Disclaimer: If you're a male-human or if you're someone who has no interest in breastfeeding, then go ahead and skip this post. :) I've realized how many things I've forgotten about Sutton's first year(s) and so I wanted to document this for myself to look back on since it's been a big part of our lives the last couple of months. Disclaimer over.
So. Breastfeeding. It's so strange. After the initial learning/adjustment phase with Sutton, I really had no problems with nursing, keeping my supply, up or anything else. I just assumed everything would be the same with my second baby, but I was so wrong!
Issues at the beginning were similar to Sutton...both my babies tend to suck in their bottom lip, which makes for a very painful latch and inefficient feeding. So I used the nipple shield with them both to kind of force them to open up more. With Sutton, I weaned him off it after a month. With Ren, it was more like 3.5 months. The problems stopped there with Sutton.
But with Ren, when I weaned him from the nipple shield, all the pain of just starting to breastfeed came back again. Then he started to decrease the time that he fed. With the shield, he would nurse for 10 minutes on each side, a total of around 20 minutes per feeding. I always keep track of feedings, and this meant he nursed for over 2 hours total each day. At the beginning, we would sometimes hit 3 hours for the day. But once we took the shield away, he started only nursing for 4-7 minutes on one side, then he was done.
I was concerned that he wasn't getting enough milk. He was growing normally, chunking up, and he was happy. But going from 20 minutes per feeding down to 4 minutes just didn't seem right. And when my total for the day was between 45 minutes to 1 hour? I felt like I was hardly feeding my baby at all.
So I took him into the breastfeeding clinic. The nurses kinda laughed when I came in because #1 they're used to seeing newborns and Ren was 4 months old at the time; #2 he has never been a "skinny" baby, so with all his rolls...they weren't quite sure why I was concerned. I explained my issue, and they weighed him, had me nurse him, then weighed him again. He was able to get 2 ounces of milk from me in 4 minutes, which they said made him a very efficient nurser. They weren't concerned and said he seemed completely fine and healthy (especially with all the flirting and smiling he was doing with them). They told me to come back if anything changed, he lost weight, or became very irritable.
Nothing ever changed with his weight or temperament, but I started to realize that I never really felt full anymore. I didn't know if it was just because he was emptying me at every feeding, or if it was because I wasn't making enough but since he's such a good little baby, he wasn't complaining even though he was hungry. Additionally, we started to run low on the stockpile of pumped breastmilk in our freezer for the days I had to work.
So I began to start trying to pump a little more often. I would get nothing. There was one two-day span where I pumped after several feedings and it took me the whole two days to get 2 ounces. I became very worried that Ren wasn't getting enough to eat. He had also been having pooping issues. He wouldn'tt go for 24-48 hours, and then it would be explosive and runny. And it'd been weeks like this. It made me think he wasn't getting enough...that his little body was freaking out, trying to adjust to only having a small amount of calories or something. Or that my milk wasn't hearty or SOMETHING.
Of course I did what any 21st century mother would do...I turned to Facebook. :) I asked if any nursing moms had advice for ways to increase my supply. I got a ton of responses, which was so helpful. Out of all the things people suggested, here's what I decided to try:
*drinking lots more water
*taking fenugreek (an herbal supplement)
*making lactation cookies (cookies that contain brewer's yeast, flax, and oatmeal which are said to support a healthy supply of milk in lactating mothers)
*pumping after certain feedings every day (the thought there: if supply = demand in breastfeeding, the consistent pumping will create a greater demand, thus a greater supply)
Also, since I had gained nearly 60 pounds while I was pregnant with Ren, you can understand how I was more than eager to get that weight off. It's pretty depressing when you have to wear the same 5 things over and over because you don't quite fit into any of your old clothes and can't stand to wear maternity clothes when your baby is 5 or 6 months old. So, since Easter, I had been making a conscious choice to eat less calories....I was trying to walk the tightrope between eating enough to make milk but little enough to keep losing weight. I was down to within 10 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight and was very excited about that. But since my supply was in question, I figured maybe I should relax with this as well. So add "stuffing my face" to the list above. :)
I don't know if it was one thing or a combination of things, but I'm glad to say that it has worked! I smell like maple syrup (really!! the fenugreek has that side effect). There have been several occasions where I feel "full" and while that's not the most comfortable feeling, it makes me happy because I know there's enough milk in there for Ren. I even leaked one night, which hasn't happened in months. And we have too much pumped milk to even fit on the "breastmilk shelf" in our freezer. I pumped about 6.5 ounces in one sitting yesterday.
But...I gained back 5 pounds. UGH. It's so frustrating. I'm so glad that I was able to get my supply back to where I feel comfortable that Ren is getting enough to eat (especially since he's refusing solids thus far), but feeling extra fluffy is just a feeling I am done with. I wish I could wear a sign on my forehead that says "NURSING MOTHER: Dieting isn't an option right now. Come back in Spring 2015." But then I feel so vain and superficial for even thinking that way. It's a vicious cycle.
Bottom line though...what's best for Ren is what I'll do. And I suppose when else do I have the excuse to eat a little extra? Now to force myself to make those HEALTHY calories... :) That's something I'm still working on.
Ren is still just nursing 4-7 minutes per side, but I'm more confident that he's getting enough since I know I'm making more. I've even heard him "gulping" a couple of times, which hadn't happened in months either. The pooping issue has NOT yet resolved itself, so that is still concerning.We have his 6-month check up on Thursday, so we will talk healthy weight and healthy poop with the doctor then. But I'm mostly happy with how things are going...such a peace of mind!
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