Adventures in Lactation

Here's the thing. I kept trying to avoid mentioning breast feeding on my blog, because, well, my dad reads the blog. And my father-in-law. And if you're one of those two guys do you really want to read about my breast feeding? What about my brother? Yeah, him either. But, it's the main focus of my life right now and I need some things documented. As I have demonstrated numerous times over the past months, my brain is full, so my blog it is!

Drew and I did not have a successful go at breast feeding. There were lots of reasons for that, and by the time I quit at near 8 weeks, I was not sad at all-only relieved. I have been thrilled at what a great nurser little Emily is. Things started out great in the hospital-she latched right on and nursed like there was no tomorrow. And then the hurdles started coming.

Our first hurdle was the pediatric version of Nurse Ratched who tried to convince me that my baby would starve to death if she didn't get some formula. In the middle of the night. When I had a two day old. Thanks, lady. Sheesh.

Second, Emily would periodically forget how to latch on. Like from one feeding to the other.

Third, she decided one side was just fine with her and the other side was clearly from the devil. This presents all sorts of issues. I'll spare you the details.

Fourth, we tackled our first growth spurt. For those of you who don't know, these growth spurts are also known as "marathon feedings". Sounds fun, huh?

In the midst of all of this, Emily started having some major stomach issues. We believed her issues to be reflux-like Drew-and started her on reflux medicine. As her discomfort continued, we moved her up to taking a PPI (Proton Pump Inhibitor) that was the saving grace when Drew was a baby. Turns out this medicine only made her issues worse. She cried and screamed each evening and was very fussy during the day. We were all stressed out and I decided I needed to work harder to help her.

Which leads to our fifth hurdle. I am now on a super strict elimination diet, trying to give Em's intestines time to heal up and then determine what the offenders are that make her stomach hurt. Here are the five foods I am currently eating: rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pears, and organic turkey. Sounds yummy, huh?? Thankfully, I love rice and sweet potatoes, and I am learning to really love pears! The good news is that the evening scream fests have ceased and hopefully soon her belly will be all better.

And, just in case things were calm for too long, we're having ANOTHER growth spurt.

As long as she keeps eating, I'll keep feeding her. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that some peace is on it's way!!!