Zantac, which I did.

When Declan was 4 months and 5 days old, I randomly tried the breast shield that we sometimes used (we had started using it a lot less since he was pretty weaned off of it - I just kept it around in case).  He ate perfectly, and continued to do so for the rest of his feedings that evening with the help of the shield.  The next day went well too, with only a couple of minor problems.  Now the problem is back in full force.

So here's the long list of my theories and the supporting facts for them.  However, I can't seem to settle on one because of the contradicting facts that also exist.  I realize that I probably just don't know enough about some of them and perhaps what I consider to be "contradictory" is in fact a support.  Do you know?  Should I be considering another theory?  Can I rule out a theory?  Please enlighten me!


Theory:  Nipple Confusion
  Supporting facts:

• eats fine from a bottle
• we used a pacifier early (I can't remember how early, but before 6 weeks for sure), and some bottles too because we had to supplement with formula at the beginning
• will sometimes do better with the breast shield
• the weekend before the problem began, we took a road trip and he received 3 feedings in a row from a bottle, and the next day another bottle.

Contradictory facts:

•  will often nurse fine for 1-5 minutes and then pull off - it sure doesn't seem like he's forgotten how to eat!
• he went weeks without a bottle (although we did still use a pacifier) and it did not solve anything.

Theory:  Has he become more efficient and doesn't need the long feedings anymore? 
  Supporting facts:

• his wet and dirty diaper count have not changed during this whole ordeal
• he spits up a lot... more than he used to
• he will often seem content and look around after nursing less than 5 minutes
• he is normal and happy between feedings
• he appears to be gaining weight within the acceptable range

Contradictory facts:

• he acts hungry shortly after I've tried and tried to feed him and he has convinced me that he's not interested
• I can hear his stomach growling
• he sucks on his fists and cries angrily - which I think means he's hungry?
• is it really possible or normal for him to go from five to six 25 minute feedings a day to six to seven 1-5 minute ones overnight?

Theory:  Food allergy
  Supporting facts:

• several experienced ladies have suggested this to me, though I don't know much about it
• I do eat a lot of dairy, eggs, nuts - those things that often cause allergies
• many of his dirty diapers are green and gooey, which could indicate a dairy allergy

Contradictory facts:

• his behavior seems feeding-centric - he does not seem irritable between feedings
• he will take a bottle of my pumped milk with no resistance

Theory:  Bad milk taste?
  Supporting facts:

• hormonal changes like resuming "Tom" or *sigh* another pregnancy can change the taste of breast milk.  It's still a mystery to me if either of these are to blame, and I am too scared to take a test so I comfort myself with the contradictory facts
• upon just observation of his behavior when feeding, he sure seems to just really dislike the taste

Contradictory facts:

• a change in the taste of milk usually only causes a nursing strike for a day or two, whereas this has lasted over a month now
• after a month of this nursing strike, "Tom" is not around... and I am on BC thank you!

Theory:  Low milk supply
  Supporting facts:

• the problem is usually nonexistent in the middle of the night when I'm "full"
• he seems to get more frustrated when he has eaten a minute or two, could because he is having to work for it more

Contradictory facts:

• on a 2 or 3 occasions, he has refused to nurse even when I am "full"