Turns out my brother's 3 kids, whom we visited last weekend, all have come down with hand foot and mouth disease. The youngest had the blisters on hands and feet. The elder two just had fevers and sore throats. I've had a sore throat since Sat, but I think that's probably too soon for it to have been HFMD in my case. Though I do seem to have little blisters on my tonsils. I pray my poor baby is protected by antibodies in my breast milk at this point in time!
We've got the peds follow-up visit tomorrow. I'm hoping that her weight gain will be adequate for them. Last time I checked on Tues it was up to 30g/d over the previous 4 days, so I think there's hope.
K's latch seems to be deteriorating these days. I only nurse her for about 15-20min total now, since they told me to switch sides after breast compressions stop making her actively drink, rather than leaving her on there to suckle and tire herself out. Last night she managed to suck back an extra 3oz of milk after I finished nursing, and then had two periods of going 5 hours between feeds. She usually goes about 3 hours between feeds in the daytime. I have a tiny blood blister on each nipple now, and don't know how to improve her latch at this point. She just keeps pulling her head back off the nipple.
I'm going back to work starting on Monday next week, and I'm sure will miss her dreadfully. Hopefully I won't have too many long days in the OR and will be able to pump enough to keep her going. At least I've done enough reading of some research studies to not feel too bad if I have to start formula, though I'd probably start with the expensive Nutram.igen or Ali.mentum if I need to supplment with one. And I'm happy to start giving her solid foods to bump up her caloric intake when she hits the 4 month mark. Seems to me some studies have even shown that delaying introduction of solids can lead to an increase in wheezing and eczema, which is what I'm most concerned about given DH's history and family history.
I hope the little monkey wakes up from her nap soon so I can feed her - it's been 3h45min already, and she didn't take much supplement after the last feed. Since she sucked back 3oz in rapid order last night, I guess she's well able to make up for it later on tonight if necessary.
PS. For anyone else bed-sharing and cloth-diapering: putting a pad under where the baby sleeps is a good idea if she's soaking some diapers. At the 5:30am feed this morning, I got up to find K all wet in the back, and sure enough, there's a large splotch of dried pee in that spot on my bedsheet now. Must do laundry soon!
ETA: My mother is visiting now, and got a 1h nap out of K this morning in her crib! I put her down for a bap in the afternoon and she slept 30min. Her first two sleeps in her crib ever!
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7 comments:
You're such a great mom Kate! I cannot believe how hard you're working to make breastfeeding work while knowing you're returning to work next week. Also, cloth diapering? Wow. I've never been brave enough to go that route. :)
I commend you for working soooo hard to make breastfeeding work despite all the mountains you have had to climb. Most mom's would have given up long time ago. Hang in there, there's got to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm all geared up to cloth diaper, but don't have a little one to put them on just yet! =)
I hope she doesn't get it. M has something viral I think right now and I have actually thought about infecting myself to see if my immune response would help him to get over it faster. Probably not a great idea.
I didn't realize that you would have to go back to work so quickly. Pumping is probably going to be a challenge, but you've got the drive.
You can try a fleece blanket as a pad to protect your sheets. As she sleeps longer you might find that you need more absorbency to keep her from leaking. We use pockets and I need a large MF insert and 2 hemp inserts for M to make it through the night. I tried an infant prefold and homemade hemp/zorb insert the other night in an experiment and he completely soaked them and leaked a little too.
Ugh, I hope you guys don't get hand foot and mouth disease. I've seen that go through the preschool I taught at and it seems quite unpleasant. Good luck at the appointment tomorrow. I hope the weight gain is good. You have done an amazing job!
That is interesting about the studies about solids. Birdie's doctor said she could start at 4 months, but I kept reading all of these breastfeeding sites that say to try to wait until 6 months. I felt conflicted and waited until 5 months and have given her rice cereal and bananas a few times now.
Yay for napping in the crib! I still can't Birdie to take daytime naps in the crib. She is doing great at night in the crib, but still naps in her swing in the day.
Good luck with going back to work next week. I'm sure it will be an adjustment.
Ugh as for having to go back to work. Hopefully, the transition will be as painless as possible! I'll be thinking about you next week. Here's hoping no HFM comes your way!
Egads - I hope you don't come down with HFM disease! Your dedication to BF is completely inspiring. You've persisted and continued through so many challenges and she's putting on weight and growing because of your dedication to it. It's not easy to BF despite what people say and you've certainly risen to the challenge. Ouch on having to return to work next week and I hope that the transition goes smoothly for you. Yay on getting K to sleep in her crib for the first time!!
Yuck!
BTW, that is a very long nap for the little one! Impressive.
And good luck going back to work. Let us know how the transition goes and whether formula is necessary. I haven't looked at formula at all but I can't believe how expensive it is. Don't know how people do it who only use formula.
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