Starving surrounded by abundance.
Apr. 20th, 2005 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaSo, despite my confidence last Friday that we had the whole nursing thing worked out, Li'l Alex continues not to gain weight. At Monday's weight check, she had lost an additional ounce over the weekend. Today, she was steady with Monday's weight. This isn't good.
Yesterday I took her to the lactation clinic at a local hospital. The women there were just phenomenal. They spent two hours with me, despite the fact that my consultation fee only entitled me to an hour's help. They weighed Alex before and after a feed to see how much she ate (1.3 ounces, perfectly respectable for an eight-day-old baby), watched us nurse and made adjustments, and came up with the following diagnosis:
My tits are too big.
They're heavy, which makes them prone to drop out of position while she's nursing. One is larger than the other, and on that side she has trouble getting her mouth around enough of the nipple to get a really good latch. That side is therefore not draining completely when she nurses, which means that it stays engorged, which makes it harder for her to get the damn thing into her mouth. I've developed a nasty crack in the skin on that side from her improper latch. My small arm is also creating minor positioning difficulties, which they helped me work out.
But seriously: it seems that she's not gaining weight because I'm too well-endowed. They fitted me for a nursing bra? Size 36J. I bet you didn't even know that size existed. If it weren't for the fact that nursing bras are the ugliest damn things in the world, I'd belong on the cover of a porno mag. It's a wonder I don't tip forward when I walk. 36J. I know other women who are probably J-cups, but for heaven's sake, they don't have a 36-inch chest.
In addition to the massive support garment, the nice women at the lactation clinic supplied me with a nipple shield, which provides a more well-defined target for Alex to latch on to and also protects the cracked nipple. They rented me a hospital-grade breast pump, at least for the first month, so that I can (a) pump out the extra milk that's staying in the breast, and (b) supplement her breastfeeding with bottles of expressed milk. That's already helping with the engorgement, and hopefully it will allow her to put on a few quick and easy ounces.
Best of all, my involvement with the lactation clinic appears to mean that I am exempt from receiving any further stupid breastfeeding advice from the nurse practitioners at my pediatrician's office. (Latest sample: "don't nurse more than ten minutes on a side, because she'll burn more calories nursing than she'll take in.")
I go back for a re-check tomorrow. Please let her have gained some weight.
(Yes, I am considerably more worried than this post makes me sound. I am actually sick with worry that I am starving my baby, and that even though she is nursing and filling diapers and looks well to me she isn't getting adequate nutrition and it's all my fault. I cried all over the lactation clinic ladies yesterday, and expect that I'll do the same tomorrow. But we'll get by.)
Yesterday I took her to the lactation clinic at a local hospital. The women there were just phenomenal. They spent two hours with me, despite the fact that my consultation fee only entitled me to an hour's help. They weighed Alex before and after a feed to see how much she ate (1.3 ounces, perfectly respectable for an eight-day-old baby), watched us nurse and made adjustments, and came up with the following diagnosis:
My tits are too big.
They're heavy, which makes them prone to drop out of position while she's nursing. One is larger than the other, and on that side she has trouble getting her mouth around enough of the nipple to get a really good latch. That side is therefore not draining completely when she nurses, which means that it stays engorged, which makes it harder for her to get the damn thing into her mouth. I've developed a nasty crack in the skin on that side from her improper latch. My small arm is also creating minor positioning difficulties, which they helped me work out.
But seriously: it seems that she's not gaining weight because I'm too well-endowed. They fitted me for a nursing bra? Size 36J. I bet you didn't even know that size existed. If it weren't for the fact that nursing bras are the ugliest damn things in the world, I'd belong on the cover of a porno mag. It's a wonder I don't tip forward when I walk. 36J. I know other women who are probably J-cups, but for heaven's sake, they don't have a 36-inch chest.
In addition to the massive support garment, the nice women at the lactation clinic supplied me with a nipple shield, which provides a more well-defined target for Alex to latch on to and also protects the cracked nipple. They rented me a hospital-grade breast pump, at least for the first month, so that I can (a) pump out the extra milk that's staying in the breast, and (b) supplement her breastfeeding with bottles of expressed milk. That's already helping with the engorgement, and hopefully it will allow her to put on a few quick and easy ounces.
Best of all, my involvement with the lactation clinic appears to mean that I am exempt from receiving any further stupid breastfeeding advice from the nurse practitioners at my pediatrician's office. (Latest sample: "don't nurse more than ten minutes on a side, because she'll burn more calories nursing than she'll take in.")
I go back for a re-check tomorrow. Please let her have gained some weight.
(Yes, I am considerably more worried than this post makes me sound. I am actually sick with worry that I am starving my baby, and that even though she is nursing and filling diapers and looks well to me she isn't getting adequate nutrition and it's all my fault. I cried all over the lactation clinic ladies yesterday, and expect that I'll do the same tomorrow. But we'll get by.)
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-21 02:46 am (UTC)None of which is to minimze the stress and anxiety you're experiencing, but perhaps to sound a note of encouragement that it's not just you and other women have gotten through this and have thriving babies!