Sunday, January 23, 2011

Due date today and yet...

and yet we have the little one with us three weeks already!

He's doing very well, growing at the speed of light and he's still so so good. My milk is no where improving in quantity, I've been pumping 3 weeks solid almost and my daily collection doesn't go above 50-60mL (a couple of oz.). I'm taking anything that can help and still it doesn't help. So I'm about to call it a day. I have the pump till the middle of February when the month rental elapses and I'm sure I'm going to return it. We have to be happy. I have to be happy. While I'm constantly disappointed after pumping. Sure I put on a brave face saying "well at least is something" meaning half what he takes in a single feed...or "seems a bit better than yesterday..." while I know it isn't. I thank you all for your kind advices but I do need permission to stop sometime soon...

Dad is here since friday and totally in love with his grandson. Hopefully we'll get the passport quickly and I can go home in the near future (oh sorry, I do say I will go home, meaning my home-town in Italy, I was indeed at "home" in Dublin when I had Oliver)

If I can pick your brains a bit, I'm faced with a small new problem. I think Oliver is suffering a bit of gaseous colics. He's not text book for colics, meaning he's certainly not crying for hours (he hardly cries at all, only if he's very hungry or cold when you change him!) but he seems to be straining a lot a couple of hours after feeding. He has dirty nappies a couple of times a day and the paediatrician said when they are on formula that's more than enough, but he seems to have a lot of air in his tummy (read: he farts a lot!). What this means is that when he's still deeply asleep he makes lots of loud grunts and noises, goes all read in the face and definitely looks uncomfortable. I don't know what to do. He winds very well during feeds, but seems to be the next stage of digestion that is troublesome. I tend to pick him up and rock him and caress him, this seems to help him passing wind and seems to be better for maybe 10-15 minutes and then it starts again. Feeding seems to sort out the tummy issues for another couple of hours. He's now taking 120mL (4 oz) of formula and sleeping 4-5 hours between feeds which is a total dream of course but of those hours I'm up at least 1 or 2 massaging his tummy...

Finally I'd like to share with you all that as of yesterday we have moved to reusable nappies during the day!! I'm using this brand which I have researched a lot and so far so good. They are certainly bulkier than disposable ones but Oliver doesn't seem to mind it at all! We have no leaks as such, but I'm still learning how to put them on properly and in the quickest way possible.

Tomorrow Mike is taking a day off so that we can do all the paperwork for the birth registration and passport. Let's hope it'll go smoothly!

15 comments:

Alex said...

So glad to hear that Oliver is doing so well! You definitely should stop pumping if it doesn't seem to be improving. That sucks, I know this has to be disappointing. But you're doing everything you can, and formula is just fine! So excited for you that you're settling into everything so well.

MJ said...

I had the same issues with pumping. The Mother's Milk tea did seem to help as well as the Fenurgreek but I hated pumping and cried just thinking about it. My babies are thriving on formula so don't feel at all bad about having to go to it.

Circus Princess said...

How exciting to get Oliver his first passport!!

Lut C. said...

I'm sorry to hear the breastfeeding isn't going as you hoped. Are you pumping and then feeding with a bottle or pumping and breastfeeding directly? I'm wondering whether what you pump is your entire yield, so to speak.

I had a very difficult history with the breastfeeding. I finally tried domperidone, but it only increased my production marginally. I'm glad I tried though.

You certainly can give yourself permission to give up. 3 weeks of pumping is hard work!
I settled for a compromise, by using a supplemental nursing system to give additional formula while breastfeeding. I did that for 5 months, because I wanted to.

Lut C. said...

If you want to know what strategies we tried, you can read it all in this post:
http://lutcass.blogspot.com/2007/12/breastfeeding-story-of-letdown.html

You may want to skip to the second part of the post, and start where I talk about my lactation consultant.

Michele said...

Honey... You have permission to do what works best for your family!! It's hard when you want to breastfeed, I'm still sad that I couldnt but it was something that I knew we had to do and I refuse to regret stopping. You are doing GREAT!!

Kate said...

Yes, let yourself off the hook and stop killing yourself pumping for so little yield. You'll have more quality time to cuddle your wee one (and DH) once you do. You're a hero for even giving it this long when you're getting so little out. O will thrive on formua and his Mommy's love.

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

You certainly have my permission to stop when you're ready, if it helps.

Tummy problems are separate from colic -- my son had textbook colic (so much screaming!) but no tummy problems, and my daughter had tummy problems but no colic at all. It would also be a bit early for Oliver to start with colic.

One suggestion: You can try to isolate the problem by giving him a couple of feeds that are all formula, then use the breastmilk you saved up and do a couple that are all milk and see how he reacts to each.

Another approach (or one that you'd definitely use if you determine that the formula is the culprit) is to try a different formula and see if that helps. We used preemie formula for the first few months (plus whatever tiny amount of breastmilk I could provide) then switched to regular formula. My daughter spit up and vomited terribly from the regular formula, so we switched to "sensitive" (lactose free) which worked great.

To help him with the gas, one thing that can be very effective is to bicycle his legs for a couple of minutes, which provides some gentle pressure on his belly. Just be prepared -- he may (hopefully) fart quite a bit while you're doing it!

Praying for Hope said...

Kate had the gas problem for her first few weeks. She's still gassy at 15 weeks, but it doesn't bother her nearly as much as it did. We tried Mylicon which supposedly helps with gas bubbles, but that was next to useless. We eventually moved to a formula meant to help babies having problems with digestion (Enfamil Gentlease) and mixed that with the breast milk. That seemed to help somewhat.

Jana said...

sorry to hear you are having a bit of trouble with milk production. I will share my latest favorite quote from my workout trainer: "do your best and forget the rest" --tony horton.

i have heard domperidone might help, I couldn't tell you, I am bottle feeding my little one, and you can't get that med in the US. but maybe you can get it where you are.

milk production can be an issue with infertility. after 2 weeks of pumping that is when you will know what your supply is.

glad Oliver is doing well.

as far as colic is concerned. my baby didn't have that. but one thing we did that seemed to calm him in his fussy moments was "happiest baby on the block" you can find videos on youtube. i think their techniques and ideas would be worth a shot.

Adele said...

So glad that Oliver is thriving. I'm sorry to hear of the pumping woes and hope it gets sorted out quick (and I know La Leche League would attack me for saying this, but I know several babies who weren't breastfed...and every single one of them is healthy and happy).

I hope today was a good day of passports and making plans.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to clarify the comment you left on my blog - I am on feeding my babies ONE BM feed per day, please dont think I am able to feed them BM exclusively. I know how difficult it is to express and Im lucky enough to produce just enough milk in a day for one bottle feed per baby and even that is tough sometimes. You are doing well and doing your best I am sure. xx

Stefanie Wolfaardt said...

It's so nice to read that you and Oliver is doing so well.

Kakunaa said...

You certainly don't need OUR permission to stop pumping! We are going to support you no matter what! Seriously.

Love the bamboo nappies! We are going to do pocket diapers (we don't have a washer/dryer), and those are fantastic! I'm so glad he's doing well except for the gas. Could it be due to the prematurity and a not-so-mature digestive track? Hmmm.

Good luck getting the passport and all that fun jive taken care of!

N said...

This might be a dumb comment as I am sure you are doing it but.... Are you burping him enough/right way. (by right I mean his preferred way) There is the ole over the shoulder but you can also other techniques. That might help. Here is a link to some techniques http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030300.asp