Thursday, April 2, 2009

Is it enough?

With a baby come many worries that I've never felt before. The latest is whether or not I am making enough milk for Barclay. Now looking at the kid, initially one one say...YES. The child is a chunkster. But I've noticed in the last week, that he has screamed to be fed much more often than usual. He also is getting frustrated while nursing. When my mom gave him that little bit of formula the other night, he sucked it down in no time and was out like a light for the next five hours. This has me soooo worried now. I found myself the last two days just repeatedly nursing him, because I was so scared he was starving. I guess the frustrating thing with nursing is that you can never tell how much they are drinking. I know I've become increasingly more and more exhausted (and I haven't even left the house in two days), because of my new diet of non dairy, I find I am eating a lot of things I usually wouldn't. I feel like my health is at an all time low. I just nursed Barclay for almost an hour and a half and he finally fell asleep. I've been trying to get him to sleep all day long. He took no naps! :-(
They say the only thing to get me making more milk is by having him nurse more often.
One other thing. If you don't want too much info do not read ahead.
I have never felt "let down". It's been discribed for me but I do not believe I have had the sensation before. Definitely not while nursing. Does this mean he is never getting the good hind milk? Even though I'm nursing for a long time? Or am I just stupid and not figuring out what it is?
Obviously I do not have a malnurished child on my hands. You can see his chubby little cheeks in my last post, but I feel like this past week, things have changed.

I also wanted to tell a funny story from our return trip from Boston. We were at the airport and saw a man with a sign that said he needed a ride to Asheville. Noah and I talked about it and thought that since he'd already been checked by professionals for guns or knives (airport security) , and because he looked genuinely nice, we would take him. I love the compassion Noah has for people, and the genuine faith in humanity. I warned the guy he might have wished he had taken the 7 hour trip on the greyhound.
It was hillarious. We had to take several nursing breaks, Barclay was screaming, Noah was trying to help him out with a business plan, I'm pretty cranky, and to top it all off, I'm pumping in the car. The poor guy was probably traumatized. He said it was a very exciting ride though. Another funny thing about this guy is he packed all his stuff in an old egg cardboard box and he lived on Martha's Vineyard. He was a frisbee salesperson. We got a new frisbee.

Goodnight...

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a growth spurt. He's probably hit a growth spurt and is wanting to nurse more which is good b/c that will stimulate your supply to increase to his needs. You might be a human pacifier for a few days but it'll help more milk to be produced. I highly suggest the book : The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg http://www.babywhisperer.com/babywhisperer.html

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  2. Yeah I was thinking that it was probably a growth spurt. Little Tait seems like he eats all the time, too, lately. And since I'm expecting again, and my milk supply decreased significantly several weeks ago, I've had to, unfortunately, give him a bottle everytime, on top of nursing. We just ran out of the tons of milk that I pumped in the NICU, and we're just having to use Similac Organic until the ingredients come in for the homemade formula I'll be doing. (Yes, I know that's taboo for a lot of people.)

    I know that sometimes birth control can sometimes decrease your milk supply. If you're really worried about your milk supply, you can try taking an herbal supplement called "More Milk Plus," by "Motherlove." According to my NICU lactation consultant, you're not supposed to take it if your milk supply isn't actually down, since then, if you really do need to increase it in the future, it might not be as effective.

    I have never felt a let-down either. Apparently, some women don't. I wouldn't worry about it!

    Do you have access to an accurate scale to weigh Barclay on? If you're really worried he isn't getting enough, just monitor his weight. (That's how we found out Little Tait wasn't getting quite enough after I got pregnant.) He should be gaining roughly a half ounce a day.

    Anyways, hope this helps!

    ~Lauren Z

    Oh, and please excuse any typos. This was all typed left-handed; the right hand is holding am adorable sleeping baby. :D

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