This was my first day going out on my own (well, with the baby) since having the baby. I hadn’t driven in nearly a month! It was a bit difficult juggling two bags and a carseat, but I managed.
He’s now up to 9lbs 11oz! Holy Jesus! We were expecting him to be at least 9 lbs, but we had no idea he’d chunked up SO much in the past week and a half! He was 8lbs 4oz the Friday before last. The LC said he’s gaining more than what he should every day, so I can probably cut back on the formula. She recommended that I continue trying to skip the SNS a couple times a day (she recommended night time and early morning feedings) and see how he does.
We tried the pump in her office and I didn’t produce a single drop. It kind of makes me feel better about not using it, although I am somewhat discouraged that when I go back to work, he’ll probably need to be on formula exclusively when I’m not around. I will get to work from home 3 days a week, though technically I am not supposed to be taking care of my child at the same time. I am all for breaking the rules though if I can do it and still get my job done, but I’m not sure how demanding a 3 month + child can be. I can’t imagine it’s more demanding than a newborn, but I don’t think I’d be able to work from home at this point at all.
Now that I’ve braved going out into the world with a baby I might try going to the grocery store or someplace close (like to a drive thru to get lunch) one day soon. As I’m sure is pretty typical with babies, if he’s well fed, driving around in a car seems to put him out like a light!
I meet with the lactation consultant again tomorrow. I think there’s been at least a slight improvement with my supply since starting Reglan on Saturday, though the amount of formula I’ve been giving him hasn’t really gone down too much. I was able to nurse him twice today without any formula at all. Both times he fell asleep after nursing with a little bit of milk dribbling down his cheek, which I take to be a good sign. (Although after the first time, he took 5 ounces of formula over the next 2 hours which is more than usual for him. This time at least he’s been asleep for about an hour.) I’m hopeful that if I can’t cut the formula out completely, I’ll at least have a few feedings a day that don’t require me to get the SNS ready. That would definitely help my spirits and my time constraints. There’s nothing worse in my day than hearing my baby cry in hunger while I get formula ready in the SNS.
Just came back from the LC. He gained 5oz sine Friday. She doesn’t seem to think I have enough milk glands and will never be able to exclusively breastfeed. She lent me a hospital grade pump to use after feedings. I’m trying to put him to each breast and then if he needs it (usually does) supplement with 1oz - 1.5oz of formula. At the LC, she had me feed on both sides and weighed him before and after. She said he was only getting about 0.1 ounce of milk and that I should probably be giving him at least 2oz of formula with each feeding…
She said being on the herbs (fenugreek and blessed thistle) are probably a good idea, but didn’t think that Reglan was going to do anything.
I guess all I can do at this point is nurse nurse nurse to see if my supply corrects itself. I feel very discouraged at the thought of having to supplement with formula from now until he’s weaned or can get an equal amount of nourishment from solids.
Okay, so Kaiser dispatches someone they call a Maternal Childcare Nurse to do a home visit the first day or so after the baby is brought home from the hospital. Thank God the one who came to see me today is a true lactation consultant. (She really respected my “crunchiness” and said I had all the right answers to her questions.)
Basically, my latch was wrong. There were some techniques I wasn’t told about as well. Patti showed me how to do a correct latch and it felt entirely different. She also taught me how to sidelay while nursing in bed.
Elias was 8lbs 8.5oz at birth Monday night. By Tuesday night he was 8lbs 0.5oz (he wouldn’t latch at all for 12 hours overnight and only nursed about 4 times in that entire 24 hours). Today (after about 14 more nursings) he was 7lbs 9.6oz. Patti said she was obligated to recommend I supplement and she never recommends such a thing. She said when I go to Kaiser for my follow up appointment tomorrow, they definitely will tell me to supplement. I expressed my concerns to her and told her I definitely didn’t want to, especially since I wasn’t aware of how to nurse properly until today. She really didn’t think there would be any harm in avoiding supplementation (with an SNS) a little while longer, but she was concerned my milk hadn’t come in yet and said if he loses any more weight, she definitely thinks I should supplement with an SNS for about 3 weeks.
Elias is having no other problems. His skin looks good, his mouth is wet, he doesn’t cry nonstop that he’s hungry, nor does he sleep nonstop; he’s otherwise a perfect baby. I personally think since he was a c-section baby he had a lot more fluid in him (even after several minutes of suctioning) than he would have if he were delivered vaginally which just increased his weight at birth. I obviously do not feel there is any harm in not supplementing at this point considering we didn’t have a good latch until today and as he spent his first day and a half spitting up frequently, I’m pretty sure his weight was elevated at birth. I’ll see what they tell me tomorrow - I’ll bring up my points and my wishes to be reassessed on Monday. I don’t want them to call CPS on me for thinking I’m not reacting to a baby who is “failing to thrive” so if they put up any sort of struggle, I will tell them whatever they want to hear and be reassessed on Monday anyway. If he starts showing some signs other than his weight that there’s any sort of problem, I will SNS supplement, but I doubt it will be for three weeks.
He nursed on one side for about 45 minutes, then we switched to the other for maybe 10 minutes before he popped himself off, refused to get back on and just fell asleep.
I’ll try to feed him all I can tonight and tomorrow before the appointment and see how it goes.
Breastfeeding is going well, I think. He’s not really nursing the “recommended” 2-3 hours, it’s more like 4-5. He nursed within an hour of delivery and took immediately to the breast. I couldn’t get him latched on again for another 12 hours or so. The second day it was sporadic, maybe 3 times all day because he was sleeping a LOT (probably because of the pain medication during labor). That night he nursed almost nonstop. From there on, it’s been pretty normal, I think. After greeting me at 9:30 AM on Tuesday and hearing it’d been about 12 hours since I got Elias to latch, the lactation consultant immediately wanted to know why I hadn’t given him formula. I felt her lack of knowledge and veiled threat simply appalling and was SO upset for the remainder of the day. I hadn’t slept more than 4 hours in the past 4 days and was just nearly inconsolable. Luckily, no one else ever even suggested formula. This will definitely be going in my survey to the hospital. (Other than that, the lactation consultant was VERY helpful and the tricks she taught me definitely made it a lot easier to feed Elias after it clicked with him.)
Recent Comments