You know how they say "Never wake a sleeping baby?"
Well that's crap when your baby is slow to put on weight. Her feeding troubles are resolving slowly and she'll actively suck from one breast, but needs coercion on the other side. It is frustrating, but she's learning how to use her new tongue and it takes time.
I am almost healed up from the disaster she created while nursing in the first week and once she's latched on, can nurse her with only minor discomfort. The progress has been huge! Getting her started is still a painful process but I no longer have toe curling pain the entire time, so I'll take it!
One of the issues Dash and I have had to deal with is pressure from her doctors about her weight. Although she was born at 7lbs 2oz, by 2 days old she was only 6lbs 5oz. She lost almost a full pound and the doctors really wanted me to supplement with formula since she'd lost over 10% of her body weight and was fighting jaundice. I really did not want to supplement with formula! I knew that she'd be able to put weight on once her lip and tongue ties were taken care of so it was just a matter of making it to that point. My milk transitioned nicely all day Saturday and into Sunday. By her weight check on Monday afternoon, Dash was up to 6lbs 9oz, so she'd made some decent progress in just 2 days. Tuesday, at 5 days old, she had her ties taken care of and healing for both of us could begin. At 8 days old, she was up to 6lbs 11oz, still slow to gain and again I was encouraged to supplement with formula.
Again, I refused.
We met with our lactation consultant from the hospital both the day after her ties were removed as well as 5 days later. I was given some excellent help on making a cream to help heal my nipples faster as well as how to encourage Dash to learn how to suck again.
For those who are interested, the cream is known as APNO: All Purpose Nipple Ointment. It's made up of equal parts hydrocortisone cream, anti-fungal cream, and polysporin (an antibacterial ointment). There is a prescription version available with a steroid in it, but most insurance companies don't cover it and the local cost is about $145.
I already had everything but polysporin on hand, so my cost was about $2. And the cream works!!
Also makes a fabulous butt rash cream!
The most helpful part about Monday's meeting with Jennifer, our LC? Getting a number of ounces to shoot for in a 24 hour period. said she really needs to get 16 ounces of breastmilk each day to put on weight at this age.
For the next few days, during long naps I used my breastpump and would then give Dash a bottle with 1.5-2oz of milk while she slept. I also encouraged my milkflow while she was sucking to increase how quickly she fed as well as how much she drank before nodding off to baby lala land.
Her 2 week check-up was yesterday and her weight? 7lbs 1.4oz!!
Basically back to birth weight, which is generally the goal for all babies, whether formula fed or breastfed. I couldn't help but grin at what we had accomplished in 3 days.
I'm also down 22 pounds myself and have 22ish to go. The second 22 pounds will certainly take longer to lose, but I don't mind (no, really--I'm totally okay with it taking a few months because I know it'll come off). I'm ready to be back in real clothes though. My maternity pants are all too big and my maternity shirts looks pretty ridiculous, too.
My husband went to the storage unit this morning and should be back soon with some clothes for me to wear. I hope there are a few things that fit!
If not, guess who gets to go shopping??
Just one pair of jeans and a button-up shirt or two should be enough to tie me over until I'm back into my 8s.
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| 13 Days Postpartum and feeling fabulous |
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