Little Sister's Hunger Strike
Jun. 4th, 2006 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckWe've had a little bit of a rough start, Little Sister and I, but we have worked it out and all is well.
That said, here's the scary story.
With Small Boy, nursing was a breeze. There was never a hitch. He ate nothing but breastmilk from the time he came home from the hospital til he got his first rice cereal (prepared with breastmilk) at the age of 6 months, and he continued to nurse til he turned one.
So I fully expected Little Sister and I to do the same thing.
Well, here's something I never thought of.
When I nursed Small Boy, my bra size was approx 34DD. That's kinda large, but you know, normal.
Well, now I would guess I am more of a bra size 34DDDDDD. This is not a joke. I will never be able to buy a bra that fits again. Each breast is bigger than my baby's head.
The issue here being that in order to latch on and get milk, a baby needs to be able to latch on not just to the nipple, but also onto the areola in order to stimulate milk let down.
With the size of my breast, the poor thing wasn't getting a good latch. She was trying very hard to nurse, and I thought she was swallowing, but if she was, it must have just been mostly air. On the third night, she just gave up. She cried and cried and cried. She cried for approximately 7 hours straight. We couldn't figure out why she stopped eating. She wouldn't sleep. It was horrible. We could tell she was getting very tired and we decided she was too upset to eat. I finally broke out the old breast pump and cleaned up some bottles and the parts and expressed so she could eat more easily. She ate about four ounces and slept, only to wake up and start crying again.
She had a doctor's appointment anyway at 11 that morning, so we went. I was horrified to see that in four days she had lost a whole pound. It was then, of course, glaringly obvious that the problem was that she was starving. Of course, we had already started the solution, and the doctor agreed that we were doing the right thing by expressing milk and bottlefeeding her. She did seem very concerned that I understand that she had to have formula if I couldn't express enough milk. Which is not a problem for me. I tried to make it clear to the doc that if I had really understood what was happening, we would have started the bottle feeding immediately. The doctor told me that everything would be OK as long as the weight loss stopped immediately. She had me bring Little Sister back the next day to be weighed again, with the threat that if she had lost any more weight, we would have "to do something to get some food in her."
But of course, the problem was solved with the bottle feeding. She had already regained 4 ounces overnight. The doc I saw that day put us on a feeding plan of 18 ounces a day and yesterday, Little Sister achieved that easily just on her own natural feeding schedule, with hardly any help from me. I think I had to wake her for one feeding.
So as far as Little Sister goes, all is well.
But to a certain degree, I feel that pride went before the fall. I had been assuming that this would be as easy again as it was with Small Boy. Now instead, I find myself in almost the worst of both worlds. I am trying to stimulate and maintain milk production without an actively nursing baby. I can only manage about 10 oz a day right now without her helping me.
The good news is, she seems to still want to nurse, even though she still hasn't successfully latched on. This morning, after eating very well, she cranked at me until I lay down with her and let her nuzzle and try to nurse until she fell asleep. She wasn't really hungry. I think she just likes it.
After weighing her in again tomorrow, I think I am going to let her miss a feeding so she'll get good and hungry, then start making her earn her bottles by at least trying to nurse for 10 minutes before she gets the easy food. The doctor thinks she just needs a little age and strength to get to the point where she can nurse, then all will be well.
All that said, I had forgotten this component of being a new mommy. She hardly makes any noises yet, just a little cranking. But when she's going to nurse she makes happy little breathy sounds, and the tiniest softest grunts. On the one hand, it's very much an animal experience. But we are just primates with large brains, after all.
But aside from the problems nursing, I think at least for now we have a nearly perfect baby. Once we resolved the feeding, she has barely cried since. She sleeps like a champ, eats well, is cheerful and adorable when awake, and only cries long enough to get your attention. She's even pretty patient waiting to be fed while bottles warm and what not, once she's been picked up.
A wonderful, happy little girl!
That said, here's the scary story.
With Small Boy, nursing was a breeze. There was never a hitch. He ate nothing but breastmilk from the time he came home from the hospital til he got his first rice cereal (prepared with breastmilk) at the age of 6 months, and he continued to nurse til he turned one.
So I fully expected Little Sister and I to do the same thing.
Well, here's something I never thought of.
When I nursed Small Boy, my bra size was approx 34DD. That's kinda large, but you know, normal.
Well, now I would guess I am more of a bra size 34DDDDDD. This is not a joke. I will never be able to buy a bra that fits again. Each breast is bigger than my baby's head.
The issue here being that in order to latch on and get milk, a baby needs to be able to latch on not just to the nipple, but also onto the areola in order to stimulate milk let down.
With the size of my breast, the poor thing wasn't getting a good latch. She was trying very hard to nurse, and I thought she was swallowing, but if she was, it must have just been mostly air. On the third night, she just gave up. She cried and cried and cried. She cried for approximately 7 hours straight. We couldn't figure out why she stopped eating. She wouldn't sleep. It was horrible. We could tell she was getting very tired and we decided she was too upset to eat. I finally broke out the old breast pump and cleaned up some bottles and the parts and expressed so she could eat more easily. She ate about four ounces and slept, only to wake up and start crying again.
She had a doctor's appointment anyway at 11 that morning, so we went. I was horrified to see that in four days she had lost a whole pound. It was then, of course, glaringly obvious that the problem was that she was starving. Of course, we had already started the solution, and the doctor agreed that we were doing the right thing by expressing milk and bottlefeeding her. She did seem very concerned that I understand that she had to have formula if I couldn't express enough milk. Which is not a problem for me. I tried to make it clear to the doc that if I had really understood what was happening, we would have started the bottle feeding immediately. The doctor told me that everything would be OK as long as the weight loss stopped immediately. She had me bring Little Sister back the next day to be weighed again, with the threat that if she had lost any more weight, we would have "to do something to get some food in her."
But of course, the problem was solved with the bottle feeding. She had already regained 4 ounces overnight. The doc I saw that day put us on a feeding plan of 18 ounces a day and yesterday, Little Sister achieved that easily just on her own natural feeding schedule, with hardly any help from me. I think I had to wake her for one feeding.
So as far as Little Sister goes, all is well.
But to a certain degree, I feel that pride went before the fall. I had been assuming that this would be as easy again as it was with Small Boy. Now instead, I find myself in almost the worst of both worlds. I am trying to stimulate and maintain milk production without an actively nursing baby. I can only manage about 10 oz a day right now without her helping me.
The good news is, she seems to still want to nurse, even though she still hasn't successfully latched on. This morning, after eating very well, she cranked at me until I lay down with her and let her nuzzle and try to nurse until she fell asleep. She wasn't really hungry. I think she just likes it.
After weighing her in again tomorrow, I think I am going to let her miss a feeding so she'll get good and hungry, then start making her earn her bottles by at least trying to nurse for 10 minutes before she gets the easy food. The doctor thinks she just needs a little age and strength to get to the point where she can nurse, then all will be well.
All that said, I had forgotten this component of being a new mommy. She hardly makes any noises yet, just a little cranking. But when she's going to nurse she makes happy little breathy sounds, and the tiniest softest grunts. On the one hand, it's very much an animal experience. But we are just primates with large brains, after all.
But aside from the problems nursing, I think at least for now we have a nearly perfect baby. Once we resolved the feeding, she has barely cried since. She sleeps like a champ, eats well, is cheerful and adorable when awake, and only cries long enough to get your attention. She's even pretty patient waiting to be fed while bottles warm and what not, once she's been picked up.
A wonderful, happy little girl!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 01:31 am (UTC)Again, congradulations!!
no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 02:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 05:37 am (UTC)But when she's going to nurse she makes happy little breathy sounds, and the tiniest softest grunts. On the one hand, it's very much an animal experience.
But it's a cute baby animal experience, so aaaaww! ♥