Breastfeeding and Weight Gain Struggles
When Anna went in for her two month check up, my whole opinion on my breastfeeding ability with her changed. I had thought that I was lucky this time around and had a perfect nurser who was getting an ample supply from me. But I was pretty darn wrong. I noticed it when the nurse weighed her. She kept asking me how old Anna was. I thought, nine and a half pounds is not terribly small for a twelve week old, but I knew that it was going to be brought up. And I was right.
Well, if you are members of any of the Facebook groups that I am, you probably know how upset I was about all this. I do not want to get into to much detail but Anna's pediatrician pretty much told me that Anna was extremely underweight. She honestly made it sound like she was malnurished and was just going to need to be hospitalized right away. This lady has no bedside manner, I'm sorry. I will at least do her a favor and not use her name for this post, but wow. We have switched doctors.
After stressing and venting to my FB groups and crying about it and stressing some more, I called my Lactation Consultant. She scheduled an appointment for me to come in that next day. Anna and I went in that morning, right around Anna's feeding. My Lactation Consultant's office is located at the hospital, in their maternity ward so I was able to enjoy a few babies in the nursery on my visit too. :) I nursed Anna for my LC and after observing us, she determined that Anna was in fact getting about half as much breastmilk as she is supposed too. She is somewhat of a lazy eater, halfway through her feeds she will fall asleep (despite my attempts to stimulate her) and only lightly suck. She will stop swallowing milk completely. My LC is not very happy that this was not caught sooner, my milk supply has already adapted to her feeding this way (should have never happened) and thus is way low. I have to supplement her about an ounce of formula each night now.
We discussed our game plan for Anna: She eats every 3 hours in the day, 3 1/2 hours at night. She feeds on both sides, EVERYTIME, and she showed me different ways to stimulate her. I am to switch her as soon as I see that she has fallen into her light sucking stage. I have to pump right after, with their hospital grade pump they have loaned me, and feed two ounces of it to her. If I do not have two ounces, I must supplement with formula.
We went in the next Monday and Anna had gained six ounces over the weekend! My Lactation Consultant and I are so proud of her! She has been tolerating the little bits of formula I have had to give her, alot better than her big brother did. For this, Lon and I are at least grateful. We had to discuss medication options for acid reflux with Alan because of formula issues. Anna has so far had no problems except for the occassional spit up.
Yesterday we went in for our last weight check up with my Lactation Consultant yesterday too. She had once again gained six ounces in three days! So not only is she continuing to grow, which is good, but she is gaining weight at a consistent rate. My LC now feels like there is no reason to keep coming in every few days. We go back in for a weight check with her new pediatrician on October 18. I will meet up with my LC again after that. She said that after we get the okay from her pediatrician, we can slowly start taking formula and bottles away from her. I know that with this new diet plan for her, she will have gained a satisfactory amount of weight! I also feel confident that she will not go back to her old ways of eating, and my LC agrees with me. Yay! Grow Anna grow!
Well, if you are members of any of the Facebook groups that I am, you probably know how upset I was about all this. I do not want to get into to much detail but Anna's pediatrician pretty much told me that Anna was extremely underweight. She honestly made it sound like she was malnurished and was just going to need to be hospitalized right away. This lady has no bedside manner, I'm sorry. I will at least do her a favor and not use her name for this post, but wow. We have switched doctors.
After stressing and venting to my FB groups and crying about it and stressing some more, I called my Lactation Consultant. She scheduled an appointment for me to come in that next day. Anna and I went in that morning, right around Anna's feeding. My Lactation Consultant's office is located at the hospital, in their maternity ward so I was able to enjoy a few babies in the nursery on my visit too. :) I nursed Anna for my LC and after observing us, she determined that Anna was in fact getting about half as much breastmilk as she is supposed too. She is somewhat of a lazy eater, halfway through her feeds she will fall asleep (despite my attempts to stimulate her) and only lightly suck. She will stop swallowing milk completely. My LC is not very happy that this was not caught sooner, my milk supply has already adapted to her feeding this way (should have never happened) and thus is way low. I have to supplement her about an ounce of formula each night now.
We discussed our game plan for Anna: She eats every 3 hours in the day, 3 1/2 hours at night. She feeds on both sides, EVERYTIME, and she showed me different ways to stimulate her. I am to switch her as soon as I see that she has fallen into her light sucking stage. I have to pump right after, with their hospital grade pump they have loaned me, and feed two ounces of it to her. If I do not have two ounces, I must supplement with formula.
We went in the next Monday and Anna had gained six ounces over the weekend! My Lactation Consultant and I are so proud of her! She has been tolerating the little bits of formula I have had to give her, alot better than her big brother did. For this, Lon and I are at least grateful. We had to discuss medication options for acid reflux with Alan because of formula issues. Anna has so far had no problems except for the occassional spit up.
Yesterday we went in for our last weight check up with my Lactation Consultant yesterday too. She had once again gained six ounces in three days! So not only is she continuing to grow, which is good, but she is gaining weight at a consistent rate. My LC now feels like there is no reason to keep coming in every few days. We go back in for a weight check with her new pediatrician on October 18. I will meet up with my LC again after that. She said that after we get the okay from her pediatrician, we can slowly start taking formula and bottles away from her. I know that with this new diet plan for her, she will have gained a satisfactory amount of weight! I also feel confident that she will not go back to her old ways of eating, and my LC agrees with me. Yay! Grow Anna grow!
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