I think the most difficult part for me has been breast feeding. In hindsight, I should have taken the breastfeeding class offered by the hospital but I really didn’t think it would be this difficult. If you are pregnant I strongly suggest that you go to this class! Taytum is getting better but she is a finicky eater to say the least. In the beginning she wouldn’t latch and it was very stressful trying to feed her. I’m not being dramatic when I say she would look at my boob and shake her head like a possessed little baby. I say that with all the love in my heart. We had the lactation consultants come in to help and they literally had me hand expressing and feeing her like a little bird with a syringe. I still call her “little bird” because of that experience. At some point in the week 1 frustration I had the brilliant idea to try a nipple shield and that helped a ton.
Mainly, I think she’s just a lazy eater. She nurses herself
to sleep and isn’t really sucking. So at week two I started supplementing with pumped
breast milk because I was terrified that she was too little and not gaining
enough weight. That resulted in an 11 ounce weight gain in one week BUT it also
just about sent me over the edge. I’d nurse her for 20- 30 minutes, feed from a
bottle, and then pump. Then an hour later it’s time to start the process all
over again. Talk about losing your mind. It was also stressing me out to think
about going places with her and planning out her feedings. So when the doctor
acknowledged my concerns and said supplementing with formula would be fine if
it was going to save me from going nuts I jumped on it. Now I’m supplementing
with formula after she nurses and the last feeding before bedtime is formula
that daddy gives T! Supposedly formula takes longer to digest so the hope was
that she would give me a larger chunk of sleeping time before the first
nighttime feeding…. I haven’t noticed a big difference there. The addition of formula
IS allowing me to save more pumped breast milk and start a supply to give T
once I go back to work. That’s a big plus for me… I just have to deal with the mommy
guilt. And I swear now it’s like those “breast milk is best” commercials follow
me no matter what I’m watching! My husband seems to think the formula (which is
the closest to breast milk that they make) gives her gas. This was like a knife
to my heart. Am I saving myself some sanity by making my sweet girl
uncomfortable in the process? I don’t notice a difference in her behavior so I’m
sticking with it.
I think I’ve decided that I’m sticking with all this until I go back to work. I’ll pump and continue as long as I can but if I start to lose my mind over it I’m throwing in the towel. I’ve had plenty of moms fess up that they or their children were formula fed and still turned out normal.
Month 1 positives- Baby girl is above her birth weight and
still gaining… and goodness is she cute!
I struggled with Lucy and breastfeeding too. She never did latch on and I pumped and pumped and bottle fed her. We eventually switched to formula too. I would mix breast milk and formula to help with the digestion and gas issue. I am not sure if it helped much or not. When she was on formula only we would mix Little Tummys and a little dark Karo syrup to help with the constipation issue. My best been there, done that advice to you is go with your gut. You guys are her parents, you know her better than anyone and be confident in your decisions. Lucy displays no negative side effects from formula and I was a way better mom to her without all the extra stress I put on myself to make breastfeeding work. You are a great mom and she is one lucky little girl and she will be the smart, beautiful girl God created her to be whether she has breast milk or formula. Hang in there sister!
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