|| PHOTO CREDIT ||
Our sweet girl is one month old today and I'm sitting here after a night that was long and trying just thanking God for our little angel baby. Although, it's tough and definitely testing my patience, I wouldn't trade this life for the world.
Currently, she's weighing just about 8 pounds gaining from a mighty 5lbs 13oz she was when leaving the hospital so we're so pleased by this progress! She's napping more consistently throughout the day and usually going down for bed around 8pm. Doing this, she's waking up twice throughout the night, once at midnight and around 3am again to eat and then we're up for the day about 6:30am when daddy leaves for work. We're working hard on getting her used to a little routine for bedtime and then also implementing some Baby Wise techniques. I say this lightly because we're definitely doing baby led feeding because she's been growing so much and seems hungry much faster than 3-4 hours so we're on average eating 3-4oz about every 2.5-3 hours throughout the day.
Last time I mentioned updates, my milk supply was excessively low and had me down and I've been trying so many alternatives to boost that but it's been with no such luck. I was using Fenugreek, Fennel Oil, drinking tons of water, eating oatmeal, drinking Gatorade, pumping every 1.5-2 hours and then also doing skin to skin time but alas.... nothing. I was then prescribed Reglan but after being on it a couple days it had me feeling really down and uncomfortable so I've since then stopped. All that being said, I am pumping every 3 hours during the day and mixing my milk with formula and at night I'm nursing until Emery can't get anymore and following it with a small bottle. At this point, my main concern is getting her what she needs and if that means it's not from me, that's okay. Every body and person is different and I'm just not producing what she demands so I'd be content with drying up.
We've been letting her sleep pretty loosely around the house where she is happy but since trying to get her sleeping a touch longer during the nights, I've attempted to have her nap in her crib during the day and then sleep in her bassinet at night next to me in our room. I confess, half the time she ends up tummy sleeping on my chest for naps - which helps me rest during the day! - and at night, she some times co-sleeps because she sure loves being by mama and I'm okay with this. I know these days will be long missed when she is all independent so I'm soaking in those moments as much as possible where she wants to be close and warm and secure.... cue the tears!
I find myself throughout the day in the trials and triumphs, constantly praying to God for patience, strength, wisdom and understanding. I want to be the best for Emery and I want to only show her I'm present in the time we spend together but doing so is something that's exhausting in the most precious and rewarding way possible. We are blessed, so blessed and beyond grateful for our sweetpea. I'd say we're doing good with this new parenting journey- just taking it one day at a time!
Small steps, mama. I had similar supply issues and that's exactly the way to handle it - don't beat yourself up. Fenugreek never worked that well for me but the Mother's Milk Tea did - just have to get used to the taste. I also took an herb called goat's rue that helped some too. Good luck and enjoy that sweet girl!
ReplyDelete<3! Enjoy every last minute xo
ReplyDeleteShe is so precious! Enjoy this time while it lasts <3
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a great job mama! I understand how you feel, the same thing happened with my supply. Once we started doing formula (not just supplementing) we noticed a drastic change (for the better) in Ava's sleeping patterns! Much longer stretches through out the night which have been awesome! We still co-sleep occasionally and those are the nights we get 9-12hours! Haha you do whatever feels best for you and your baby! No explanation needed! :)
ReplyDeletesounds like you are doing a great job! my little girl is 3 weeks old and i'm pumping every 3 hours as well, she lost a lot of weight in the beginning (but more scary than that was she wasn't having wet diapers) so we're exclusively pumping over here and it is HARD work! your nighttime routine sounds like a good one, we need to start doing something like that! we're putting our girl down around 10pm and she gets up about 2 times during the night then we're up at 7am for the day. not awful! glad you're enjoying your time and just relaxing!
ReplyDeleteDon't get down on yourself, mama! I had to supplement with Charlee for the same reasons. My body was also all kinds of confused from giving birth and then having an immediate hysterectomy. You're doing a great job and she is so beautiful! I absolutely love seeing her sweet face on Instagram :)
ReplyDeleteSo thankful to know other mamas have a low supply problem! I had a breast reduction nine years ago and we believe it's causing my low supply. My baby is two weeks old and we've already been supplementing over a week. I take goat's rue, fenugreek, flax, and eat tons of oats, but I haven't seen a real significant increase. The best thing I've gotten is a supplemental nursing system so I can give him formula but still get the closeness and stimulation of breast feeding. Hopefully I can keep this up along with pumping at least until I go back to work. I agree, I want to give him whatever makes him happiest and healthiest, and if that's formula, so be it!
ReplyDelete