Oh, life with a newborn leaves little time for anything other than life with a newborn.
My online time has been mostly via the Kindle Fire. I’ve found Facebook works pretty well on it. Blog reading seems more onerous. So, I’m re-connecting with all sorts of people who don’t blog. Good timing, too, since one person announced a pregnancy. And I feel a bit bad that I don’t FB more often since plenty of those people stay on top of my life, but I don’t know squat about their daily doings. For now, at least, you may find my name attached to the list of those who “like” your posts.
There are 150 pictures on my camera. Right now I’m nursing a baby and typing left handed, so that’s where they’re staying.
Little George was tongue-tied, but the doc got us in that afternoon and clipped him. It did help tremendously with nursing, but hasn’t completely solved the problem. Currently, he’s getting 9 oz daily via a bottle (formula or pumped milk), and he’s barely gaining the minimum 1/2 oz per day and he’s hungry all.the.time. I went to see a lactation consultant and felt she wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. I tried to get her advice on how to get from where I am now (9 oz supplement daily) to where I want to be (no supplement daily), and she really didn’t have much to say about how to go about that. Should I weigh him every day? Every 3 days? No real answer. How much should he gain in how many days for me to reduce the supplement by how much? Nothing.
So, I plan to weigh him every 4 days. He needs to gain at least 2 oz. Less than that and I up the supplement. More than that, and I don’t know. I guess it depends on how much more than that.
Bill has been working hard and the house looks great. Today he tackled the garage and you can now walk through it. The weight bench is out there and needs to be assembled, and there is a stack of boxes awaiting the next recycle pick-up, but other than that, the garage is done. And if the garage is done, that means most of the inside is done too. There are pockets of not-done-ness…but not too many. We haven’t hung pictures or curtains, and some areas are not as organized as we’d like. But it’s definitely homey.
That’s all I have time for – the baby is asleep, and I must go to bed too.
Reit This Way 
I wonder if it would be helpful to use a nursing supplementation system? I'm sure you have eager feeders in any case. I hope it all works out sooner than later. You are an expert and I'm sure you know better than anyone.
Did the fenugreek help increase your supply? Weighing him every 4 days sounds like a good idea. Like Barbara suggested, a supplementation system might help, too. Good luck, and I will keep sending prayers your way.
Hang in there with the nursing. My little one just born in March (my fifth) lost weight for the first three weeks – she latched on fine in the hospital, then my milk came in and she couldn't get the latching worked out. We had to re-train her tongue to compress down to nurse – I would attempt nursing, then pump while my husband would hold a tube attached to a syringe filled with either expressed milk or formula and push her tongue down while trying to get her to suck correctly. I also was in and out of the doctor's office because she wasn't gaining. It took us a solid 6 weeks to establish nursing and get her to do it exclusively. I think we turned the corner when we gave her a few ounces after each nursing to fill her up and get the advantage so she wasn't so hungry or frustrated. It took a solid three days of doing that at every feeding to get her full and realizing she needed to work to eat. I would nurse and then pump for 20 minutes so my milk would be ready when she needed it. I also implored St. Giles, St. Gianna, St. Jude, and St. Ann to pray for us and get it to work out since all my others were breast fed.
Although it seems counter-intuitive to supplement, it actually worked in the long run for us. Again, hang in there and keep at it, you will get it.
God bless,
Good to hear from you; you have been and continue to be held in prayers!
I'm so sorry to hear you're having a rough go with nursing again. I wish I could come up with ideas to help you. I third the suppliment system idea. Surely a lactation consultant would have one on hand or you should be able to find it online. There's at least two I'm aware of. http://www.amazon.com/Medela-00901S-Supplemental-Nursing-System/dp/B000NEDGB8 and The less expensive one http://www.amazon.com/Starter-Supplemental-Nursing-System-Bottle/dp/B001G87KYE/ref=pd_sbs_ba_1
The fenugreek helped along with pumping to get my supply up. I used that medela supplemental system to get him re-interested in nursing. That was last week. I thought we were doing fine, but I realize now how fragile my milk supply is right now. I thought his frequent nursing and the fenugreek would be enough to keep the supply up, but he's still so inefficient that I only produced less and less. Today I'm back to using the supplemental system and pumping. Very frustrating!
was just going to recommend the supplemental system *at every feeding* so as to be getting him the calories he needs while simultaneously stimulating yoru supply, as well as pumping after as many feeds as possible (this is “more” stimulatory than just pumping whenever, in case you're doing it at other times too) also double pumping is more stimulatory than single.
has the LC had you do different positions so that he minimizes the work he has to do and can get the deepest latch? as well as have you use the “dancer” hold so that you're supporting the breast more easily for him?
prayers and prayers and hugs and hugs for you! your commitment is a beautiful thing 🙂
STs Perpetua and Felicitas pray for us!
Our Lady of La Leche Pray for us!
and one day i'll figure out how to make this work with MY NAME
Michelle,
Congrats! Can I bring you a meal sometime in the next week?
Lina, I really think getting breastfeeding advice from some guy named Brian is hysterical, so you should stop ruining the joke by confessing it is really you. I didn't know about the Dancer hold but it seems to describe what I've been doing naturally…except the baby is on my lap and I'm hunched forward which if course goes against every proper nursing hold rule out there. I am trying to use the SNS often, but I already have to go to confession for the string of profanities that came out of my mouth this morning in frustration, so I have to be in a calm state of mind.
Nora, I humbly and gratefully accept your offer if it's not too far. Thank you. I'll try to email you tomorrow.
ahahaa, my poor husband. you might try the Lactaid instead of the SNS – its suck controlled, not gravity so its less of a pain in the youknowwhat AND you dont have to tape the tube. more pricey but every mama i know who has used it MUCH prefers it. esp for a longer term use.
and ACK dont hunch! you dont need more misery! 😦 get settled on the couch/bed all comfy and leaned back and pillow-tastic and then have someone hand you the wee one, so you can dancer-hold him w/o the need for chiropractic care :-p
sigh
Michelle, I'm guessing that you already know about KellyMom.com, yes?
If you search there for “wean from supplement” and also “breastfeeding log weaning from supplements” it'll bring up a free handout.
This may be more fidgety/labor intensive (the recording, that is) that you have patience for right now, but it helped me with my 1st and I'm guessing a more experienced mom could “wing it.”
I think the key is to have an idea of how many ounces yield per pumping session, then gradually be able to reduce the pumping time til you're exclusively breastfeeding directly. For now, though, til you're confident in your supply, the key is to pump both breasts after each feeding – to convince them that they've got a, say, 10 minute nurser depending on them, even if he's only a 5 minute little guy right now.
This is for some reassurance that your supply *is* increasing, to decrease some of that potentially stressful guessing.
I just picked up some lanolin on sale at CVS. I would send it to you if I could!!
Hm. Hesitant to spend more money on what I hope is a temporary – one month – problem. I'll give it a few more days with the SNS and see if my patience improves.
Steph, thanks for telling me about that log. I read that entire site 4 years ago when I last went through this but naturally have forgotten much and they've added things I'm sure. I do have a tube of lanolin…lifetime supply! Thank you!
My experience was similar with Melanie. Very fragile supply. I had to nurse her, then pump. While I was pumping a child fed her a previously pumped bottle. I did this for every nursing, except overnight I would have dh feed bottle or just get one more ahead if baby was sleepy. This system really helped her turn a corner, but it was a slow corner and it was time consuming. I also had to be very careful re: getting rest, food and water. And at least one glass of wine a night. I feel this was my 43 year old body wavering a bit hormonally. With Theo ( I was 45 with him) the same sort of thing started, but I got on it right away and he gained weight faster. I feel your pain, truly.
I forgot to mention it took about 6-8 weeks to get the corner turned. I kept it up a bit longer to get some milk stored and to give her a weight cushion. For Theo, I think I did it for 6 weeks, also
Yes, I think 6-8 weeks is a realistic time frame to turn the corner…that's about what it took with Jenny. Mary took a bit longer but I blame the LC. And Renee, I totally agree about the evening glass of wine. It's medicinal.
I don't have any wisdom, especially that you haven't already gotten, but know you have my love and prayers.
Coming out of lurker status to say I''ll being sending prayers up for you. I've nursed all my kiddos and I've always been on the low end of the milk supply. Combine that with my hate/hate relationship with the pump, so I feel your pain. I'm glad the tongue clipping worked out well for you, it's hard to find a doctor around here who will do one. I have a friend who has a newborn who is also having nursing and weight gain issues, so I'll be praying for you both!
Also, just had to say, lots of great comments and suggestions. I never considered using a nursing supplement system when I was having supply problems with my firstborn.
If you haven't been able to get him clipped yet start calling dentists. In our area ent's and dentists both do it. Our dental insurance covered the procedure and major medical did not. $400 for a two second procedure but it was very necessary.