So far in this 1 month of her life it has been a challenging one. Not "hard" by any means, just more mentally for me. And only really in one area. She is the poster child for the "perfect" baby. We honestly won the baby lottery when it came to this little girl. We couldn't be more grateful.
The only area I *was* struggling with was breast feeding. I couldn't get her to latch on in the beginning due to reasons I won't say publicly because lets be honest... Family reads this and they just don't need to *know* everything... lol
So in the hospital they gave me a couple nipple shields. They said it should be temporary and most women only use them for a few days and then their done. So I was ok with this. Until we went to the doctor for her 2 week check up. They weighed her and I was not happy w/ the results. Dr. Trent never mentioned anything about it, but I was definitely worried. When she was born she weighed 6lbs 15.6oz, when we left she had dropped down to 6lbs 4oz. At her 2 week check up she was only at 7lbs 5oz. So yes she gained up to her birth weight which was 11oz from when we left the hospital but I wasn't counting that. In my mind she had only really gained 5oz.
I was NOT happy w/ these results. So I spoke w/ the Dr. about it and he said he would look up a lactation consultant. I was excited about this because I was SURE Rawlins Wyoming didn't have one... but a week later we were back because of her eye sealing shut and leaking. But I also spoke w/ the Dr. about her needing to feed every hour for a week. Now I understand the whole growth spurt thing, but she had already gone through her growth spurt the week before, and now she was (for an entire week when a growth spurt should only last a couple days...) needing to feed every hour or less. I was fearful I wasn't giving her what she needed, and there really is no way to tell where my supply is because it really can't be measured. Plus the nipple shield makes it so they actually get less milk than they should.
So Dr. Trent told me to start supplementing her. I was beyond devastated. And that sunday after 3 days of supplementing her I had a mental break down. I just couldn't handle it. My body wasn't working, and it was *MY* fault my poor baby wasn't able to breast feed. My mom and Dave were so helpful through that day, I'm not sure what I would have done w/ out them. The next day I called around and finally found a lactation consultant here in Rawlins. She came over that day. We went over a few things, and then she taught me what I was doing wrong. I wasn't latching her on correctly! This woman was my sanity savior!! The moment she taught me the cues to look for, and how to know if my baby girl is latched correctly we never had to use a nipple shield again! AND I have only had to supplement her w/ pumped breast milk 2 times in 3 weeks. I couldn't believe it.
So now my baby girl is over a month old (6 weeks on wednesday) and I couldn't be happier. She wakes up one time MAYBE two during the night for feedings, and other than that she sleeps a lot, and when she is awake she is SO happy!! Like I said... we won the baby lottery and I can't wait to cash in my chips and try again for another! (in a year... lol)
I'm so glad you were able to get help from a LC! My nipples were KILLING me the first day and half after Elsie was born, and when my midwife came over the next day and helped me latch her on better, it saved my sanity! Yay for help!
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