However, at his follow up appointment with the pediatrician he had not gained a sufficient amount of weight since his discharge (babies his age should gain 1 oz/day and he had managed .5 oz/2 days). There are so many potential reasons for this - low milk supply, his tongue tied disposition causes him to burn more calories than he can ingest at the breast, poor latch, and the ever so scary failure to thrive. Failure to thrive is not a term any mother wants to hear, and it is not one that is unfamiliar to my family. My older sister had this diagnosis at 18 months and my parents experienced a time of fear as they successfully nursed her back to health while facing accusations of neglect by her school. So, I attacked the first couple of options hoping they are the reasons and in one day he gained 3 ounces! At this point I am working on increasing my milk supply (lots of pumping, diligent timed nursing, and I am taking fenugreek and alfalfa which makes everything taste like maple syrup) and we are supplementing each meal with a bottle of expressed breast milk or formula until we can have his frenectomy done. I hope after the procedure we can stop this crazy routine and mommy and baby are able to figure out a supply and demand that is more natural.
Long story! I guess the moral is that we would like you to still keep us in your prayers until we are assured he is not having failure to thrive. I have limited time to take pictures or do anything because of the constant boob focus going on...so here are a few pictures from the hospital for your enjoyment.
Cuddle time with Mommy
Do I look like a guy who is sick?!?!? I am so strong!
My first bottle
I love my Daddy!
Typical boy... I love boobies :)
One of my best friends is a lactation consultant and she said a product called "More Milk Plus" is pretty good at increasing milk supply and she recommends it to her nursing mothers that need to increase their supply...you can buy it at vitamin stores like GNC. Hope everything is finally on the up and up!
ReplyDeleteJamie- i feel terrible, i had no idea you were going through all of this! first, so glad to hear he's doing so much better! Noah was tongue tied too and it made a HUGE difference in nursing and gas!! so i hope that helps ya'll! and the more milk plus is a lifesaver- i've been using it since he was 3 months old- you take 4 a day and its helped me so that Noah has only had like maybe 6 total bottles of formula in 6 months! and i was kind of struggling for a while...so deff try it out :) my lactation consultant told me dark beer (drink it while nursing, so the baby won't actually get any of the alcohol) and its supposed to help "fatten" up your milk and that worked for me too! good luck hunny! we'll be praying for you!! he is such a strong boy and will pull through!
ReplyDeleteashley