独特的罢奶体验A Peculiar Nursing Strike

图｜国际母乳会中国图片库（图文无关）

Shobha Shankarnarayan

Yokohama, Japan日本横滨

From New Beginnings, Vol. 25 No. 5, 2008, p. 26

国际母乳会杂志《新起点》

晓琳 译 Daisy、Eileen审稿

It all began a few days after Tara turned a year old. She had been coughing a little during the week. One evening at the start of a feed she suddenly bit me and I screamed in pain. I‘‘m quite ashamed to say that the next couple of times she bit me I screamed for my husband to come. He then carried and rocked Tara to sleep and she nursed during the night, like she always did. Unfortunately, when she woke up the next morning, she began nursing with biting. Each time I took her off the breast and put her back on, it was only to be bitten again. After a few attempts, she stopped even opening her mouth when brought near my breast. She resisted strongly, turned away, or blew air at my nipple! This went on for the whole day. She would only nurse when she was napping. I was starting to feel sore from all the biting and pulling. By then, Tara‘‘s cough had worsened and she was developing congestion.

一切都从Tara一岁后的几天开始。起初的一周她有点咳嗽。有一天晚上，刚开始喂奶，她突然咬了我，疼得我大叫。很难为情地讲，经受了接下来的几轮啃咬后，我大声尖叫喊来了我丈夫。他抱起Tara并摇晃着哄她睡觉。整个夜晚她像往常一样正常吃奶。可是，当第二天一早醒来，她又开始在吃奶时咬我。每次我把她抱离乳房然后重新准备喂奶时，结果总是被咬。几个回合后，当我让她靠近我的乳房时，她甚至紧闭其口。她强烈地反抗，将头扭到一边，或冲着我的乳头吹气。这种情况持续了一整天。只有在她小睡时才好好吃奶。在一次次的被咬和拉扯后我开始感觉有些恼火。就在那时，Tara咳嗽得更厉害了，并且出现鼻塞迹象。

I went to the temple of knowledge — the Internet — to find some answers, and read that I certainly shouldn‘‘t have screamed when I was bitten. I discovered that babies sometimes bite when they have nasal congestion. We decided to take Tara to the doctor. Her cough got a lot better but the congestion took more than a month to disappear. I got in touch with my LLL Leader and she suggested what I was already doing — getting Tara to nap and then nursing her. She assured me that this was not a typical and complete nursing strike as Tara was still nursing at nights and while asleep.

我上网寻求帮助，得知在遭受啃咬时尖叫是错误的。我发现当宝宝们鼻塞时有时会出现啃咬现象。于是我决定带她去看医生。之后，咳嗽得到明显改善，但鼻塞问题却持续了一个多月才消失。我跟国际母乳会的哺乳辅导取得联系。她建议依照我原有的措施，继续在Tara小睡的时候喂奶。她让我放心，这不是真正意义上的罢奶行为，因为Tara在夜间还正常吃奶。

In an effort to get her to nurse, I would walk with her the whole day, strapped to my front, wear my shirt unbuttoned, and pop my breast in her mouth every time she nodded off to sleep. I kept strict tabs of the number of times she nursed in 24 hours. Meanwhile, I attended an LLL meeting and got more tips on getting Tara to nurse. One was to keep the breast available to Tara.

为了让她吃奶，我尝试着把她绑在胸前，整天走来走去，解开内衣扣，时刻准备着在她昏昏欲睡的时候以闪电的速度把乳房塞到她嘴里。在一天的24小时里，我严格按照时间表掌控喂奶频率。同时，还参加国际母乳会聚会，掌握更多哺喂技巧。时刻为Tara准备好乳房就是我学到的众多技巧之一。

I went back home and tried again, feeling very much like Mother Nature, without my shirt, “au naturel.” Tara continued to bite when she was awake. I was starting to panic, it had been a week since she started her peculiar daytime strike and I was slowly going out of my mind.

从母乳会的聚会回家后，我再次尝试，充分感受自然的力量，没有内衣的束缚，完全裸露皮肤。在清醒时，Tara依然咬我。她开始这种奇特的日间罢工行为已经一周了，我开始恐慌，马上要疯掉了。

I called my LLL Leader every few days and poured out all my troubles in her ear. She kept assuring me that Tara was getting the nutrition she needed from all the nighttime and naptime nursings. She was very supportive and gave me different ideas to try. Another Leader suggested I focus on making nutritious food available to Tara throughout the day. She assured me that this was a phase, that Tara was perhaps asserting her independence, and that things would get back to normal again. My Leaders assured me that since I had nursed Tara for a year already I would have enough milk but, if I wanted, I could pump and express my milk. I was in two minds about pumping to keep my supply up but I quickly gave up that idea.

每隔几天我打电话给我的国际母乳会哺乳辅导，向她倾诉我的种种烦恼。她一直不断重申并使我坚信，Tara已经从每次的夜奶和小睡哺喂中获得了足够的营养。她不断为我提供支持，教给我更多办法让我尝试。另一名哺乳辅导建议我把精力放到如何为Tara制作营养美味的固体食物上。她向我保证，这仅仅是一个阶段性的表现，Tara也许仅仅是在对外宣称自己的独立而已，很快会恢复正常的。既然我已经成功母乳喂养Tara一年了，说明奶量足够，但如果我愿意，可以用吸奶器吸奶维持奶量。起初，我对靠吸奶这种方式维持奶量的说法半信半疑，但后来放弃了这个想法。

My husband and I decided to concentrate on getting Tara to nurse during naps and at nighttime and to keep offering her healthy food during the day. I missed Tara‘‘s nursing more than I imagined was possible and I felt like a total failure. I missed her dimpled smile and her baby talk when she finished nursing to go to crawl and play.

我丈夫和我决定集中精力，在Tara白天小睡和夜晚酣睡的时间段喂奶，白天为她提供健康的固体食物。实际上我想念喂奶的时光远远超出预期，感觉自己是个彻头彻尾的失败者。我思念她喝饱奶后玩耍时挂着酒窝的笑颜和咿呀童语。

One day, almost three weeks after she had started her daytime strike, while taking my friend and her little son out to show them the sights of Tokyo, Tara tested my patience by refusing even the smallest quantity of solid food and by not having a nap. For most of the day, I was a highly emotional sobbing mess. It was way past lunchtime and we settled on a restaurant to have our lunch, where Tara further refused more solids. Out of sheer frustration (and habit), I simply put her to my breast and right there in that restaurant she began nursing. I could not believe it! Later that evening, she nursed while awake. And thus Tara ended her strange daytime nursing strike.

在Tara开始日间罢工的三周后的某一天，我正带着朋友和她的小儿子在东京游览观光，Tara挑战了我的耐心极限。她拒绝进食任何固体食物，而且一副毫无困倦的样子。大半天，我都沉浸在郁郁寡欢的抽泣中不能自拔。午餐时间段已过，我们走进一家餐馆准备享用午餐，Tara依然拒绝进食固体食物。在巨大的挫败感的打击下，我下意识地把她抱到胸前，她就在餐馆里堂而皇之地吃起奶来。简直难以置信！那天晚上，她还是醒着把奶吃完的。至此，Tara结束了她那奇特的日间罢奶行为。

All through the strike, my husband stuck to being the great guy he always is. He kept telling me that Tara would surely resume nursing. He would carry her until she fell asleep and then I would rush to the bed to nurse her. We had synchronized that process almost perfectly. My family kept advising me not to worry excessively about Tara‘‘s eating as congestion does affect children‘‘s appetite. My in-laws were very supportive, too, and conducted special prayers for Tara to resume nursing.

回望这段日子，我的丈夫依然保持着他一贯的好男人本色。他一直对我说，Tara一定会恢复正常的。他总是抱着她哄她入睡，这时我则冲到床上抓紧时机喂奶。我们步调一致，配合默契。我的家庭劝慰我不要过度焦虑，因为鼻塞确实会对孩子们的食欲产生影响。我丈夫这边的亲友们也给了我莫大的支持，还安排了专人为Tara祈祷。

For mothers who face nursing strikes, I hope my story will help you be patient and not give up. Some helpful tips I received were:

经历同样状况的妈妈们，希望我的故事能帮助你们学会忍耐和坚持。以下技巧有助于您克服困难：

• Try to nurse your baby when she is about to wake — she might remember how wonderful nursing is if she wakes up while nursing.
• 在宝宝即将醒来时喂奶。这也许能唤起她醒着吃奶时的美妙感觉。

• Try to nurse your baby while she is asleep — she might nurse, out of habit, meeting her nutritional needs.
• 在宝宝睡着时喂奶。出于本能，她也许会吃奶以满足身体的营养需求。

• Keep your baby close to you. The moment she expresses an interest in nursing, you will be able to offer her your milk.
• 让宝宝靠近你，不离左右。当宝宝表现出对吃奶的兴趣时，你就能顺其自然开始喂奶了。

• Try some games, like nursing her toys and telling her that her toys are very happy nursing.
• 通过游戏的方式。比如给她的玩偶喂奶并且告诉她玩偶的幸福感觉。

• Wear clothing that will allow your baby easy access to your breasts or wear your baby skin-to-skin.
• 穿方便随时哺乳的衣服，让宝宝随时能找到乳房；或用背巾等辅助用品把宝宝挂在身上，帮助你们获得肌肤相亲的亲密接触。

• Bathing together might relax your baby to such an extent that she might resume nursing.
• 与宝宝共浴也许能使宝宝放松，使其重回正常吃奶的节奏。

• Try to remain calm.
• ·保持镇静。