Guess who gained 18 ounces this week? Me!
21 Jul · Fri 2006
New (to me) information: PCOS & Low Milk Supply!
Geek that I am, I have been doing a fair bit of consultations with Dr. Google regarding our current breastfeeding issues. I've discovered something very interesting and oddly reassuring to me. There is a strong link between true milk supply issues and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Much of this information is linked to a woman named Lisa Marasco, who did her Masters thesis on this issue. Throughout our infertility struggles, I kept coming back to PCOS as a possible explanation of what was going on, despite it never being diagnosed by my doctors. I do have some of the symptoms of PCOS (the biggest being infrequent, irregular menstruation and lack of ovulation). Why it took me 8 weeks to learn about this connection is rather frustrating. There was nothing in all of my books on lactation and nursing, nor on the websites I had found about lactation and milk supply issues. In all my years of researching my infertility issues I never ran across it, and nobody asked me about it until the third time I called the lactation consultant to ask yet more questions about my supply issues (if she hadn't mentioned it, I still wouldn't know now). Most of the breastfeeding resources say to "take your baby to bed with you, declare a breastfeeding emergency" and nurse nurse nurse until the magic happens. After doing that for the better part of 9 weeks now I am pretty damn sure that that is not going to work for us. So now what? Right now we are nursing all the fricken time (as usual) but also offering a bottle of formula or breast milk after most feedings, which she eagerly downs. I am pumping 4x a day, though from what I've read that may not do much for PCOS related issues. I've been taking herbal supplements and just yesterday started Reglan, a drug that has the potential to double your milk supply by increasing prolactin levels, though it may not be as effective for people with PCOS. In one of the articles linked above, it was mentioned that Metformin can help those with PCOS related milk supply issues, and while it is better to start during pregnancy, it can help even postpartum. Today I send off an email to my RE at our fertility clinic to see what she has to say about that. Though it is excreted in breastmilk (I think?), it has been deemed okay for breastfeeding mothers to take. This paragraph from an article Lisa Marasco wrote for the La Leche League definitely hits the nail on the head: "The inability to fully nourish her baby at the breast often comes as a shock to the new mother. For the woman who has struggled through infertility, another unexpected pothole in the road to motherhood can be devastating, especially when she had no idea that she might be at risk for lactation problems. Further compounding her trauma may be the mistaken judgments of others that the mother is simply not trying hard enough, or the mother herself may assume that she is somehow to blame." Not being able to breastfeed Emma exclusively has been incredibly hard. But knowing that it may not be something I have done (or not done) really makes me feel more at peace with it all (I think Kateri's recent post is relevent here, as well). Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted on the Metformin front. And the next weigh-in, scheduled for next Wednesday...
Geek that I am, I have been doing a fair bit of consultations with Dr. Google regarding our current breastfeeding issues. I've discovered something very interesting and oddly reassuring to me. There is a strong link between true milk supply issues and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Much of this information is linked to a woman named Lisa Marasco, who did her Masters thesis on this issue. Throughout our infertility struggles, I kept coming back to PCOS as a possible explanation of what was going on, despite it never being diagnosed by my doctors. I do have some of the symptoms of PCOS (the biggest being infrequent, irregular menstruation and lack of ovulation). Why it took me 8 weeks to learn about this connection is rather frustrating. There was nothing in all of my books on lactation and nursing, nor on the websites I had found about lactation and milk supply issues. In all my years of researching my infertility issues I never ran across it, and nobody asked me about it until the third time I called the lactation consultant to ask yet more questions about my supply issues (if she hadn't mentioned it, I still wouldn't know now). Most of the breastfeeding resources say to "take your baby to bed with you, declare a breastfeeding emergency" and nurse nurse nurse until the magic happens. After doing that for the better part of 9 weeks now I am pretty damn sure that that is not going to work for us. So now what? Right now we are nursing all the fricken time (as usual) but also offering a bottle of formula or breast milk after most feedings, which she eagerly downs. I am pumping 4x a day, though from what I've read that may not do much for PCOS related issues. I've been taking herbal supplements and just yesterday started Reglan, a drug that has the potential to double your milk supply by increasing prolactin levels, though it may not be as effective for people with PCOS. In one of the articles linked above, it was mentioned that Metformin can help those with PCOS related milk supply issues, and while it is better to start during pregnancy, it can help even postpartum. Today I send off an email to my RE at our fertility clinic to see what she has to say about that. Though it is excreted in breastmilk (I think?), it has been deemed okay for breastfeeding mothers to take. This paragraph from an article Lisa Marasco wrote for the La Leche League definitely hits the nail on the head: "The inability to fully nourish her baby at the breast often comes as a shock to the new mother. For the woman who has struggled through infertility, another unexpected pothole in the road to motherhood can be devastating, especially when she had no idea that she might be at risk for lactation problems. Further compounding her trauma may be the mistaken judgments of others that the mother is simply not trying hard enough, or the mother herself may assume that she is somehow to blame." Not being able to breastfeed Emma exclusively has been incredibly hard. But knowing that it may not be something I have done (or not done) really makes me feel more at peace with it all (I think Kateri's recent post is relevent here, as well). Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted on the Metformin front. And the next weigh-in, scheduled for next Wednesday...
15 Jul · Sat 2006
8 weeks
Holy cow, Emma is 8 weeks old! Here are a few things she's been up to lately:
Holy cow, Emma is 8 weeks old! Here are a few things she's been up to lately:
- She is becoming chatty, and will coo at us whenever she is in a good mood, which is pretty cute. There is the beginnings of a laugh, too, which is great. She'll do it more if we echo it back to her; she gets a big kick out of that! Most often this all happens during changing or massage times; she definitely enjoys being naked!
- She spends a large chunk of her day analyzing her hands, and attempting to aim them into her mouth, ideally thumb first. It is a difficult task, but a fascinating one...keeping her entertained for what I'm sure adds up to hours each day. She can get the thumb out, but can't seem to get it into the right place after that. Or she can get the hand to the face, but the thumb won't be out. She does a lot of what we call "thumb Popsicle" (licking the thumb side of hand when the thumb is tucked in) or "knuckle sandwich" (jamming whole hand in mouth). Neither are half as satisfying as the real thing. If she does luck out and get all the steps right, she is so excited she jerks the hand away again. It is heartbreaking, yet humorous, as well.
- She is showing more interest in toys now, mostly staring and batting at them with her hands and feet (not sure if its intentional or not, but whenever she looks at them her limbs start flailing towards them). She likes dangly toys, like this, and can be amused for quite awhile by them in her carseat and bouncer, especially.
- Her all time favorite continues to be her pictures, which she stares at, smiles at, and now, talks to. They were printed off the internet and are taped up around her changing table. Sometimes I just leave her there while I fold clothes or tidy the room (I know, shouldn't do that much longer, since she's starting to get wiggly) because she is so enchanted by them she will forget to be grumpy for a bit.
- Her mirror (thanks Kim!) is also very popular. We've moved it from the changing table to the crib now that she's more mobile because she kept knocking it down. She likes to bat at the dangly thing, and sometimes hits the spinny ball with her hand, too. Mostly she flirts with the baby in the mirror, though.
- Though we have not been too good about scheduling "tummy time", we do try to do it when we think of it, and she seems to really be working those muscles well (I think this is due to her constantly trying to climb up us when we try to burp her, etc, which she's done since day one). She does a "seal" pose and holds it for quite awhile while looking at her toys or her baby face book. She loves to push off with her legs and inch (or tumble) fowards, especially if she's propped in the boppy.
- Sleep....is illusive, at least during the day. Emma does not believe in naps, it seems. She does not think she should sleep while Mama & Daddy are awake (thank goodness, she is not up all night too!). For awhile a few weeks ago, I thought I saw a pattern of hour to two hour-ish naps happening in the AM and PM, but no, that was just a tease, I guess. She is not very good at falling asleep on her own, and when she does fall asleep on us or in the sling, she will often wake upon transfer to her bed. The car will put her to sleep, until we get to our location. She will bless us with a nap occasionally, sometimes longish, but they are so irregular, and definitely not to be depended upon. Dangit. I guess I predicted this, though; when I was pregnant she kicked constantly, all day long, and we always joked (half-joked, half-worried) that she'd never sleep when she came out...
- And then there's the feeding issue, perhaps somewhat related to the awake-all-day thing? Who knows. Breastfeeding is getting better, in terms of the pain, though I am still a bit sore it is manageable and still slowly getting better. Still doing lots of things to try to increase my supply, and I think its working somewhat, though I still constantly worry about whether she's getting enough. She seems to want to feed ALL. THE. TIME. which is frustrating and worrisome. I would be much less concerned if she was actually gaining the right amount of weight. We are giving a bit of formula each day, usually in the afternoon when she still seems ravenous after a ton of time on the breast, but then I'll go and be able to pump another ounce or two, which seems odd to me. Yeesh.
- And one last thing. The drool! It seems in the past week or so, Emma has become an avid drooler. Soaking shirts all the way through! Drool dripping everywhere when we carry her facing out. Drool all over us if we carry her facing in. I know its not as bad as it gets later on, but I am surprised at how it just suddenly started happening out of the blue. Is this the pre-pre-teething stage? At least we know she isn't dehydrated...
13 Jul · Thu 2006
Chubbin' up the string bean
Last week we went to the pediatrician for Emma's check up and shots, and found that she still hasn't gained much weight. She was 9lbs4oz, only one ounce more than her birth weight....at almost 7 weeks! Yipes! We did go in Monday for yet another meeting with the lactation nurse, and she was up 2 more ounces, but still, not so great in the gaining department. Babies are generally back to birth weight by two weeks, often before that, and gaining an half to a full ounce a day. Definitely not happening, here! Looking at all the babies I encounter, in my moms group, on the street, pictures in blogs, etc, all I can think is yeesh, those babies are chubby compared to my string bean. And Lonnie and I were definitely not skinny babies. She did drop quite a bit early on...about 15% of her weight by day 4 (usually its 5-7%), so she has had a lot to come back from. We had some early supply issues -- my milk wasn't coming in fast enough, she was dehydrated, etc, etc, so we supplemented a bit for two weeks, while I pumped & herbed it up, and by week three she'd gained back to 8lbs 14oz, not quite birth weight but definitely on the right track. We were off the formula after that, and I thought things were going well. She did feel bigger....but it turns out it was almost all height. She is in the 97th percentile for that, having gained an inch and a half since birth. The ped was concerned, but supportive of breastfeeding and said since everything else looks good (and she was big to begin with), we can wait and see for another month. It could be my supply, some issue with her digesting/metabolizing, or just that this is the way she is. It is freaky, freaky, freaky, however, to spend most of my time each day feeding her, and not to have the rolls of baby fat to show for it. If she continues on this trend, she will be off "the charts" soon. I had actually felt my milk supply was pretty good up until this point, but since then I'm realizing its not. In the past week, I've noticed she is sucking more, is frustrated at the breast, sometimes whining and crying, and popping on and off a lot. Two nights ago I was so exhausted, after feeding all day long so Lonnie took her for an hour while I took a nap and she sucked down 3 ounces of formula, and then was a chipper smiley baby after that. Later that night, she was frantic again when she woke and would not stay on the breast, so I tearfully resorted to formula and when she was finished she had the hugest smile on her face. Egads. My child likes formula better than me! (though, she did still need a few sucks to get to sleep, ha, at least I'm good for something)! So, its back to the routine, with a fancy new breast pump and supplementing with herbs (fenugreek & blessed thistle, plus mothers milk tea). There are the big guns, the pharmaceuticals, one thats legal with crappy side effects, and one thats not that you have to get from Canada. Not quite ready to make that step, but I am thinking about it. Hopefully I won't need to. It could be that she's going through a growth spurt, frustrated that there's not enough, and building it up by feeding so often. In my obsessive researching, I've found that people who've had infertility problems may have supply issues and just not be able to make enough milk. Damn infertility biting me in the ass again! It was hard to come to the realization that this breastfeeding thing just may not work for us, but now that I've admitted it I am much less worried, actually. Whatever will happen will happen. Lonnie thinks she has enough IQ points to spare a few, ha ha, and I have to agree. Formula is not the devil, though that new ad campaign might want us to think that. Its not all gloom and doom, in any case, and the past two days, after meeting with the nurse and chatting with the LLL leader, I'm actually feeling pretty good. Most of the time she feeds fine, and her latch for the most part is better. We are off the shields, though the nurse recommended using them whenever she fusses and seems not to be doing well. I am pumping a fair amount, not huge but thats to be expected, so she is getting those extra bits as well. And in all other respects she seems fine, and getting more and more cute each day...
Last week we went to the pediatrician for Emma's check up and shots, and found that she still hasn't gained much weight. She was 9lbs4oz, only one ounce more than her birth weight....at almost 7 weeks! Yipes! We did go in Monday for yet another meeting with the lactation nurse, and she was up 2 more ounces, but still, not so great in the gaining department. Babies are generally back to birth weight by two weeks, often before that, and gaining an half to a full ounce a day. Definitely not happening, here! Looking at all the babies I encounter, in my moms group, on the street, pictures in blogs, etc, all I can think is yeesh, those babies are chubby compared to my string bean. And Lonnie and I were definitely not skinny babies. She did drop quite a bit early on...about 15% of her weight by day 4 (usually its 5-7%), so she has had a lot to come back from. We had some early supply issues -- my milk wasn't coming in fast enough, she was dehydrated, etc, etc, so we supplemented a bit for two weeks, while I pumped & herbed it up, and by week three she'd gained back to 8lbs 14oz, not quite birth weight but definitely on the right track. We were off the formula after that, and I thought things were going well. She did feel bigger....but it turns out it was almost all height. She is in the 97th percentile for that, having gained an inch and a half since birth. The ped was concerned, but supportive of breastfeeding and said since everything else looks good (and she was big to begin with), we can wait and see for another month. It could be my supply, some issue with her digesting/metabolizing, or just that this is the way she is. It is freaky, freaky, freaky, however, to spend most of my time each day feeding her, and not to have the rolls of baby fat to show for it. If she continues on this trend, she will be off "the charts" soon. I had actually felt my milk supply was pretty good up until this point, but since then I'm realizing its not. In the past week, I've noticed she is sucking more, is frustrated at the breast, sometimes whining and crying, and popping on and off a lot. Two nights ago I was so exhausted, after feeding all day long so Lonnie took her for an hour while I took a nap and she sucked down 3 ounces of formula, and then was a chipper smiley baby after that. Later that night, she was frantic again when she woke and would not stay on the breast, so I tearfully resorted to formula and when she was finished she had the hugest smile on her face. Egads. My child likes formula better than me! (though, she did still need a few sucks to get to sleep, ha, at least I'm good for something)! So, its back to the routine, with a fancy new breast pump and supplementing with herbs (fenugreek & blessed thistle, plus mothers milk tea). There are the big guns, the pharmaceuticals, one thats legal with crappy side effects, and one thats not that you have to get from Canada. Not quite ready to make that step, but I am thinking about it. Hopefully I won't need to. It could be that she's going through a growth spurt, frustrated that there's not enough, and building it up by feeding so often. In my obsessive researching, I've found that people who've had infertility problems may have supply issues and just not be able to make enough milk. Damn infertility biting me in the ass again! It was hard to come to the realization that this breastfeeding thing just may not work for us, but now that I've admitted it I am much less worried, actually. Whatever will happen will happen. Lonnie thinks she has enough IQ points to spare a few, ha ha, and I have to agree. Formula is not the devil, though that new ad campaign might want us to think that. Its not all gloom and doom, in any case, and the past two days, after meeting with the nurse and chatting with the LLL leader, I'm actually feeling pretty good. Most of the time she feeds fine, and her latch for the most part is better. We are off the shields, though the nurse recommended using them whenever she fusses and seems not to be doing well. I am pumping a fair amount, not huge but thats to be expected, so she is getting those extra bits as well. And in all other respects she seems fine, and getting more and more cute each day...
03 Jul · Mon 2006
Picture Perfect
New pictures are up in the gallery! Finally!
Month One Photos
Month Two Photos (still in progress!)
New pictures are up in the gallery! Finally!
Month One Photos
Month Two Photos (still in progress!)
