The Boob vs. The Bottle- Round 2

In following up with my last post about Austin's eating and overall horrible crankiness, I feel as if I have won the battle of The Boob vs. The Bottle.

So here is where we left off last week...

Austin was cranky ALL.THE.TIME. If he was awake, he was a Fussy McFussypants and I was convinced that I had been blessed with an unhappy, difficult baby.

I was trying to figure out what the culprit was, so I started the good ol' Process of Elimination.

Was I not producing enough milk?
Did Austin have reflux or some other intestinal issue?

I needed to know which of these was our problem so I could start to solve it.

I first started with a call to Lactation Services. I told them about my concern of possibly not producing enough milk. I told them I thought this because Austin would nurse for hours and hours, sleep for 15 mins, then wake up starving again.

They told me to take him into his Dr. and have him weighed. If his weight was on track, then he was obviously getting enough food and my body was producing enough milk. Also, seeing his Dr. would rule out problems like reflux.

Off the Dr. we went...

I felt a little silly since we were there basically for "no reason" other than to weigh him and see if he was gaining enough weight. Of course he was an angel at the Dr's, making nary a sound.... (seriously, I wasn't making up the constant crankiness!!!)

Austin weighed in at 9lb, 15 oz at that appt! He gained a pound and a half in just a week and was now in the 50th percentile for weight; and seeing that he lost a lot of weight with his jaundice, how much he gained proved that yes, Mommy was making plenty of milk!

Ok, so we could eliminate that option and I could stop feeling tremendous guilt over my milk production. I was making plenty, and that really made me feel great.

His Dr. examined him, listened to me recount what our nursing sessions are like, and ruled out reflux or any gastrointestinal issue. Other than gas sometimes, his tummy was perfectly healthy.

Ok, that that's out...

So why the unhappy cranky baby???

Between talking with Lactation and Austin's Dr, we came to realize that we had "A Snacker" on our hands.

Yep, Austin already must be following some trendy Hollywood diet or something because he was eating little amounts of milk, several (and I mean SEVERAL) times a day.

He would spend an hour nursing, fall asleep and awaken minutes later ravished because he was never getting full! 

I always knew he was a lazy nurser.. he'd latch, suck, stop, sleep, lick, latch, unlatch... latch, lick, suck, stop, sleep... etc.

He just couldn't focus and get the job done.

Newborn ADD???

So our solution to this issue involved two things:

1. Start pumping and giving Austin a bottle so he's eating a large amount faster and thus be fuller and more satisfied... supplementing with formula if my body needed a break to refill and catch up with his milk demands.

2. Spend more time soothing him to sleep so he sleeps more during the day. His little 15 min catnaps were not only draining on me, but leaving him cranked up and tired as well. He needed to sleep every 2 hours in order to be in a better mood.

I've been following this process for a week now, and let me tell you... I feel like I have a brand-new baby. Austin actually spends some time awake now, and coos, talks, babbles, looks around at the big world and acts (gasp!) happy and content!!

Awake and not cranky... wow!

And now that I know exactly how many ounces of food Austin is getting at each feeding, I have started to figure him out better too. If it's only been an hour since he had a bottle, then I know his crying or fussiness isn't hunger, it must be a burp, a diaper, or discomfort. Knowing that he is getting plenty of food takes a lot of the confusion out of what his needs are.

What a relief it is to no longer be the frazzled Mom grabbing the crying baby, whipping out my boob and crying with exasperation "WHAT is wrong with him??? How is he still hungry??? He ate 30 minutes ago!!!!???? Wahhhhhh........."

Yes, that would be me crying in that scenario, not him.

And for the Mommy guilt about supplementing him with formula? Not there. I quickly got over that when I realized that its better to have a happy baby then try and be the "perfect" breastfeeding mother who never uses formula. Unreal expectations! My job is to fill that belly up (and enjoy the hours of napping and quiet and ensue...) not to be perfect.

So in battle Boob vs. Bottle.. both came out victorious in our case!

Now on to the next issue.... sleeping more. :-)

One Month of the Great Bambino!

One month down...

Only 216 more months to go until he's 18...

:-)

I meant to post this on Friday, the little dude's actual 1-month birthday, but my darling Nealo took me out for our first post-baby date! His parents watched Austin for a few hours and I was surprised with dinner at a swanky sushi restaurant.. my hubby remembered how much I craved sushi throughout my pregnancy and saw to it that I was filled up with raw salmon!

Anyways... here is a little recap of Austin at 1-month:

-Our little dude weighs a whopping 8lbs, 15.4oz! He is too long for almost all of his newborn sized pajamas and onesies, but still a bit small for 3 month size. He's still in newborn sized pants. We are going to do a picture each month of him next to his cool Cubbies Pillow Pet so we can watch him grow!

-He is still very oral. We had a slight panic last week when we lost two of his favorite binkies and were down to only one. Mad dash to Target to buy more.. must plug baby up so silence can ensue...

- He is awake almost the whole day now... from about 9am to about 2pm he's awake and checking out this crazy world. I usually soothe him to sleep in the late afternoon and he'll take a long 3 hour nap. He sleeps pretty well at night (thankfully), with 3 hour chunks of sleeping.

-Oh, and we've started this new cool thing.. spitting up/puking after each meal. Hence the bib in the picture above. I'm pretty sure we were close to needing an exorcism one day.. I was about to call in an old priest and a young priest.

- Mr. Austin does NOT like the following things one bit:

Having his diaper changed (holy ear-splitting screaming hell!)

Having clothes taken on or off

Being pulled off the boob before he is ready

Being set down if he is in a cuddle mood

- Mr. Austin LOVES the following things a lot:

Riding in the car

Scratching Mom while he nurses

Nursing

Baths

Nursing

Cuddling with us in bed

Nursing

If only car rides could last forever...

-I've tried out the front pack with him and it has become our new favorite thing! Austin will snuggle right down into it and start cooing and fall asleep almost instantly. This has been great for me if I need a break during the day. I'll just wear him around the house while I get something to eat, pick up, clean the house, or whatever. 

- He is starting to smile, and does so a lot while he sleeps or when he's awake sucking on his binky. He's not quite responsive in his smiles yet... even though a few times I've been talking to him and he'll give me a little grin. Love it!!! 

I got you to wake up at 3am Mommy! Isn't that funny??

- Our kiddo is totally noisy and constantly grunts, coos, snorts, fusses or makes these odd Michael Jackson-type "ee-hee" noises. I think he will grow up to be a beat-boxer. 

And here is a little update on Austins slave...oh, uh.. I mean, his Mom:

- I am still down 30 pounds of baby weight... and left with 25 pounds of who knows what (oh yeah... all those trips to Dairy Queen I took while pregnant...) to lose. I am nursing around the clock, but it seems like everything I am going to lose from nursing has already come off and now I have to work at losing the rest. this would be no problem if my child actually let me put him down long enough to do a workout... 

- I am 90% healed from my stitches. No more pain, no more swelling... just a little bit discomfort. I have graduated from feeling like a horse kicked me in the crotch to feeling more like a squirrel kicked me in the crotch. 

- Other than a few bad days where I've broken down in tears of frustration, my mood has been great and I feel like myself... just a bigger, sloppier, more half-naked version of myself. :-)

Newborn Daze... 2 Weeks!

Well, we have survived 2 weeks with a newborn.

For anyone who has children, you know why I am feeling a sense of accomplishment at this.

I have come to the conclusion that whenever women of an older generation give you parenting advice or tell you to "enjoy every second" of having a baby, their minds are reverting back to the time when their babies were a few months old, and actually sleeping for chunks of time... not a few weeks old and squalling and screaming every second they are awake.... because I'm here to tell the truth.

And the truth is... the first 2 weeks of having a baby are NOT the most funnest, most stupendous time in your life.

Good thing babies are cute as hell or no one would have children.

Ok, so now that I've vented about my squalling, screaming newborn... here are some tidbits about Austin in his first 2 weeks of life:

-He is VERY oral and talkative. Austin must have something in his mouth at all times, whether its me, a pacifier, his hand, his sleeve, a blanket.. something. And if he isn't in a dead sleep, he is grunting, snorting, jabbering, or screaming. Constantly.

-He is very strong, and when I hold him to my chest he pushes back and holds his head up and can swing his head from side to side. He also uses his super baby strength in our not-so-fun game of "push Mom's boob away 15 times in a row when nursing and make her really frustrated and start to cry." He's such a bully.

-He is a multiple sneezer, which is adorable! If he sneezes we wait for it.. because there is more than one to come. The most he's had in a row so far is six sneezes!

-He LOVES to nurse and has made me a slave to my boobs. He nurses anywhere from 15 mins to 45 mins every 2-3 hours.. so all I do is nurse. Neal commented that I am running a "tittie bar" because I sit around the house topless all day. So if anyone wants to come over and throw some dollar bills my way.....

-He loves to stretch his little legs out while he nurses and spread his toes.

-He absolutely HATES to be changed and diaper changes are possibly the most horrible moments in his little day. Neal and I usually tag team his big diaper changes since one person has to take care of the mess and the other person has to keep his binky plugged into his mouth and convince him that the world is not ending and that everything will be ok, and that if he would just be quiet we'll buy him a puppy one day. He's not falling for it though.

sigh. they want to change my diaper AGAIN???? oh, the injustice!!

-He sleeps very erratically...which I have been told by his Dr. and a lactation specialist, is very normal for a newborn. He'll sleep anywhere from 20 min stretches to 3 1/2 hours... with no rhyme or reason as to what causes the long sleep periods and what causes the short sleep periods. All we've been able to conclude from our extensive research is that if it is dark out and past midnight, 20 mins is usually all we get.

We don't see this often...

-He prefers to be held while sleeping, but we are in training to get him used to sleeping on his own.. so poor Mommy and Daddy can actually get a bit of shut eye and not get stuck holding him in the armchair at 3am.. trying to doze off while he's happily in dreamland. So how is this training going, you ask?

Austin- 12    Parents- 0

-He makes the funniest "stink face" when he is mad... one eye will scrunch up, and he'll sneer with his mouth on that same side. He looks like a pirate. Yar.... 

-He loves to have his arms up near his face, but is still in that phase where his arms will startle him awake... "oh god! what the???? whhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Unfortunately, he doesn't really like to be swaddled, so his arms just flail about causing all kinds of ruckus. 

Living the thug life already...

And just because I'm vain... here is how poor ol' Mommy is doing, 2 weeks in:

-I am down 30lbs! I'm at 175, down from 207 (whoa). I have 25 more pounds to lose... 20 from the pregnancy, and 5 additional, since I was a bit heavier when I got pregnant then I'd like to be.

-I have no stretch marks on my belly, but I have patches of stretch marks on both my upper thighs. I got so swollen, so quickly in my 3rd trimester that my thighs exploded. 

-My stitches are dissolving and I'm healing well from my tears... even though some days it still feels like I got kicked in the crotch by a horse. Who ever said women were the weaker sex??? Obviously no one who ever pushed a baby out, that's who...

Well, that is how our first 2 weeks have gone... Neal is now back to work and I am on my own... so excuse me, I must go take my top off again...