Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Breastfeeding and more....

Many apologies for being MIA for a couple of weeks. I'm sure you understand what with a new baby in the house. We are all adjusting to life together. The waking up at least twice a night and the poopy diapers and so on.

Breastfeeding:
I promised to write about our trials with breastfeeding. We seemed to have a lot of trouble, and I kept waiting for it to get better. It didn't. Dorothy would not latch on, and instead of getting better as we went along, she got worse. We had several episodes of her screaming for long periods of time, obviously hungry... but she would not latch. And when she did it was a bad latch. So we went back to the lactation specialist and she gave me a nipple shield, which worked. For a short while. Something in Dorothy's latch would make the edges of the shield flip up and onto her face. And she was waking up every one to two hours. Something was telling me that she was not getting much milk, and within a couple days of pumping, I saw that my milk supply had actually decreased from a few days prior. With how lazy she was with nursing.... falling asleep within minutes and not sucking properly.... there was no way she was draining me. So We went and got a Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump for $320!! A small price to pay for sanity for both parties involved. She's still getting my milk and I am getting more sleep. It's a beautiful thing. Granted, I can't pump in public like I could nurse, but it takes less time for me to pump her and bottle feed than it is to try to get her on the boob. And the last few tries with the boob. She just licks it or sucks on the very tippy-tip of the nipple. It smarts. So I think it's safe to say that pumping is the best option for us. Not to mention that she makes horrible faces when we try to put formula in the bottle.

Diapering:
I made the choice to cloth diaper. The choice was actually made about a month prior to Dorothy's arrival, for a number of different reasons. One of them being that I kept getting cloth diapers at baby showers. Cloth diapering is much better than it used to be with fitted diapers and velcro covers. And the cloth is so much better on her skin! I'll have to go in to more detail on the diapers I'm using and how we launder them at a later date. Right now we're still alternating between cloth and disposables because of the number of disposable diapers I got at baby showers, too. Cloth at home, "sposies" while out.

Cleaning:
I won't even tell you what my house looks like right now. There is too much to do in the day now. And Dorothy likes to be held. A lot.

13 comments:

Melissa said...

Its so good to hear from you! I am sorry about your breast feeding trials, but I am glad that the two of you have sorted it out.
I am looking forward to hearing more about the cloth diapering. I know we still have time to decide, but recently we've been doing the research. I would like to hear your experience with it, when you get the chance, of course. ;)
I wish you continued good luck with little Dorothy and the big adjustments!
((HUGS))

Anonymous said...

I had the same kinds of problems breastfeeding at first too. Fortunately for us, the nipple shield was a lifesaver, but we still pumped and bottle-fed often too. It may not be exactly what you dreamed about doing when you were pregnant, but it's an ok compromise. And you're keeping your supply up, so you may be able to get her to nurse like a normal baby when she gets older.

Cloth diapers?! You're quite brave. I had dreams of trying that, but gave up before I ever got started. I started thinking about all that laundry and got overwhelmed. :)

I'm glad to hear that things are going well, though. It sounds like you're adapting to life with a newborn remarkably well.

Elizabeth said...

Great to hear from you! A new baby does take a ton of time!

Nolan also loves to be held. We got him a boucney seat and loves it! He stays there most of the day. It frees up enough time for us to get other stuff done - like cleaning his bottles and washing his laundry.

I'm glad Dorothy is able to get the breastmilk. The breastfeeding thing is so much harder then people tell you.

I can't wait to hear more about the cloth diapers.

Shawn Marie said...

Hang in there it is bound to get better. Breast feeding is so hard for being so natural! LOL! Even when you are up all night for a week and your house is messy cherish it cuz it goes by sooooooo fast! Hold that baby! All you can. :)

Tonya said...

glad you sorted out the feeding area ;) At least you found something that works for you both now. Babies sure do take up all of your time thats for sure. I cant wait to see some more pics of her..

KMW said...

Great job! Breastfeeding is really hard--but you are miles ahead of me in terms of pumping. I am still stuck being the ONLY one who can feed Quinn, and I'd like to have a little freedom. My first bottle will be pumped tonight (using the hand pump) and hopefully, he will take it. whatever works is great and I am so glad you are doing whatever you need to do to stay sane to take care of Dorothy. I can relate to the "being held" issue. I am sitting here writing with him in the sling pretending to be asleep. I say pretending because if I put him down ANYWHERE, he wakes up.

Anonymous said...

That's so awesome that you are still breastfeeding even though you have to pump. I know someone who did the same thing, and I know she did it exclusively for at least the first six months, so it can definately be done!

Yay for cloth diapering! Can't wait to hear more details. Just wait, diaper shopping becomes an obsession. Have you been to diaperswappers.com? It's really addicting!

Emmakirst said...

That's great that you are still able to pump and feed Dorothy, like Kathy said, maybe you'll be able to nurse her better when she's a little older.

That's great that you are using cloth diapers. :)

Can't wait to see more pics of your beauty.

purple_kangaroo said...

Wow, I'm impressed that you're able to pump and bottlefeed on top of everything else. I have had to pump and bottlefeed for a few days at a time, and it's time-consuming. I'm glad that's working for you--keep up the good work!

You've probably already checked this, but I thought I'd mention it just in case--is there any possibility she could be tongue-tied? That can have the latching effects you're describing, and it's a really easy procedure to fix.

D said...

Congrats!! you have a beautiful baby girl =)

Kristin said...

I've followed your story for awhile and lost the link and just found you again! Congrats on Dorothy!!

Funny story about cloth diapers... with my oldest, I went with cloth as I too was given alot of them as gifts... When Rach was about 6 weeks old, we flew to my mum's for 2 weeks and there was a request left for the diaper pail to be emptied and washed as I had forgotten to do the last couple that were in the pail before we left... I came home to find out that they hadn't been washed and a 3ft tall "mold" was growing in the diaper pail. I still shudder thinking about it 13 yrs later.

Becci said...

oooh, nasty!!!!!!! We had one pee diaper left in there last week with the disposables because we are trying to use them up before she grows out of them. It stank to high heaven so I threw it out.

Anonymous said...

If you ever need any advice on pumping, feel free to drop me a line. I exclusively pumped w/ my daughter b/c of problems in the begining. We lasted 6 months before my milk dried up, but I think it would have dried whether I was nursing or pumping...darn hormones!

I had been known to pump in airports, boats, cars, public bathrooms...you name it! I used the Medela and the Ameda double pump but always kept a battery operated single pump in my diaper bag for emergencies. My Medela and Ameda had a car charger, that helped a lot.

Good Luck and let me know if you need any help!!