At his four month appointment my son had lost 8-10 ounces.
This was bad news.
I knew he was eating less because of his reflux and he seemed unhappy most of the time. Apparently he wasn’t just in pain, he was also hungry.
Our pediatrician now theorizes that what may have started as a relux issue, is now a breast milk supply issue. So in the course of the last few days, my life has been taken over by nursing, bottle feeding and pumping. I am strongly committed to breastfeeding and the idea of giving my son formula made me want to cry.
Fortunately my very generous sister and a good friend are sharing their frozen milk stock piles with me, to help supplement until I can build up my own supply.
This has been a scary and crushing blow for me. The idea that my body hasn’t been giving my son what he needs is horrifying. But now I’m faced with the task of fixing that.
I look objectively at my little boy and I realize how skinny he has become. Most of all I want him to be healthy, but I also treasure my time nursing him. It is the one thing that only I can do. I worry I’ll lose the bond I have with him. But for now I have focus on getting him healthy, even though that means round the clock nursing, feeding and pumping.
I’ve done bloodwork to check for low thyroid and anemia, begun taking an herbal supplements, purchased a double electric breast bump, rented a hospital grade pump, as well as scheduled a session with a lactation consultant. Hopefully we start to see a turn around quickly. But until then not much else is likely to get done.
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Photo Credit: Wicker Paradise Flickr via Compfight cc
That is so frustrating!! Make sure that you are drinking plenty of water and eating enough calories. Sometimes if I haven’t been doing that I notice a dip in my supply and I eat more the next couple of days and drink twice as much water, and that helps a lot! It’s hard to lose baby weight that way, but breastfeeding is more important to me right now! Good luck!! You are doing all the right things for your son and that is wonderful, even if it doesn’t feel that way!
Kudos to you. And, you are not a lone, many women have this same issue. I could not breastfeed my munchkins, but I did pump for the second one and I also notice that when I did not eat right my milk supply was low. And, with the breast pump, you have to work the last of milk out of the breast as the pump does not get all of the milk out. I had this problem too.