Wembley the Worm. She looks a lot like a worm because she is very long and skinny. I feel like I have now joined the club of Moms with lightweight children. I thought Briz was a skinny baby, but there is a difference between having a skinny baby and having one that you're constantly fighting to keep their weight up. It's extremely nerve wracking.
It has been a whirlwind the last few weeks trying to discover her nursing/weight gain problems. At her two week check up, she weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. Her birthweight was 6 lbs. 12 oz. The doctor was only slightly concerned and suggested I start pumping and supplementing, so I did. A week and a half later, she was only 6 lbs. 10 oz. (right before her month mark). I started to get freaked out. What was once supplementing soon became full blown pumping and bottle feeding for a few days to try to get her weight up. It helped, but I wasn't ready for that to be permanent. I was frequently going in to lactation and then finally decided to just buy a scale,
We then discovered that she has a lip tie. Not a tongue tie, just a lip tie. I spent a lot of time consulting with lactation specialists who all told me I was a little crazy. But finally after speaking with a specialist, decided to have it lasered. I was extremely tense at the doctors and tried to not cry the whole time because the thought of my poor Wembley being in pain without me there made me want to burst into tears. We got through it and it has helped.
She is now almost 5 weeks and is about 7 lbs. 10 oz. She is still small and we are working on it. She has a terrible sucking reflex (my only child so far that hasn't really cared or wanted a binky). Feedings are exhausting because I am working my tail off to get her as much milk as possible. There are times where I think I am a bit nuts for continuing to try, but I don't ever want to look back and think that I gave up too early, so we will see. It has been interesting to say the least to try to get her to nurse well, start to pack up my house, and renovate a new house. And oh yeah, I have another child on top of that! Phew! Like I always say to Nick, "Thank goodness she's cute!"
1 comment:
Feeding issues are so hard. I feel your pain. Do whatever works best for you guys. Whatever it is. I know I have vented to many people in the past about all three of my kids and I am surprised the judgement on either end. Some people imply that of course you would only consider nursing and doing whatever in order to nurse. And then some people couldn't believe that I was pumping so much while the twins were in the NICU and why would I do that if I could just use formula. So do whatever will make you feel better as the mom. (And sometimes going to great lengths to nurse does make you feel better even if it is exhausting.)
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