For starters..I never in my life thought that I would have this much trouble breastfeeding my child!! It started with her just not latching...which she is slowly beginning to get it now..but that is after 4 weeks..she will only do it for a couple of seconds or a minute and that is after me re-adjusting my boob in place over and over again.
I have had to use a contact nipple shield since the first week of Evie's life to feed her. It is getting better than where we started. She originally had a classic tongue tie which took two pediatricians and two lactation specialists before it was done and oh ya 2 weeks of her feeding improperly because of that!!
She also feeds like a preemie..her mouth size and her tendency to sleep the entire time I am feeding her. I had to wake her up in the beginning to feed her. Now We can feed for 15-20 mins on each side and top her up with 2oz of pumped milk so we can all get at least 3-4hours sleep in the night between feedings...even now when I do not top her up in the day sometimes I am feeding her every 2 hrs or so..sometimes less or more..depending on how the feeding went.
In the beginning she was not waking up on her own at all..I had to wake her up every 2-21/2 hours to make sure she was growing and getting enough. I also had to top her up all of the time. Now if we let her go now for the 3-4..she wakes up on her own usually.
Doug keeps saying I should be sleeping in the day time when she does..which is next to impossible when it takes an hour to feed her between keeping her awake while she feeds..doing both sides and the impossible burper she is.Sounds selfish but when you are only getting 6 hours of sleep to function each day and look after everyone else..or as much as you can..you make sure you top the child up. So pumping is an ongoing daily occurance in our house. We have had to use bottles to help feed her since the beginning..we even had to use a dropper and cup feeding in the hospital. I was planning on using them later on to help out and bond with Doug ect..so it all works out in the end.
I was told not to stop using the shield for feeding by one of the lactation specialist in the hospital until after 4-6 weeks. So now I have started to try to get her to latch to just me..which is a task in itself..she gets really mad..basically just licks..will sometimes latch a little and then give up..I usually try for about 5 mins and then put the shield on for each side..its a working progress.
Sleep: What is sleep exactly.. From the start..Evie was a great sleeper..slept all the time..had to wake her up to feed her. The only time she ever slept in the same room as me was when we had her in the hospital. When we got home we started to put her in her room in her crib. Now to all you bassinet users..that is your choice..lol. Our room is right next door to hers and the monitor is always on!! So you would think she would be okay up there right? Well at night she sleeps up there fine..we sometimes put her in the play yard down here in the main floor to sleep..well now she fights going to sleep and the fact that she is upstairs in her crib in the day.
She is becoming more and more alert..which it seems like she does not want to miss anything..but she will be so tired and fighting to stay awake..that we sometimes now have to let her cry it out..when you have done everything and know they are perfectly fine..its hard to listen to..but eventually she will just fall asleep right? That is what I have to keep telling myself anyway. Sometimes it takes a little longer than others but it happens. Breaks my heart every time..but you can now tell the difference in crying and she is just making noise..sometimes it is hard to believe how much they can work themselves up though. Evie sometimes gets so frustrated she sounds like a lamb.
The first month has been fun!! We are now having a lot more awake periods and she is more alert! Batting at the ball in the bouncy chair..only doing it when Doug and I can not catch it on camera or video in time. One of her favorite things to do to Doug is pull down on his lip really hard. Make connections every day is a very neat thing to watch happen..mimicking faces..coos ect. We are enjoying being parents very much..now only if we could figure out the random fussy periods..and get this breastfeeding stuff down before mommy considers just pumping!!!
We now have had two baths where we were not screaming the entire time...a bit more of a schedule at night anyways. We have learned that we love motion..if all else fails..go into the swing or bouncy chair. My favorite time is cuddles. However it would not surprise me if she is advanced. She is so freaking strong!!!! She scootches up your body when you are holding her...constantly trying to hold her neck/head muscles up pushing her feet against things and rolling back and forth..almost to look like she will roll right over. Soon we will start to use floor time mats. We are losing our nice full head of hair..and growing thinner lighter coloured hair back..so far our eyes are still a hazely-blue..who knows what colour they may be.
Hope that gave you a little glimpse of how we are doing..we go for our 1month app on Weds..we were 4 weeks old yesterday!!! Here is a little picture for the time being...xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment