Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Nursing...a full time job.

When I took time off from work for maternity leave, I expected that caring for my child would be a lot of work.  I intended to nurse him as much as possible and expected to get some reading done and movies watched.  I did not realize how time intensive just nursing was going to be, not to mention all of the other cares a newborn needs.  Nursing has proved exceptionally challenging.  For something that is supposed to be natural and my body is made to do it, it sure has rebelled.  Now for the TMI section:  My right breast produces at least 3 ounces less than my left, every time, no matter what.  Strange, yes.  Annoying, hell yes. Not to mention...the latch.  Right, no problem, no pain.  Left, painful!  Some days less so but always uncomfortable.  In addition, nursing exclusively means I am up with him all night to feed, which occurs every two hours if I'm lucky.  No matter what I eat, my milk does not keep the little guy full.  Then there is the spit up and gas.  Aaron spits up...A LOT!  We've tried different formulas, siting upright after eating for more than 15 minutes(which has gotten him used to falling asleep while being held), burping more often, less often, sigh!  As far as gas, we've tried burping more, rubbing his belly, bicycling his legs and Mylicon. Mylicon seems to have helped but now he's constipated.  No poop in 4 days.  We've made trips to the doctor and are now eating a dairy free diet, supplementing soy formula and also taking a $55 acid reducer compounded just for babies.  Which is challenging to give due to timing.  Poor guy isn't sleeping very well either, as gas pains wake him up every 20 minutes and he thinks that he is starving.  We are starting to learn when it is just belly pain or true hunger, but are not always accurate.  So until we get this solved, we are waiting on a poop and bouncing baby to shake out the gas. If you stop by to visit in the near future, parden my selfishness in not sharing the baby for long and asking you to put him down if he falls asleep.  We are looking to get back on routine and its taking some time.  Thanks in advance!

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