At that appointment Pierce had gained weight! Yay! We talked about continuing to supplement after feedings with formula or pumped milk. ...then...the air kicked on and I thought WOW, it's really cold in here! So cold that I was trembling and shaking uncontrollably!
...that was not because the air had kicked on. I had a sore spot that I thought was a clogged duct, but when we left the doctor I started feeling really faint. Thankfully my doctor was right there so I popped in to see her. She knew immediately that what I was experiencing was mastitis. My temperature got up to 103 which explained the chills. She quickly gave me some meds for the pain and fever then called in antibiotics.
The best thing for mastitis besides antibiotics is to nurse! So that I did! And because I have a baby that likes to nurse every hour I didn't get much rest which is not good for mastitis!
Anyway! Enough about me. We knew there was a problem but weren't sure what it was exactly so until we could figure that out I would nurse then about an hour later Pierce would take some formula then I'd nurse again an hour later and he'd get formula an hour after that.
Sounds exhausting doesn't it?!! It was!! So I set up an appointment with a local lactaton consultant that I'd like to say I'm friends with! She helped me with Prestyn and her daughters are super sweet girls that I've gotten to know!
I just realized how lengthy this is getting but I'll continue! She weighed Pierce...7.15! Yay! I nursed him on one side for about 20 minutes. As I nursed him we talked about the trouble I've been having. She weighed him again...8.02. Or something like that. Not much gain but some!! But when we unlatched him she noticed how flat he made my nipple look. Not good! She looked at his tongue...and as we expected...a posterior tongue tie looked like the verdict.
We would of course need this looked at my somebody who specialized in this, but I fully trust the LC's professionally opinion!
So I went home and shared this with Ryan. He was such a good listener. He said with the wonderful insurance we have (sarcasm) it would be very costly to have Pierce's tongue tie lasered. Suprisingly I didn't cry during this conversation. He then suggested that I try just pumping. This way Pierce still gets bresstmilk and I still keep my sanity. For now...we'll see how long exclusively pumping lasts!
I am giving my baby 100%! I'm doing all that I can. I'm drinking tons of water, mothers milk tea, Ryan's getting me fenugreek, I'm eating lots of good calories, and pumping often!
So for now Pierce gets 3 oz of breastmilk then 2 hours later he takes 2 oz of formula. Then 2 hours later he gets 3 oz of breastmilk again. I'm still supplementing in between feedings to help build by stash.
There are lots of babies who only get formula and they are fine!! There are lots of babies who only get breastmilk and they are fine!! And there are babies like mine who get both and he's doing just fine! And momma's doing better too!
Oh I forgot to mention. I had signs of mastitis again. On the other breast. Thankfully I'm still on antibiotics. Another result of his tongue tie is he wasn't emptying my breast so I was getting clogged ducts that were turning into an infection. So yes. My health is important too.
Cheers to bottle feeding! Breastmilk and formula!
Is a blog complete without pictures?!
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