Jokerette
Mama of 2
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- Mar 20, 2011
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I really struggled with the early days of breastfeeding my son, Kenny, and found having a journal to be so therapeautic. I truly feel it was due to the support of you ladies that I was able to continue for 19 months. Here is that journal: https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/breastfeeding/889020-our-breastfeeding-journey-19-months-originally-titled-feel-so-tethered.html
So follow along my with my new journal of BREASTFEEDING BAILEY.
Stalkers Welcome!!!!!
UPDATES ARE ADDED TO THIS FIRST POST FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO SCROLL THROUGH THE WHOLE JOURNAL
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September 18-
Bailey arrived on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 2:26 AM weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz!!
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September 23, 2014- (5 days old)
Bailey is only five days old but we've already had quite a different experience nursing than I did with my first child Kenny.
Immediately after she was born Bailey was put on my chest for skin to skin and she latched on very quickly and naturally. Throughout the first couple of days of the hospital she would latch on sporadically but sometimes pull off and then try to relax again she was having trouble opening her mouth wide enough and flanging her lips. I did check her lips and tongue for tongue-tied but they look fine.
She had some little twitches so the doctors checked her blood sugar and found that her blood sugar was quite low. This caused her to be lethargic and therefore not have very much energy for nursing. On average she would nurse for 5 to 8 minutes total which is not very long and I doubt it she was getting much colostrum. She was very happy and didn't cry and she actually did have the correct number of wet and poop be diapers but she still had a little bit of a twitch and seemed very lethargic. When we left the hospital her blood sugar was still low and she has lost 7% of her birthweight.
Her doctor decided that she wanted to see her the next morning to check her blood sugar and her weight again. Bailey had lost a little bit more weight it was down to 6 lbs. 1 oz. and her blood sugar was still low. Bailey's doctor, who is also my doctor, knows how important breast-feeding is to me but she told me she thought it was best for Bailey that I supplement with formula for a couple of days until my milk came in. I am usually burst into tears because that was not part of my plan and I have been hoping to exclusively breast-feed. I think my biggest concern was that it will become a long-term thing and that I will be forced to top off with formula forever or that Bailey would get nipple confusion and not be able to nurse. I begged her doctor to let me top off with pumped breastmilk and she said we could try it for the rest of the day and see how Bailey's blood sugar was doing.
So I pump some milk, and nursed Bailey as usual, and then we talked her off at the pump breastmilk. Unfortunately her blood sugars were still low later that afternoon. So I spoke with the doctor and agreed to top off with some tiny formula bottles. She didn't need much, only three 0.5ounce bottles and then her blood sugars are back to normal.
I woke up the next day and my breasts felt much fuller like my milk was coming in So we decided to stop the formula top-odds and go with just nursing.
Bailey was getting frustrated and tired, she was trying to latch but just not doing it very well. I felt like I was at my wits end. So even though ideally I would like to nurse naturally I had my husband go out and buy some nipple shields. For our next nursing session Bailey latched on like a pro using the shield and she gave me an awesome milk drunk smile! We checked her blood sugars later that afternoon and they were nice and high!
The next day, when Bailey was four days old, we took her back to the doctor for a weight check and a weighted feed. She gained weight! She gained 2.5 ounces in just two days, so her weight was up to 6 pounds 3.5 ounces!
Then I nursed her and weighed her again. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz.! So in 15 minutes of nursing she transferred 1.5 ounces of breast milk! We were so thrilled! I know my husband was very concerned about Bailey not getting enough milk. He kept bringing up the idea of me pumping and us topping her off with breast milk bottles. I told him it was such a slippery slope and I did not want to end up an exclusive pumper. Of course if that's what she needed we would do it, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. After seeing that she was nursing well we both feel better and are going to continue following her lead and nursing on demand.
She has been such an easy cuddly baby aside from the low blood sugar that I feel so so blessed! I have been waking her every 3 to 4 hours at night to nurse, and she seems to want to nurse frequently on her own during the day which is excellent!
Today is day five and we are lounging on the couch snuggling doing skin to skin. She still needs the nipple shield to latch, and I expect she may need it for a few more weeks, but I'm hoping that with some time and practice she will get the hang of it and we can slowly wean off of it. She tends to talk in her lower lip rather than flanging them out to get a good latch. Does anyone have any experience with nipple shields? I've had a couple friends tell m they were able to wean from them fairly easily when the time came, and Id love to hear from others as well!!
It's been a lifesaver so far!! Without it I think we would still be dealing with weight gain issues and low blood sugar... Or id be pumping I bet.
I have a 1-on-1 meeting with the lactation consultant at my hospital tomorrow... I'm really looking forward to talking with her about it all
Thank you everyone for your support and I'll keep you posted on how things are going!
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September 24, 2014- morning (6 days old)
Bailey just latched on for two minutes all by herself with no nipple shield! Then she got lazy and fell asleep LOL
But seems like maybe a little bit of progress! I had a friend tell me she started off every daytime feeding giving her baby 1 to 2 minutes to try and latch on naturally and then if it didn't work she put on the shield So I'm going to try that
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September 24, 2014- afternoon (6 days old)
I had my lactation appointment this morning. Bailey has gained another 2 1/2 ounces since Monday. She's now 6 lbs. 6 oz.
We worked on latch a little bit and I was able to get Bailey to latch on without the nipple shield for a whole feeding! In that feeding she drank almost 2 ounces
We are home and she has done it again for 2 full feedings with no nipple shield!!!
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September 25, 2014- (1 week old)
24 hours without the nipple shield!! I guess I will return the unopened one I ordered from Amazon! Woohoo
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September 28, 2014- (10 days old)
Looks like Bailey is a spitter, like her big brother! It's like she's been trying to cluster feed at bedtime, and I'm trying to follow her lead and feed on demand, but when I let her cluster feed her little belly can't take it and she has HUGE projectile spittup! Yuck! She also does some little spits throughout the day but just tiny amounts. Looks like I'll have another bib-baby covering all the cute baby outfits.. Booo!!! Kenny wore bibs all day everyday until 9 months. He had TONS of spittup but slept flat fine and gained weight fine, and none of the meds made any difference. I'm thinking my kiddos might just be "happy spitters". I have reflux as an adult so I guess I'm not surprised LOL
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September 29, 2014- (11 days old)
She seems to be doing much better on the spittup front if I make sure to not over feed her. I've beeb offering pacifiers between feedings and try to limit her feedings to no more than every 2 hrs but aim for closer to every 3 hrs. She gets a full feeding that way with hind milk and I find if she "snacks" too much she gets too much foremilk
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September 30, 2014- (12 days old)
Bailey gained weight! She's now up to 6lbs 11oz, and we did another weighted feed. She nursed 2.5oz in 5 minutes! Her 2 week pedi appt is tomorrow and Id love it if she were up to her birthweight of 6lbs 13oz
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October 2, 2014- (2 weeks old)
I went from feeling so full and engorged , and Bailey spitting up, to suddenly feeling "empty" and my letdown seems under control. I don't think I am actually empty, I think my milk supply might just be perfectly stabilized to Bailey now! She stopped gulping at feedings and stopped spitting up!! And she's happy having plenty of wet diapers so I think this is good!! It makes me think maybe my supply didn't regulate as well with Kenny because I often felt full when he was an infant, he struggled with my letdown, and he spittup.
One thing that is different is that Bailey is less aggressive of a nurseer than Kenny. Kenny would latch on and suck so aggressively that he himself was nursing very fast. Then, in turn, he would gulp a lot then spit up, then he was hungry again so he would nurse more therefore increasing my supply. I think by nature Bailey is just a more easy-going slow nurser, so she is taking her time more. One thing I definitely did different was lean back and recline while nursing, this supposedly makes my flow a little bit slower and more manageable for her. Therefore I would guess she's probably gulping less air, therefore spitting up less, therefor not having to eat more to make up for it.
So in the end I would say since I knew my flow was very fast I tended to lean back this time in a reclined position rather than leaning forward like I did with Kenny. Looking back I was probably practically dumping milk in his mouth.
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October 6, 2014- (2.5 weeks old)
I fed Bailey at 6:30 last night then put her in her crib at 7:00 after we did stories with Kenny. Then Jeremy and I had a couple hours of watching TV and hanging out after both kids were in bed.
I pumped a few ounces before I went to bed at 9:30. Then I let Jeremy give her the pumped bottle when she woke, which ended up being 10:45pm. So I got a nice stretch of sleep from 9:30-1:45 when she woke for her second feeding of the night! I think we will do that at few nights a week. Jeremy loves giving her a bottle and he was still awake anyway, and I loved the extra sleep
On a different note, my nipples are feeling pretty much pain free when nursing now! The left side was always ok, but I had been feeling a but of discomfort on the right... It seems to have resolved and healed which is nice! I used a variety of treatments .... APNO triple nipple cream (prescription), hydrogel pads, spreading breastmilk on them and letting them air dry, and Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter. I didn't use any lanolin, of all the options I just felt like I had better higher quality ointments to use instead.
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October 9, 2014- (3 weeks old)
Growth spurt! Bailey's been nursing approx every 2 hours for the past 24 hrs or so!
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October 18, 2014- (1 month old)
I can't believe my baby girl is 1 month old!!!
And all the nursing paid off! She defintely has a growth spurt... She's now up to almost 8 pounds and 21.75 inches!
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November 23, 2014- (9.5 weeks old)
I've been a slacker on this journal... being a mom of two is so busy!!! LOL
Bailey is now 9.5 weeks and shes doing awesome. Shes almost 10lbs, which is tiny, but shes gaining weight at a great rate since she started tiny to begin with.
Breastfeeding is going awesome. I nurse anywhere and everywhere and i dont bother with a nursing cover because its annoying and I find it actually makes my nursing session MORE noticeable! LOL Bailey and I can nurse in public very discreetly if we need to
My milk supply is so much more balance than it was with Kenny. No huge engorged boobs between feedings. No spittup! She'd getting just what she needs. I do pump occasionally, like 1 or 2 times per week, but thats it. Just enough for DH to do 1 bottle a week, and get a little extra for my freezer stash. I'm not looking to build a huge stash... just a little safety net. Right now I have 40ounces. I could easily get more if I added in a pumping session a day, but I don't need to which is nice.
Even though I am exclusively breastfeeding I got my period a few days ago!!! Bailey was only 9 weeks old. What a bummer!!!
I probably wont post too many updates until we hit some bumps in the road, which nursing babies always do. But, for now, I'm loving my little peanut
so!
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November 30, 2014- (10.5 weeks old)
Milk supply has been low ever since I got my period last week! Bailey's been waking more frequently and seeming less satisfied. Like tonight after I nursed her I topped her off with a small bottle of frozen breastmilk. So tonight I started taking the Domperidone. I took 30mg. Crazy that I started taking it at 11 weeks with Kenny also! I hope to just take a small dose daily to give my supply a tiny boost. For the first 48 hours though I will take 90mg daily... Then wean down. My breasts already feel fuller!
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December 1, 2014- (10.5 weeks old)
Big improvement after only 30mg of domperidone! I pumped 4 ounces this morning, which is back to what I used to be able to do before AF arrived. What a relief. Bailey also seemed much more satisfied after her night feedings! I'm hoping to quickly wean down to a smaller doseage since I don't think it will take much to get me back on track. With Kenny, I took 30mg during my period and 10mg for the rest of the month.
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December 12, 2014- (12 weeks old)
12 weeks- rejecting bedtime feedings
Another night of Bailey rejecting bedtime feeding so weird. Wednesday rejected nursing at bed, Thursday rejected bottle (until finally Jeremy got her to take it, tonight rejected nursing.
I want her to bulk up on breastmilk before bed so she will sleep longer. She nurses awesome all day and awesome in her middle of the night feedings (around 1am and 4:30am).
Isn't that odd?! I've tried feeding her tired, feeding her rested, nursing in the dark, nursing in the light, nursing with noise, nursing without, nursing stationary, nursing walking... She takes one suck then is pissed and just wants her pacifier to go to bed.
I pumped tonight immediately after getting rejected and got 6 ounces, so it's not a supply issue.
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December 20, 2014- (3 months old)
3 months breastfeeding!
Bailey is 3 months old and seems to be doing better with her bedtime feeding. I don't know why she was rejecting it, but it lasted about a week, and now shes back to nursing as usual before bed.
She is having a tiny sleep regression, doing a 6-7 hour stretch instead of a 8-9 hour stretch, but I certainly can't complain since thats still a significant stretch of time!
She is always easy to put to sleep, and she prefers to go to bed early. She is usually in her crib by 6:15pm (She is fussy otherwise, and she settles right into bed so I know that she prefers the early bedtime). It work out well though because then I can do her bedtime routine, and still have time to start Kenny's bedtime routine just for him. Then she wakes to nurse around 1:00am and 4:00am, and she sleeps in her crib until about 7:00am when her big brother usually wakes her for the day!
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April 20, 2015- (7 months old)
I haven't checked in in so long but we are doing great nursing... its so second nature by this point. She is 7 months old and tends to get a bit distracted while nursing, but if I go into a quiet room she focuses and does better. She nurses 5 times a day including night feedings. Usually once in the early hours around 4:00am, then 8:00am, 11:00am, 2:00pm, 6:00pm-ish. All those times are flexible... but those are the averages.
She is in day care two days per week now and I have been sending frozen breastmilk bottles and she does well with those
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June 5, 2015- (8.5 months old)
I feel like I'm experiencing deja vu! Bailey has started rejecting her daytime bottles on the days she is at daycare, and is waking up an extra time at night.... just like Kenny did. It got so bad with Kenny that he totally reverse cycled and didn't do bottles at all at daycare and waited for me then nursed several times all night long!
She hasn't been feeling well lately (back to back double ear infections) so I'm hoping its just that, and not an actual bottle rejection!
When she nurses she's pretty distracted unless we are in a quiet dark room. But shes also very efficient so I know she gets a lot of milk quickly.
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July 20, 2015- (10 months old)
We're still battling recurrent ear infections over her. Poor Bailey had her 5th ear infection in 10 weeks... so I am pushing for tubes.
As for nursing, its going well! She's a bit distracted (Kenny loves to dance and distract her!), but overall she still nurses great! I think if it werent for the ear infections shed be sleeping 12 hours straight. Thats what she does when she feels good, but right now shes up 1-2 times per night. I love nursing and I'm so glad I took the year off to be with her and not have to worry about pumping at work!
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18 months - Weaning from Breastfeeding
Well I havent updated this journal in ages, but I thought I' post one final update. Bailey will be 18 months old tomorrow and I think we are officially done breastfeeding. It's been an amazing journey with both of my children and I cherished every snuggle.
Bailey has been asking less and less and was pretty much just nursing morning and night, but on the night I have an evening meeting or class she did fine with a cup of milk. So, I waited for a morning that she did not ask to nurse, and I took that as my cue that maybe I would gently coax her toward weaning. That was yesterday morning. She got up, and wanted to play right away and never asked to nurse. Then last night, I brought in a cup of milk with me when I rocked her to sleep and she gladly took the cup and didnt even ask to nurse!
Now, here's the silly part. As a backup, I had drawn two sleeping cats on my breasts. The idea being that if she asked to nurse I would show her the drawings and say "the kitties are sleeping". Well, she didnt ask last night, but she did ask this morning. Luckily the marker drawings were still visible so I showed her the "kitties" and she got this confuse look on her face, then giggled and ran away! haha Total success and no tears at all!! Talk about gentle weaning!! Lets hope it continues to go so smoothly!
So follow along my with my new journal of BREASTFEEDING BAILEY.
Stalkers Welcome!!!!!
UPDATES ARE ADDED TO THIS FIRST POST FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO SCROLL THROUGH THE WHOLE JOURNAL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 18-
Bailey arrived on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 2:26 AM weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 23, 2014- (5 days old)
Bailey is only five days old but we've already had quite a different experience nursing than I did with my first child Kenny.
Immediately after she was born Bailey was put on my chest for skin to skin and she latched on very quickly and naturally. Throughout the first couple of days of the hospital she would latch on sporadically but sometimes pull off and then try to relax again she was having trouble opening her mouth wide enough and flanging her lips. I did check her lips and tongue for tongue-tied but they look fine.
She had some little twitches so the doctors checked her blood sugar and found that her blood sugar was quite low. This caused her to be lethargic and therefore not have very much energy for nursing. On average she would nurse for 5 to 8 minutes total which is not very long and I doubt it she was getting much colostrum. She was very happy and didn't cry and she actually did have the correct number of wet and poop be diapers but she still had a little bit of a twitch and seemed very lethargic. When we left the hospital her blood sugar was still low and she has lost 7% of her birthweight.
Her doctor decided that she wanted to see her the next morning to check her blood sugar and her weight again. Bailey had lost a little bit more weight it was down to 6 lbs. 1 oz. and her blood sugar was still low. Bailey's doctor, who is also my doctor, knows how important breast-feeding is to me but she told me she thought it was best for Bailey that I supplement with formula for a couple of days until my milk came in. I am usually burst into tears because that was not part of my plan and I have been hoping to exclusively breast-feed. I think my biggest concern was that it will become a long-term thing and that I will be forced to top off with formula forever or that Bailey would get nipple confusion and not be able to nurse. I begged her doctor to let me top off with pumped breastmilk and she said we could try it for the rest of the day and see how Bailey's blood sugar was doing.
So I pump some milk, and nursed Bailey as usual, and then we talked her off at the pump breastmilk. Unfortunately her blood sugars were still low later that afternoon. So I spoke with the doctor and agreed to top off with some tiny formula bottles. She didn't need much, only three 0.5ounce bottles and then her blood sugars are back to normal.
I woke up the next day and my breasts felt much fuller like my milk was coming in So we decided to stop the formula top-odds and go with just nursing.
Bailey was getting frustrated and tired, she was trying to latch but just not doing it very well. I felt like I was at my wits end. So even though ideally I would like to nurse naturally I had my husband go out and buy some nipple shields. For our next nursing session Bailey latched on like a pro using the shield and she gave me an awesome milk drunk smile! We checked her blood sugars later that afternoon and they were nice and high!
The next day, when Bailey was four days old, we took her back to the doctor for a weight check and a weighted feed. She gained weight! She gained 2.5 ounces in just two days, so her weight was up to 6 pounds 3.5 ounces!
Then I nursed her and weighed her again. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz.! So in 15 minutes of nursing she transferred 1.5 ounces of breast milk! We were so thrilled! I know my husband was very concerned about Bailey not getting enough milk. He kept bringing up the idea of me pumping and us topping her off with breast milk bottles. I told him it was such a slippery slope and I did not want to end up an exclusive pumper. Of course if that's what she needed we would do it, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. After seeing that she was nursing well we both feel better and are going to continue following her lead and nursing on demand.
She has been such an easy cuddly baby aside from the low blood sugar that I feel so so blessed! I have been waking her every 3 to 4 hours at night to nurse, and she seems to want to nurse frequently on her own during the day which is excellent!
Today is day five and we are lounging on the couch snuggling doing skin to skin. She still needs the nipple shield to latch, and I expect she may need it for a few more weeks, but I'm hoping that with some time and practice she will get the hang of it and we can slowly wean off of it. She tends to talk in her lower lip rather than flanging them out to get a good latch. Does anyone have any experience with nipple shields? I've had a couple friends tell m they were able to wean from them fairly easily when the time came, and Id love to hear from others as well!!
It's been a lifesaver so far!! Without it I think we would still be dealing with weight gain issues and low blood sugar... Or id be pumping I bet.
I have a 1-on-1 meeting with the lactation consultant at my hospital tomorrow... I'm really looking forward to talking with her about it all
Thank you everyone for your support and I'll keep you posted on how things are going!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 24, 2014- morning (6 days old)
Bailey just latched on for two minutes all by herself with no nipple shield! Then she got lazy and fell asleep LOL
But seems like maybe a little bit of progress! I had a friend tell me she started off every daytime feeding giving her baby 1 to 2 minutes to try and latch on naturally and then if it didn't work she put on the shield So I'm going to try that
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September 24, 2014- afternoon (6 days old)
I had my lactation appointment this morning. Bailey has gained another 2 1/2 ounces since Monday. She's now 6 lbs. 6 oz.
We worked on latch a little bit and I was able to get Bailey to latch on without the nipple shield for a whole feeding! In that feeding she drank almost 2 ounces
We are home and she has done it again for 2 full feedings with no nipple shield!!!
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September 25, 2014- (1 week old)
24 hours without the nipple shield!! I guess I will return the unopened one I ordered from Amazon! Woohoo
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September 28, 2014- (10 days old)
Looks like Bailey is a spitter, like her big brother! It's like she's been trying to cluster feed at bedtime, and I'm trying to follow her lead and feed on demand, but when I let her cluster feed her little belly can't take it and she has HUGE projectile spittup! Yuck! She also does some little spits throughout the day but just tiny amounts. Looks like I'll have another bib-baby covering all the cute baby outfits.. Booo!!! Kenny wore bibs all day everyday until 9 months. He had TONS of spittup but slept flat fine and gained weight fine, and none of the meds made any difference. I'm thinking my kiddos might just be "happy spitters". I have reflux as an adult so I guess I'm not surprised LOL
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September 29, 2014- (11 days old)
She seems to be doing much better on the spittup front if I make sure to not over feed her. I've beeb offering pacifiers between feedings and try to limit her feedings to no more than every 2 hrs but aim for closer to every 3 hrs. She gets a full feeding that way with hind milk and I find if she "snacks" too much she gets too much foremilk
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 30, 2014- (12 days old)
Bailey gained weight! She's now up to 6lbs 11oz, and we did another weighted feed. She nursed 2.5oz in 5 minutes! Her 2 week pedi appt is tomorrow and Id love it if she were up to her birthweight of 6lbs 13oz
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October 2, 2014- (2 weeks old)
I went from feeling so full and engorged , and Bailey spitting up, to suddenly feeling "empty" and my letdown seems under control. I don't think I am actually empty, I think my milk supply might just be perfectly stabilized to Bailey now! She stopped gulping at feedings and stopped spitting up!! And she's happy having plenty of wet diapers so I think this is good!! It makes me think maybe my supply didn't regulate as well with Kenny because I often felt full when he was an infant, he struggled with my letdown, and he spittup.
One thing that is different is that Bailey is less aggressive of a nurseer than Kenny. Kenny would latch on and suck so aggressively that he himself was nursing very fast. Then, in turn, he would gulp a lot then spit up, then he was hungry again so he would nurse more therefore increasing my supply. I think by nature Bailey is just a more easy-going slow nurser, so she is taking her time more. One thing I definitely did different was lean back and recline while nursing, this supposedly makes my flow a little bit slower and more manageable for her. Therefore I would guess she's probably gulping less air, therefore spitting up less, therefor not having to eat more to make up for it.
So in the end I would say since I knew my flow was very fast I tended to lean back this time in a reclined position rather than leaning forward like I did with Kenny. Looking back I was probably practically dumping milk in his mouth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 6, 2014- (2.5 weeks old)
I fed Bailey at 6:30 last night then put her in her crib at 7:00 after we did stories with Kenny. Then Jeremy and I had a couple hours of watching TV and hanging out after both kids were in bed.
I pumped a few ounces before I went to bed at 9:30. Then I let Jeremy give her the pumped bottle when she woke, which ended up being 10:45pm. So I got a nice stretch of sleep from 9:30-1:45 when she woke for her second feeding of the night! I think we will do that at few nights a week. Jeremy loves giving her a bottle and he was still awake anyway, and I loved the extra sleep
On a different note, my nipples are feeling pretty much pain free when nursing now! The left side was always ok, but I had been feeling a but of discomfort on the right... It seems to have resolved and healed which is nice! I used a variety of treatments .... APNO triple nipple cream (prescription), hydrogel pads, spreading breastmilk on them and letting them air dry, and Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter. I didn't use any lanolin, of all the options I just felt like I had better higher quality ointments to use instead.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 9, 2014- (3 weeks old)
Growth spurt! Bailey's been nursing approx every 2 hours for the past 24 hrs or so!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 18, 2014- (1 month old)
I can't believe my baby girl is 1 month old!!!
And all the nursing paid off! She defintely has a growth spurt... She's now up to almost 8 pounds and 21.75 inches!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 23, 2014- (9.5 weeks old)
I've been a slacker on this journal... being a mom of two is so busy!!! LOL
Bailey is now 9.5 weeks and shes doing awesome. Shes almost 10lbs, which is tiny, but shes gaining weight at a great rate since she started tiny to begin with.
Breastfeeding is going awesome. I nurse anywhere and everywhere and i dont bother with a nursing cover because its annoying and I find it actually makes my nursing session MORE noticeable! LOL Bailey and I can nurse in public very discreetly if we need to
My milk supply is so much more balance than it was with Kenny. No huge engorged boobs between feedings. No spittup! She'd getting just what she needs. I do pump occasionally, like 1 or 2 times per week, but thats it. Just enough for DH to do 1 bottle a week, and get a little extra for my freezer stash. I'm not looking to build a huge stash... just a little safety net. Right now I have 40ounces. I could easily get more if I added in a pumping session a day, but I don't need to which is nice.
Even though I am exclusively breastfeeding I got my period a few days ago!!! Bailey was only 9 weeks old. What a bummer!!!
I probably wont post too many updates until we hit some bumps in the road, which nursing babies always do. But, for now, I'm loving my little peanut
so!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 30, 2014- (10.5 weeks old)
Milk supply has been low ever since I got my period last week! Bailey's been waking more frequently and seeming less satisfied. Like tonight after I nursed her I topped her off with a small bottle of frozen breastmilk. So tonight I started taking the Domperidone. I took 30mg. Crazy that I started taking it at 11 weeks with Kenny also! I hope to just take a small dose daily to give my supply a tiny boost. For the first 48 hours though I will take 90mg daily... Then wean down. My breasts already feel fuller!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 1, 2014- (10.5 weeks old)
Big improvement after only 30mg of domperidone! I pumped 4 ounces this morning, which is back to what I used to be able to do before AF arrived. What a relief. Bailey also seemed much more satisfied after her night feedings! I'm hoping to quickly wean down to a smaller doseage since I don't think it will take much to get me back on track. With Kenny, I took 30mg during my period and 10mg for the rest of the month.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 12, 2014- (12 weeks old)
12 weeks- rejecting bedtime feedings
Another night of Bailey rejecting bedtime feeding so weird. Wednesday rejected nursing at bed, Thursday rejected bottle (until finally Jeremy got her to take it, tonight rejected nursing.
I want her to bulk up on breastmilk before bed so she will sleep longer. She nurses awesome all day and awesome in her middle of the night feedings (around 1am and 4:30am).
Isn't that odd?! I've tried feeding her tired, feeding her rested, nursing in the dark, nursing in the light, nursing with noise, nursing without, nursing stationary, nursing walking... She takes one suck then is pissed and just wants her pacifier to go to bed.
I pumped tonight immediately after getting rejected and got 6 ounces, so it's not a supply issue.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 20, 2014- (3 months old)
3 months breastfeeding!
Bailey is 3 months old and seems to be doing better with her bedtime feeding. I don't know why she was rejecting it, but it lasted about a week, and now shes back to nursing as usual before bed.
She is having a tiny sleep regression, doing a 6-7 hour stretch instead of a 8-9 hour stretch, but I certainly can't complain since thats still a significant stretch of time!
She is always easy to put to sleep, and she prefers to go to bed early. She is usually in her crib by 6:15pm (She is fussy otherwise, and she settles right into bed so I know that she prefers the early bedtime). It work out well though because then I can do her bedtime routine, and still have time to start Kenny's bedtime routine just for him. Then she wakes to nurse around 1:00am and 4:00am, and she sleeps in her crib until about 7:00am when her big brother usually wakes her for the day!
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April 20, 2015- (7 months old)
I haven't checked in in so long but we are doing great nursing... its so second nature by this point. She is 7 months old and tends to get a bit distracted while nursing, but if I go into a quiet room she focuses and does better. She nurses 5 times a day including night feedings. Usually once in the early hours around 4:00am, then 8:00am, 11:00am, 2:00pm, 6:00pm-ish. All those times are flexible... but those are the averages.
She is in day care two days per week now and I have been sending frozen breastmilk bottles and she does well with those
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June 5, 2015- (8.5 months old)
I feel like I'm experiencing deja vu! Bailey has started rejecting her daytime bottles on the days she is at daycare, and is waking up an extra time at night.... just like Kenny did. It got so bad with Kenny that he totally reverse cycled and didn't do bottles at all at daycare and waited for me then nursed several times all night long!
She hasn't been feeling well lately (back to back double ear infections) so I'm hoping its just that, and not an actual bottle rejection!
When she nurses she's pretty distracted unless we are in a quiet dark room. But shes also very efficient so I know she gets a lot of milk quickly.
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July 20, 2015- (10 months old)
We're still battling recurrent ear infections over her. Poor Bailey had her 5th ear infection in 10 weeks... so I am pushing for tubes.
As for nursing, its going well! She's a bit distracted (Kenny loves to dance and distract her!), but overall she still nurses great! I think if it werent for the ear infections shed be sleeping 12 hours straight. Thats what she does when she feels good, but right now shes up 1-2 times per night. I love nursing and I'm so glad I took the year off to be with her and not have to worry about pumping at work!
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18 months - Weaning from Breastfeeding
Well I havent updated this journal in ages, but I thought I' post one final update. Bailey will be 18 months old tomorrow and I think we are officially done breastfeeding. It's been an amazing journey with both of my children and I cherished every snuggle.
Bailey has been asking less and less and was pretty much just nursing morning and night, but on the night I have an evening meeting or class she did fine with a cup of milk. So, I waited for a morning that she did not ask to nurse, and I took that as my cue that maybe I would gently coax her toward weaning. That was yesterday morning. She got up, and wanted to play right away and never asked to nurse. Then last night, I brought in a cup of milk with me when I rocked her to sleep and she gladly took the cup and didnt even ask to nurse!
Now, here's the silly part. As a backup, I had drawn two sleeping cats on my breasts. The idea being that if she asked to nurse I would show her the drawings and say "the kitties are sleeping". Well, she didnt ask last night, but she did ask this morning. Luckily the marker drawings were still visible so I showed her the "kitties" and she got this confuse look on her face, then giggled and ran away! haha Total success and no tears at all!! Talk about gentle weaning!! Lets hope it continues to go so smoothly!
xoxo
