Basically when Levi was born (like most newborns) he was tired. He pretty much just wanted to sleep the first 24 hours. He ate, at most, every 6 hours. And he wasn't doing a good job of it when he was eating. He was using non-nutritive sucking, falling asleep at the boob wheel, had a horrible latch (that made me scream more expletives than the narcotic drip could cure) and was taking a freaking long time. Any SLP, lactation consultant or nursing mother could tell you why the above things are bad. I knew things weren't working from the get go. Then, on top of all that, our lovely OB decided he HAD to circumcise Levi when he was less than 24 hours old. I was pissed. I cried and cried because this meant that he would go back into sleeping mode for almost another day. I asked for the snipping to be done the next day but they doctor said he couldn't do it then. So we were back at square one with a nursing baby that had barely eaten in 48 hours. He was losing weight and while it was normal at that point I did NOT want to enter the territory where it was anything other than normal.
Enter the wonderful Lactation Consultants at Presby Dallas. When we first saw them they watched Levi eat and helped me improve his latch. He has such a big head that I can't hold it up in the cradle position while he's feeding. I guess I'm weak... oh well. Anyways, who knew how well I could hold a "football". I should be a running back! Anyways, they were a bit concerned at his lack of interest/unwillingness to eat and so they did a blood sugar test immediately. It was normal. So we started trouble shooting. He had a bad suck which either meant he had oral motor issues (something I for some reason never considered despite my career... it's amazing how you forget things when you are a parent and not the professional) or he was lazy and saw no need to work for what little milk I was producing. The LC looked at his palate and his little mouth (and I did a once over as soon as she left the room) but didn't find any issues. If a palate is extra high it can throw things way out of whack. Next she fed a tube into his mouth while he was latched and let him pull 5mL of water. He immediately started nutritive sucking with a good breathe-suck-swallow pattern. This was great! It meant that he was just lazy.
So what do you do when you have a momma with no milk and a lazy eater? You supplement. People may disagree with this, but the decision was easy for William and I. We wanted our boy to be happy and not hungry. I do understand and believe in all the good qualities of breast milk, but do to our combination of issues we needed to help him out. That being said, we wanted our new plan to be the least invasive as possible to breast feeding. So the new plan involved finger feeding at first. We attached a tiny tube to William's finger that was attached to a bottle of formula. This avoided any nipple confusion and gave my body some time to heal. I think William also was really glad he was involved. He said he was gonna tell all of Levi's dates that he nursed him. He also experienced first hand why my body needed time to heal. As he says "Levi could take paint off a car with his sucking." I also started pumping. Because milk doesn't just make itself.
The new plan worked. We liked it and Levi was gaining weight before we left the hospital. Always a good thing. But before we left we noticed he wasn't as excited about latching on to me during our "practice" sessions as he had been. So daddy's finger got ousted for attaching the tube directly to me during feedings.
And that's he same thing we are still doing. This was supposed to be temporary. As in just a couple of days until my milk came in. But my milk has been slow. For a myriad of reasons I'm sure... I'm a first time mom, he wasn't interested in eating for almost 48 hours and because I faced infertility. Yes, apparently infertility affects you after the baby as well. I mean it only makes sense since its all hormones anyways. It was still a painful reminder of where we came from when the LC brought it up. Anyways, I am not making enough milk to feed Levi. It's definitely getting to be more but it's still not enough.
So where are we now. Currently I pump every 3 hours and get about 35 mL of milk ( a little over an ounce). And then we feed that along with about 50-60mL of formula to Levi through a "straw" at my breast. He still has some latch issues though so we only supplement on one side. This works great. But it's exhausting. Pumping times and eating times don't always line up right so I have to get up extra. And his latch issues sometimes bleed to both sides instead of just being on one side. So we are faced with the tough decision of what to do going forward. I'm not going to abandon breast milk but some part of this process must be simplified. So I'm probably going to stop supplementing at the breast and switch to bottles. It may not seem like a huge difference because we still have to feed him and pump. But physically setting up the supplement system every time and the toll it takes on my body and mind are worth stopping to me. I'm trying to hold out as long as possible though. Because if I could go back to straight breast feeding that would be the simplest option.
I'll update in a week or so with how we are doing. I'm sure I'll have some other opinions when William goes back to work as well.
The new plan worked. We liked it and Levi was gaining weight before we left the hospital. Always a good thing. But before we left we noticed he wasn't as excited about latching on to me during our "practice" sessions as he had been. So daddy's finger got ousted for attaching the tube directly to me during feedings.
And that's he same thing we are still doing. This was supposed to be temporary. As in just a couple of days until my milk came in. But my milk has been slow. For a myriad of reasons I'm sure... I'm a first time mom, he wasn't interested in eating for almost 48 hours and because I faced infertility. Yes, apparently infertility affects you after the baby as well. I mean it only makes sense since its all hormones anyways. It was still a painful reminder of where we came from when the LC brought it up. Anyways, I am not making enough milk to feed Levi. It's definitely getting to be more but it's still not enough.
So where are we now. Currently I pump every 3 hours and get about 35 mL of milk ( a little over an ounce). And then we feed that along with about 50-60mL of formula to Levi through a "straw" at my breast. He still has some latch issues though so we only supplement on one side. This works great. But it's exhausting. Pumping times and eating times don't always line up right so I have to get up extra. And his latch issues sometimes bleed to both sides instead of just being on one side. So we are faced with the tough decision of what to do going forward. I'm not going to abandon breast milk but some part of this process must be simplified. So I'm probably going to stop supplementing at the breast and switch to bottles. It may not seem like a huge difference because we still have to feed him and pump. But physically setting up the supplement system every time and the toll it takes on my body and mind are worth stopping to me. I'm trying to hold out as long as possible though. Because if I could go back to straight breast feeding that would be the simplest option.
I'll update in a week or so with how we are doing. I'm sure I'll have some other opinions when William goes back to work as well.
2 comments:
Peyton - every child is different and what work for one doesn't always work for another. You guys are finding what works best for Levi and your family. Don't worry what anyone else thinks!!
Hang in there, momma! Every ounce of breast milk counts so you are a trooper for giving whatever you can. And believe me, pumping sucks...i can atest to that. He is just precious, congrats!
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