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| uh... this is how i feel right now. |
i'm having issues with annie, and it's bugging me so bad. when we lived in georgia this past summer, she was totally sleeping through the night. she would MAYBE wake up at 6 am, eat, and go right back asleep until 9:30 or so. i was feeling so happy and content with that.
i know moving can upset kids... confuse them, irritate them. new surroundings, new places, new adjustments. when we moved to california, i thought for sure that goldie would be the one to have a hard adjustment and not annie, considering annie is still so little. but sure enough, annie is the one who is having a difficult time and i don't really know what to do about it. i never experienced this with goldie, so it's kind of a new ballgame for me.
annie is a very similar baby to when goldie was a baby. both wake up with big smiles on their faces. both love to play. both nap pretty well. annie is more needy though, i'm learning, which i feel like is pretty typical for the second child. it makes sense. she wants to be held more, she's more cuddly than goldie was, she doesn't play on the floor for as long by herself as goldie used to. so, while very similar, i'm noticing a lot of differences as of late.
i don't know what to do with annie. she is now waking up like 3-4 times a night (and it's killing me). i let her cry for awhile but it's not one of those "cry it out" things. she is hungry. i nurse her 4-5 times a day, plus baby food 3 times a day. she shouldn't be hungry, right? i tested my milk production this morning and seriously, barely pumped anything out. like, maybe 2 ounces total. who am i kidding, i only pumped a little more than 1 ounce. so there is my answer... i think i'm drying up and it's making me sad. i haven't changed anything... diet still the same, i'm actually working out less than i was this summer because my awesome mom isn't here to watch my kids for me every day. so you would think the production would increase, right? i used the pumped milk from this morning and mixed it with formula in a bottle. i did this with goldie when i dried up with her (come to think of it, it happened around the same age... 7 months), mixed formula and nursed milk, and after awhile she finally took the bottle. jake had to give it to her though with me out of the room... and he's not here all the time anymore sooo this is going to be interesting. anyway, then i would slowly just do all formula because i had nothing left to give. soon enough, goldie was on the bottle and life got much easier.
i guess that's what i'm going to have to start doing with annie because she obviously is not getting enough. she is also teething: she has a new tooth all the way through on the bottom and the second one is starting to come through right next to it. combine all of that with being hungry makes an unhappy baby.
do you have any advice? any tricks i should try that i already haven't? i have to get her sleeping through the night again because i am not a good mom when i don't have good sleep. i'll be the first to admit it.
here is what i've tried:
tylenol (which helps because it knocks her out but i can't give her that every night. only when her teeth hurt)
nursing right before bed to "top her off"
baby wise, all of it (which worked for awhile.. then the chaos started)
more baby food
less baby food
oral gel
formula only (ha, yeah nice try)
formula mixed with breast milk (not giving up on that one yet. tried it for the first time today)
extra cuddling and kissing
...
help.
how is it only 9:40? it's going to be a long day.
10 comments:
Jenna,
Cash is doing the EXACT same thing. I have resorted to pumping twice a day on top of nursing because I don't want to be done nursing yet. My mile supply was just like yours a week ago and now is back to normal from pumping twice a day..Super annoying, but for me worth it as I am not done with nursing. I lately have just been feeding him when he wakes up and think that maybe in a week or so he will be done feeling the need to eat two times in the middle of the night. I just accept it and its easier for me not to get mad during the day because of lack of sleep. Just push forward and she will figure it out. She won't teeth forever and she will get enough food. Give it anther week and see how she is doing. Love you!
I found your blog through Ani's a while ago and I don't think I've commented before. My second was the worst at sleeping through the night so I can relate to this frustration. I would guess that you are producing more than you can pump. Your body has to get used to pumping and sometimes it just never happens. The only real way to know how much she is getting is to weigh her on a baby scale, nurse her, and weigh her again.
As for the night feedings, can you switch off with your husband and have him give her formula and/or expressed milk? I always resisted having my husband help at night but feeling sleepy at work really isn't any harder than trying to feel like a good mommy while you are mentally and physically exhausted. My son was older than Annie when I finally got him to sleep through the night (like a year older. Ridiculous.) but what worked for us was I just sent my husband in every time he woke. He just wanted to nurse back to sleep every time and he obviously didn't need the calories. It took 3 nights I think? He cried a lot but seriously, I wanted to kick myself for not trying it earlier. My friend's son did the same thing once she would just give him a sippy cup instead nursing/ giving a bottle at night. But he was a few months older, too. I hope that crazy baby starts sleeping for you. I would recommend naps for you, too. ;)
have you tried the 'mothers milk tea'? i haven't but my girl friends swear by it. it is supposed to significantly increase your milk & has really fast results. good luck.
I was only able to nurse for the first 5 weeks and then had to switch to formula for various reasons :( but right when my milk came in at first I had a TON of it and then after about a week it tapered off drastically and my doctor told me to eat Malt-o-Meal for breakfast to get it back up. I thought it was strange but within a few days I was completely back to normal.
it's the worst when you have your baby all scheduled out and then bam! so sorry! i've had many friends in your same boat. our ped. told us to read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. we read it and liked it. but i let friends borrow it that have had your same problems and they LOVED it. so if you can check that book out! perhaps it may give some helpful tips! :)
The weigh, feed, weigh comment is exactly right. My baby is about to turn one and refused to take a bottle from the day he was born. I too would pump and nothing would come out, BUT that's solely because at 7 months old, your body is soooo use to the way your baby feeds and nurses. If the sucking is not the exact same, it won't release the milk. Have you tried people food? My Coop never ate baby food... He hated it. But he loved people food. He never had rice cereal either. Is she waking up at the exact same times at night?
Benna,
You are amazing!!! I love you!!
Alex (Payne) Allred
Is it horrible that your post actually made me feel better. Oh my gosh I feel bad saying that but my baby has NEVER slept through the night. Everything I've tried works for a little while but he is naughty and knows he has be wrapped around his finger! Same thing though...won't just cry it out and when I go in there he eats like a baracuda. We are finally down to once maybe twice a night but I feel like I haven't slept in months. :( I read the healthy sleep habits, happy child (my sisters swear by it) and I love it. It works...if you're consistent. To my down fall I am not. Hopefully I'll have this figured out by my next baby :). Good luck girl, you're such an incredible mama!
R and O haveyet to sleep thru the night so maybe my advice should be totally ignored BUT...
I'm still nursing the twins and have never had to supplement (not b/c I'm awesome, but b/c I've had great tips). Here is what has helped me. I'm sure you've heard most of them.
1. Eat like a hog. The twins take 3500 intake calories a day. I'm still 10 lbs heavy and okay with it. (sort of. okay. lying)
2. I had to stop working out completely (besides walks). As soon as I started again, I dried up. My body is odd.
3. Brewers Yeast (or beer when Jakes out of town and you're stressed. jk ;))
4. Fenugreek 3 pills 3x day.
5. Pump after she nurses.
6. Nurse before solids.
7. Have you tried tylonel before nursing? I know the girls teeth hurt so bad, they weren't interested in nursing adn my supply went down.
Whatever you do. DONT trust the pump. I can rarely pump much and I have a "great" pump. BUT, when I weighed the twins after eating, they were getting around 5oz. That's 10oz of milk being produced and about 3 pumped. BLAH.
Lmk if you need any other tips. I'm no expert, but pretty proud of the fact these tiny boobs can sustain two babies. :)
Also,
Seeing this late, sorry.
Never compare your milk production when breastfeeding with your production when pumping. Pumping doesn't produce the same amount because of different factors, the levels of oxytocin are lower, since you're not getting skin to skin contact (aka bonding), the suction of the baby's mouth and tongue are made for this, the pump is not. So don't get stressed over that at the very least.
If it's any comfort, both my boys chose the 6th month mark (almost on the day) to show disgust of the boob, and never take a sip of my milk again. It was sad, but c'est la vie, their prerogative, they just wanted real food I guess.
Remember - everything is normal!
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