![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ups and Downs
Jun. 12th, 2012 03:24 pmMina's eating has gotten so much easier than in our early days. She's more efficient and less awkward (as far as taking food in) for the most part.
She's doing the normal for her age thing now, of getting distracted sometimes while eating, and also being very grabby at me. It is both cute and difficult. But her actual EATING has gotten to be very good. However, she does not like eating if it is hot and the two of us are consequently, sweaty. I'm not sure how to deal with this over the summer. Twice on Sunday she just refused to eat after trying for a minute or two. She made up for it with a lengthy session later in the day when the temperature was more comfortable. Like mother like daughter. I hate, hate, hate the heat and humidity and sweating that results from just sitting there in the warm weather. It makes me quite crabby. But I digress.
Up till now I've managed to just pump enough for my four 5-ounce daycare bottles. This is extremely stressful to me. The undrunk bottles that are sometimes leftover at the end of the daycare day save me. I get so excited to see them! As do the few extra pumping sessions I get at home either before work or before bed.
Mina eats every 2.5 to 4 hours at home from me. She eats pretty much every 2-2.5 hours at daycare. Whether this is her wanting to eat more often or them misinterpreting signals for hunger (lately she wants to chew a lot: teething), who knows. Folks seem to think that 3 or 4 five-ounce bottles while there is quite a bit. She surely has gained a lot of weight over a short period of time, but the Pedi thought that was more due to eating too much/too often at night to settle herself (out of tiredness/neediness more than hunger).
Today's production has been in the toilet. I pumped just shy of 2 bottles worth for daycare in my 3 sessions. Ideally I would pump enough for 3 bottles over the 3 times. Maybe there will be an extra left over today when I pick her up and maybe there won't. It means it will be the first time I've had to supplement a full bottle of formula (or two) for her there since her first day. After that, I had the milk that I had pumped at work the day before to give.
She eats just fine on the weekend - not fussy and no strange/frequent frequency. I still think it is an issue with my letdown. Or maybe I need another fricken shield that is a size larger? I'm not sure if they make them bigger . . . Isis doesn't sell them bigger than the XL/30 mm. I cannot be that - needy.
I'm doing all the things I should be during pumping, but despite that, I wonder if my body is starting to slow down? We've come so much further than I thought we would given all of the issues we've had. The weekend feedings are so good. It just bums me out and frustrates me that at work I am having such difficulty. We have come so far.
There are so many factors at play here. Water intake. Diet. Stress. Pump efficiency (the hospital rental being better than the one I purchased - I don't want to lug it home every night with me). Or maybe things are just the way they are going to be.
I knew that people had a difficult time breastfeeding. I never had thought of the struggle I would have with the weaning decision. One hour I want to start weaning and the next I am just heartbroken that my supply seems to be dropping off (at least today). I didn't have a set time frame in my head to breastfeed. I was going to just see how it went. Having had no expectations, the "how long should I keep up the good fight" doesn't have a good or easy answer for me.
She's doing the normal for her age thing now, of getting distracted sometimes while eating, and also being very grabby at me. It is both cute and difficult. But her actual EATING has gotten to be very good. However, she does not like eating if it is hot and the two of us are consequently, sweaty. I'm not sure how to deal with this over the summer. Twice on Sunday she just refused to eat after trying for a minute or two. She made up for it with a lengthy session later in the day when the temperature was more comfortable. Like mother like daughter. I hate, hate, hate the heat and humidity and sweating that results from just sitting there in the warm weather. It makes me quite crabby. But I digress.
Up till now I've managed to just pump enough for my four 5-ounce daycare bottles. This is extremely stressful to me. The undrunk bottles that are sometimes leftover at the end of the daycare day save me. I get so excited to see them! As do the few extra pumping sessions I get at home either before work or before bed.
Mina eats every 2.5 to 4 hours at home from me. She eats pretty much every 2-2.5 hours at daycare. Whether this is her wanting to eat more often or them misinterpreting signals for hunger (lately she wants to chew a lot: teething), who knows. Folks seem to think that 3 or 4 five-ounce bottles while there is quite a bit. She surely has gained a lot of weight over a short period of time, but the Pedi thought that was more due to eating too much/too often at night to settle herself (out of tiredness/neediness more than hunger).
Today's production has been in the toilet. I pumped just shy of 2 bottles worth for daycare in my 3 sessions. Ideally I would pump enough for 3 bottles over the 3 times. Maybe there will be an extra left over today when I pick her up and maybe there won't. It means it will be the first time I've had to supplement a full bottle of formula (or two) for her there since her first day. After that, I had the milk that I had pumped at work the day before to give.
She eats just fine on the weekend - not fussy and no strange/frequent frequency. I still think it is an issue with my letdown. Or maybe I need another fricken shield that is a size larger? I'm not sure if they make them bigger . . . Isis doesn't sell them bigger than the XL/30 mm. I cannot be that - needy.
I'm doing all the things I should be during pumping, but despite that, I wonder if my body is starting to slow down? We've come so much further than I thought we would given all of the issues we've had. The weekend feedings are so good. It just bums me out and frustrates me that at work I am having such difficulty. We have come so far.
There are so many factors at play here. Water intake. Diet. Stress. Pump efficiency (the hospital rental being better than the one I purchased - I don't want to lug it home every night with me). Or maybe things are just the way they are going to be.
I knew that people had a difficult time breastfeeding. I never had thought of the struggle I would have with the weaning decision. One hour I want to start weaning and the next I am just heartbroken that my supply seems to be dropping off (at least today). I didn't have a set time frame in my head to breastfeed. I was going to just see how it went. Having had no expectations, the "how long should I keep up the good fight" doesn't have a good or easy answer for me.
