Friday, October 16, 2009

The breastfeeding plan

So the plan to solve the breastfeeding problem is this. Each time I feed Thomas I get the distinct pleasure of:

  • Making sure he empties both sides. This actually means massaging my boobs the whole time. Apparently I'm looking for hidden milk. As if I'd know if I found it.... The truth is I feel stupid doing this, but whatever. Seems like a waste of getting felt up if you ask me.
  • Use the Supplemental Nutritional System (SNS) to feed him another ounce of formula. The SNS is a horrible device. It's a syringe with a hose coming out of it. The hose goes into his mouth along with my nipple and he sucks the milk out of it. The point? He's stimulating my breasts while he's getting milk. The problems? The hose hurts the nipples. The baby gets irritated by the hose and breaks his latch every few minutes. The husband thinks it's fun to squirt formula out of the syringe. 
  • Pump for 15 minutes. You should see this. But because of my strict adherence to the law of modesty pride you never will. Unless you're my mommy. I get to hold the pumps up to me while I'm hooked up to the big hospital pump on wheels in my living room. It pumps and I sit there. Holding it and watching. 15 minutes has never seemed so long. In 15 minutes I pumped a whopping 1/4 ounce.
So, that combined with some herbs I'm taking (2 different herbs, 3 pills, 3 times a day) should increase my milk supply within a week. 

The problem? This whole process generally takes about an hour (if all goes as it should) and we repeat every 3 hours. Sometimes I have time to shower in between. Yesterday we had time to go to the Dr. AND I helped Josh make the bed. Pretty impressive day huh?

4 comments:

  1. Way to go on the weight gain, Baby Thomas!
    And keep hanging in there, Amy. The first few weeks can be pretty rough, but it just gets better and better. My Mom always says, "You know you're doing really well when going to the bathroom isn't a big deal anymore." HA HA!

    And I agree that there is something totally degrading about pumping. I always tell James not to look at me!

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  2. Fenguroot is what my friend Bridget recommends. I have no idea what it is...but it would be interesting to know what herbs you're taking...just to know.

    Anyway, sounds like the plan is working so far.

    And I always found nursing to be much more effective at emptying the breast than the pump ever was, so don't feel too bad about that 1/4 ounce.

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  3. Way to go, Tommy!
    Way to go, Mommy!

    ReplyDelete

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