Thursday, August 27, 2009

6 Month Check Surprise!

Elliott had his 6 month check up this monday. We were shocked to find out that he has only gained 1/2 a pound in 3.5 months! His length only increased by .75inch!
He was being exclusively breast fed as I mentioned before and was getting two meals a day. Fruits for breakfast and veggies for supper. I wasn't going hard core on the solids because I hadn't O.K.'ed it with my doctor yet. I wasn't worried about not offering him cereal because I thought whatever I am lacking in his solid diet, my breast milk will make up for. I was going to get a meal plan from my doctor and go from there.
Well after finding out he wasn't doing so well the doctor wanted to see him in a month. During that time I was to do one, or both of his suggestions. He wanted to increase Elliott to 3-4 solid meals a day, and to include cereals. He said we would see how that goes and decided after for sure if I should supplement with formula if he still wasn't gaining well after the month. He said that if I felt that Elliott needed more that I could start supplementing formula. Probably a small amount of formula at night, or a few times a day.
Well what an adventure it has been. I first over fed him the first day. Gave him the suggested amount of formula for a baby his age.... yeah, thats kinda not how it works I guess if the baby has been breast fed. Breast fed babies eat less, and more frequently. So I kinda messed him up for the whole day because he overate at the beginning of the day.
The second day I offered 6oz at a time. Still a little bit too much. He was really complaining from being stuffed all the time. I was only able to get 2 meals into him.
I was also very shocked at how much he missed breast feeding. He never snuggles or makes constant direct eye contact while feeding. But he was so confused. He would eat his bottle, and be full, but want to breast feed. Poor little guy.
Well day three worked out much better. I limited his bottles down to 3oz, I also breast fed him over night and in the morning until after breakfast. So he got two breast feedings, and 5 3oz bottles (it is just before his bedtime, so he will be breast fed two or three more times throughout the night as well). And guess what?!? I got all three meals in. The trick that seemed to work too, instead of just mixing it with water, I used pumped breast milk. Also, if he finished his bottle, and wasn't quiet full I stuck him on the boob. He is doing much better today.
I didn't think supplementing, or even bottle feeding would be this hard or stressful for me. One thing I did realize is that I actual do prefer breast feeding, as much as I say I didn't like it. There is no fuss and no muss. Its also a hell of a lot cheaper. There is no question, he eats, when he is done he stops. I don't have to obsess how to get enough food into him. I am going to stick to this for two or three more days and then increase the amount offered at every feeding. Slowly I should get up to the 8oz 4 or 5 times a day he should be having.
The doctor thinks that as my medical condition comes back (it kinda stabilized during pregnancy) my breast milk is becoming less and less valuable. He isn't getting enough nutrients from me. The breast milk is still good for antibodies, but that is about it. So I will be pumping for as long as I can to use in the formula, but my breast feeding days are numbered!

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