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| In Rockford at her Baby Dedication :) |
Height/Weight:
22.5 inches
15.25 inches (head circumference)
Birth-
14 inches
8 pounds 5 ounces
Size:
Gradually transitioning into 3-6 month clothes already! She
is almost EXCLUSIVELY in 3-month clothes!
Favorites:
Food- BREASTMILK!
J No
dairy or gluten!
Book- “On the
night you were born”
Song- “Beautiful,
beautiful” by Francesca Battistelli
Toy- My boobs.
Non-toy toy- My
boobs.
Time of day- any
time as long as she’s fed, clean, and napping!
TV show- She
watches a little bit of TV now!
Thing to giggle at-
She thinks its funny to stick her tongue out or when she sneezes.
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| her 1st little halloween outfit |
Firsts/Milestones:
- Not only does she make eye contact with us, but also she
is starting to talk to us! Along with smiling and laughing!! We LOVE it. She is
talking more and more! Watch this amazingly cute video of her! Don’t mind my
weird conversation I’m having with her about her poop! Haha
-She is starting to try to blow little raspberries!
-We love hearing her big (and little) poops!
-We went to Rockford for the first time and we had her Baby
Dedication! We still have yet to receive the pictures (which I will post
later). The short ceremony we did at my home church basically was to signify
that we are dedicating her to God...that we agree to raise her according to His
will...to raise her in a Godly home! It meant so much to us and she had the
cutest little outfit on courtesy of her Grandma “Mithu” (my mom) and her auntie
Maria!
-Sadly, she experienced her first cold. The whole Dorough
household got sick. She’s a pretty good sleeper at night (3-4 hour stretches before
nursing then she goes right back to sleep) but for 3 nights, she was so
restless and throughout the day she was too. I am still sick but imagine taking
care of a restless and clingy baby while I also had NO sleep. Very difficult.
She’s doing better now but I’m still checking her temperature like every 5
mins!
Due to the stupid virus (great
for her immune system horrible for her weight!), she lost weight (visually) and
we got a little concerned. However the following day she started to sleep
better and started nursing literally EVERY hour actively...not as much for
comfort. Our 6-week doctor’s appointment,
she only gained 1 oz since her last appointment around 5 weeks. Although I
would have been concerned about a week ago, this time I’m not because she
doesn’t have a metabolic problem but she was sick! Her poops are very mustardy
yellow (awesome!), she’s peeing a lot, eating well...so we have confidence once
she kicks this virus in the butt, her weight will gradually increase! We were
also encouraged that she grew in length and head, which in itself takes
metabolic processes and energy so she is getting nutrition! Her fat stores may
not be filling up but I know in time, she will plump up and become our little
chunker!
So my last blog (1 month update) discussed the issue of
“OVER PRODUCTION” of milk. I didn’t discuss really what that means or how I
fixed it so I figured I use this blog to do that. I’m sure you can google it
too and get more expert advice but this is from my point of view only.
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| Her 2nd Halloween outfit with daddy! |
Overproduction is basically what it sounds like. You make
WAY too much milk. It isn’t discussed too often because many people struggle
with the opposite program, which can be a huge reason why their baby doesn’t
gain weight properly.
Overproduction can also cause slow weight gain or even the
opposite- fast initial weight gain that levels out until you fix the issue. It
can make the baby gassy because your newborn tries so hard to keep up with the
influx of milk that they end up swallowing a lot of air.
Other problems:
bad latch issues because the baby is trying to control the milk that they end
up pinching down (ouch!), spitting up (because the flow of milk is too fast),
extreme forceful letdown (OUCH), a lot of leakage (during and in between
nursing), slow weight gain, and green frothy
poopy diapers (HUGE sign)!
Initially I thought “YES I MAKE WAY TOO MUCH MILK! WHAT A
GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE.” Then after multiple doctor’s appointments...slooow
weight gain..tons of green diapers...and a gassy baby- I started to re-think
that excitement.
I started my own research, spoke with a lactation consultant
over the phone, and attended a Breastfeeding USA meeting. I obviously felt like
a failure that I could not provide nutrients to my baby...we were both against
feeding her formula so I did everything I could.
The huge problem with overproduction is that the baby gets
an imbalance of foremilk and hindmilk. Foremilk is what comes first and has a
lot of lactose and the hindmilk is what is more attached to the milk ducts that
have all the fat. Due to the lactose content in foremilk, babies don’t absorb
it and can’t break it down too well so the poops aren’t the nice yellow mustard
color that you want. The hindmilk has all the fat and calories, which help the
baby, gain weight!
The problem women (with this issue) encounter is that you
nurse on one side then switch too soon
to the other side and there is an imbalance in the different kinds of milk.
Here’s what I had to
do:
So I had to start BLOCK
FEEDING, which basically means that I fed on one side for as long as she
wanted for 3-4 feedings in a row before switching to the other side.
I also had to (sadly) introduce a pacifier and limit her from comfort sucking since that will
stimulate your milk supply as well. We chose the Avent Soothie, which has not caused any issues with nipple
confusion. I do let her comfort suck for about five minutes beyond her feeding.
I usually wear a camisole around the house so breastfeeding
could be easy since I’m home alone however my lactation consultant recommended
to wear a supportive nursing bra
which can cause some constriction that may also send my brain signals to stop
producing so much milk.
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| She was a delicious piece of sushi for halloween:) |
I had to obviously watch for signs of plugged ducts or
severe engorgement but unfortunately
the point is to cause a bit of engorgement so that your brain receives the
signals to halt the production. During the first week or two of her life, I had
plugged ducts (so painful) that almost led to mastitis so when I had to fix this problem, I got a bit worried
but I was able to avoid it. I was pumping way too often so I stopped that
completely.
Although they were all simple
solutions, unfortunately, it wasn’t immediate. I had to do this for 2 weeks
before I saw any results (with her). During this time though, I had to
supplement her through a bottle with the milk I pumped from the first week of
her life that had a ton of hindmilk. That is probably how we got her to gain so
much weight in only 3 days. After that time period, we went back to exclusively
breastfeeding to measure the work I put in but then she got sick (she is on the
end of the sickness right now) and it stressed her body out quite a bit that
she lost some ounces but did not go below her weight from the last appointment
which is a good sign that my work paid off.
My letdown is also less forceful (it use to cause me to bend
over in pain!) and the milk isn’t squirting out like it did (which is another
symptom). Her latch is also much better now that the milk isn’t gushing into her
mouth and she has a lot more control over the flow.
I still block feed (only for 2 feedings in a row) but due to
the fact that I am an “overproducer”,
she never really “empties” one side before she is satiated so I only have to
feed her on one side.
I never expected
to have this many issues with breastfeeding (we had a lot of latch
issues...plugged ducts...etc) but I completely appreciate the entire science
and art of it all. I know that after
delivering Estella drug free and going through all that real pain...I knew I could not give up with breastfeeding even when
it seemed so easy to do so.
She is 6 weeks old now and we have a lot of these issues worked out however I know it will
continuously be a work in progress.
“Why don’t you just bottle feed her?!”
What makes it all worth it?
When she looks up at me already
and gives me a beautiful smile. Another form of intimacy that I never could imagine.
She knows that I am taking care of her and that makes my
world go round.
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