This is a summary of the second week of Pineapple's life. She was 1 week old.
Nursing
Pineapple has been on a 2.5 hour schedule during the day and a 3 hour schedule at night. At her weight check appt on Wednesday she only gained an ounce. The doctor (a different one than last Saturday) was concerned that she was just snacking when she was nursing. She asked us to supplement 15-30ml after every feeding for a couple of days. Which meant a lot of pumping and cleaning. Anyways, her idea was that the extra milk would cause Pineapple's stomach to expand and when she nursed she would be hungrier because her stomach would be bigger.
Well overnight Thursday/Friday Pineapple started refusing to nurse. She would latch even worse than usual and spit out the nipple. I ended up pumping most of that night and Kevin was giving her bottles for most of her feeds. Friday she did better with nursing but in the evening she started refusing the boob again. So my aim Saturday was not to give anymore bottles. I called every place I could think of to track down a Supplemental Nursing System and couldn't find one locally. I checked Am.azon and thanks to my prime membership it only cost $3 to overnight ship it (which meant we would get it Monday). Then when Wiki was visiting that afternoon she suggested using a nipple shield. OMG what a difference! Pineapple would finally latch well, the pain was minimal (and disappeared within a day of me using it) and she never had a fussy nursing session the rest of the weekend. On Sunday we went to visit my parents and forgot the shield. I went out after one feed without it to pick one up.
I've read that using a nipple shield can cause issues like reduced supply because the stimulation is lessened when using one but I'm not that worried. I have an oversupply/fast letdown issue so it's not going to be a big deal.
Waketime
We still do a diaper change before feeding her to wake her up and then usually she still falls asleep about 10 minutes into the feeding. I'm not stressing about her being awake during feeds right now because she's so young and was two weeks early.
Naps
She usually sleeps between feeds while being held by someone. We did have issues on Thanksgiving Day trying to get her to nap. It was obvious she's already using the boob as a sleep crutch. Plus she wouldn't let us lie her down in the pack-n-play or her bassinet. She would wake up right away and then want to nurse back to sleep.
Night Sleep
She started the week so well! Monday night we would wake her, feed her, double swaddle her and then put her back down until the next 3-hour shift started. She went to sleep quickly and stayed asleep. The rest of the week? It didn't go so smoothly. There are some times when she won't go back to sleep between feedings. There are other nights when she sleeps on me (while I'm sleeping on the couch) between feedings. I know I'm not suppose to do this but it's a bad habit I've formed.
Swaddle
We still double swaddle her at night. Sometimes during the day but usually she's sleeping on me with a blanket over her. I tried using the Summer Infant SwaddleMe. It worked once. The other nights she's gotten very upset at being put in it.
Weight Gain
We had a weight check on Wednesday. She gained an ounce - 7lbs 4 oz - in a week. Not optimal. Tomorrow I'm going to a New Moms Group at the hospital she was born at that is run by a Lactation Consultant so that we can do a weight check & a feeding weight check. Then we have her 2 week appt on Thursday.
Jaundice
This seems to have resolved itself. When we saw the doctor on Wednesday she said it wasn't an issue anymore. I still see a yellow tinge in her eyes but it doesn't seem to be as bad as before.
Big Brother
GV is an awesome big brother. He likes to hold her and will ask at least once a day. Then when holding her he'll tell us "GV loves Pineapple!" He likes to tickle Pineapple as well. Usually when she's asleep. So we've had to implement a "no tickling while Pineapple is asleep" rule. Doesn't always work but it stops him before he gets too involved.
Conclusion
This week was a super emotional week for me. myMom and I had a bit of a tiff at the end of week 1 which got me emotional (it doesn't take much these days) at the beginning of the week. She didn't call me all week (when she usually calls daily). Then we went to the doctor and Pineapple had only gained 1 oz. Even though I knew they would want to do supplementation it still hit me hard. When she started refusing the breast on Friday I was a wreck. I would start crying at every feeding and I probably would have slipped into PPD if not for the nipple shield. Once we had that on Saturday my attitude/emotional state was so much better. A complete 180. So the week ended very well.
Schedule
We are now on a 2.5 hour schedule during the day and 3 hour schedule at night. We don't have a set schedule because sometimes she'll want to cluster feed or if she doesn't nap well then her next nursing session will start before the 2.5 hour mark. But we don't go over 2.5 hours between feeds during the day.
0 comments:
Post a Comment