Feeding/Breastfeeding
Our biggest challenge thus far has been the breastfeeding. It started in the hospital and has continued still to this day. I just don't make enough milk. I don't feel like my milk really came in. Since being discharged from the hospital we have had two visits to the lactation consultant and two phone calls from them to check in. The day after we left the hospital we went back in for a weight check and she maintained which was awesome. She hadn't lost anymore which was a concern. Then the next Monday we went back again and she had gained 2 oz. More good news. We then changed our routine for feeding at that point. This is what we have been doing:
- No more feeding tube! yay!! Let me tell you that was a big pain and definitely needed John to help with it.
- Pump every three hours with the hospital grade pump that they loaned out to me for two weeks, then feed Elsie that first. I started getting 1/2 ounce each pumping, then moved up to 1 ounce and now the past few days I have been getting and ounce and a half (this morning I got 2.5 ounces-not typical).
- Then we supplement with formula until she doesn't want to eat anymore.
- Take herbal supplements to help produce more milk: Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek
- Hope she gains more weight and I make more milk.
Also, we were told that until she gets back to her birthweight we need to wake her every three hours to feed. We decided to go straight to just pumping for now instead of continuing to nurse so that I could see how much milk I was producing and if it was increasing with hopes that she will be able to go back to nursing.
Two Week Check Up
Elsie had her two week check up on Dec. 27th. It is hard to believe two weeks had gone by since she was born!!! I have a feeling I will be saying that a lot!! The first thing they did was weigh her. It was the moment we had been waiting for. She really needed to gain weight and boy did she do that. At her last weight check she was 6 lbs 11 oz and at her appointment she weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz. So she gained 1 lb 3 oz in one week. I was excited! The rest of her check up went well. Her length was 20-5/8" long. We also found out she has a mild case of thrush so she will have to go one medication to get that cleared up. The doctor also told us we no longer have to wake her up every three hours to eat. We can go as long as five hours now. He also recommended that I start to nurse her again first, then give her any breastmilk I have pumped previously and then formula. He said that nursing will do a better job of helping with my production than just pumping alone. He also recomended that she be given a Vitamin D supplement since we are doing 1/2 breastmilk and 1/2 formula. Apparently breastmilk doesn't supply them with the amount of Vitamin D that they need. So all in all the appointment went great. Elsie's
