I am too tired and distracted to record it all right now. I had planned an awesome post covering this year's festivities along with some memories from my childhood--things that have been swirling around in my brain for quite some time now, but I will postpone b/c I am right now so focused on getting my baby to sleep more and eat on a better, more regular schedule. Is this possible? I don't know.
Lacey is such an easy-going baby. I have always just followed her lead with sleeping and eating patterns. Hungry? Have a boob. Nevermind that you just ate a half hour ago. Sleepy? Go to sleep! I will hold you or you can hang in the swing, or your crib--whatever! It seemed to be working just fine and she was giving me a 4-5h stretch of sleep from about 10-2ish, so I thought everything was just okey dokey. Then she got a cold which messed everything up. She has since recovered but her sleep pattern has not returned. She is STILL waking every 2-2.5h at night to eat and her day sleep is all over the place--sometimes a big nap (2h), sometimes only a catnap of 45min. Last week she did this totally wacky thing where she woke up and had a boobie snack at 3am, 4am, 5am and 6am. I thought I was going bonkers. So my "whatever" attitude about Lacey's sleep has been replaced with "Holy shit, I better do something to get this kid to sleep more before I crash the car because I fell asleep at the wheel".
I know there is a growth spurt at 3 months, which is probably what we are experiencing, but as a first time breastfeeder, I can't help but wonder if I am making enough milk and maybe she is legitamately hungry. I would pump to see how much I have, but she won't take a bottle. She also won't take a paci (I am the paci). She gags a lot with artificial nipples. The other issue is the reflux. Gosh, her reflux is so much worse than Lana's ever was. She just cries in pain, burps and upchucks. Poor little bugger. Sometimes when she cries in the night, all you have to do is pick her up and she will do the burp and puke routine. So I am working on drinking water and taking fenugreek. I also thought to try to supplement with formula, but she doesn't take a bottle (I know I already said that) and she seems to be allergic to dairy, since everytime I would ingest cheese or milk, she got blood in her poop. I have since cut that out and I suppose I could try soy formula, but there is that damn won't-take-a-bottle business. I hope that my milk supply can catch up, but to be honest it may or may not be a food issue. These sleep patterns are often brain development milestones, not hunger patterns, but its so hard to tell, especially with the reflux--sometimes I think she is just waking up from heartburn and a couple of swallows of milk relieves it temporarily. I have been feeling like a first time mom all over again. There is something about sleep issues that are so stressful, especially when you are the one not getting any sleep.
So here is our action plan (and yes, I have the sleep books, which make you feel like a total incompetant idiot): Her last feeding session of the evening will take place in her dark room. I bought a music thingy for the crib which I will play at naps and at night as a sleep cue. She is still swaddled, so we will continue that as long as possible. I will try for a consistent bedtime of 8ish (although I would love to move this to 7ish). If she wakes up at 10pm, I will treat it like an overnight waking--I go in for a quickie feed--no talking, no unwrapping of the swaddle unless I suspect poop. On the overnight wakings, I will let her fuss a bit before running in there in hopes that she will settle down a bit. Hopefully one of these days, she will surprise me and drop one of these wakings. As for naps, which are all over the place, both in time and duration, I will try to stay at home in the afternoons to give her at least an opportunity for a consistent afternoon nap in her room. Mornings are tough b/c I have to take Lana to preschool and pick her up, which means a lot of time in the carseat.
I am totally willing to sleep train at 4 months. With Lana we sleep trained to get her to go to sleep on her own, but with Lacey, its going to be harder, b/c its not going to sleep that is the problem, its staying asleep. Right now, I cannot be sure if she is hungry or not, so I address her waking. I imagine it will be harder to let her scream in the middle of the night, especially b/c I will be worried it will wake up Lana.
After doing the whole toddler thing, I totally forgot the nonsense of the infant sleep craziness. I so wish I blogged back when Lana was a baby, I would totally be looking up my earlier entries. I do know that when Lana was 3 months old, she had a schedule--fixed naptimes and bedtimes and they were set in stone. But then again, I had no other children at the time, so I could devote all my energy to getting her patterns established. The thing is, it worked so well for Lana.
In the time it took me to write this, I have been into Lacey's room 3 times doing the whole burp/puke routine, followed by a little nursing and/or pacifying. Man, I wish she took a paci. Cross your fingers that this gets better for me soon, I am exhausted!
More on Christmas to come!
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9 comments:
It seems to me like she is cluster feeding right now. This happens during a growth spurt and it is her way and your body's way to actually increase your milk supply. It is perfectly normal and crazy and exhausting. But if you don't want to mess with your milk supply, if have to give in to it! Argh! But some other types on increasing your supply:
Drink gatorade (I hate it but it works) it really does rehydrate better than water
Eat oatmeal lots of oatmeal and NOT the instant kind. Put flaxseed in it because that helps too.
If you can't eat dairy you better take calcium because she is robbing your bones of it now.
Pump after she eats, this will increase the demand on your boobs and will increase the milk supply too.
Is she on meds for her reflux? From all my sources things like zantac do not work.
There's a great recipe for Oatmeal cookies (called something like Lactation Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies) it is wonderful and it has flaxseed, oatmeal and nutritional yeast - all are supposed to help your milk supply.
Getting her to sleep on a better schedule - once you figure it out - tell me. My DS2 was 100% breast feed baby and he didn't sleep through the night until 11 months AND he still needs lots of rocking and singing to sleep.
Hang in there! Have you talked to your ped about the reflux? I've known infants who take meds for that. Also, my boys never took the pacifier until later--more like 5 or 6 mos., I think. I remember wishing they'd take it earlier, too. And I can so relate with the whole going-to-sleep-is-not-the-problem-staying-asleep-is-the-problem. That's still our problem with Seth! William had those issues, too. He finally got over it somewhere between 2.5 and 3. (That's supposed to make you laugh, even though it's the truth.) Seriously--your plan sounds good and I hope it works. I think I always made the mistake of giving up on a plan too soon, not giving enough time for a consistent routine to work out. So just stick with it if you can. I'm amazed I didn't fall asleep driving William to and from school all those days that I was on maternity leave. I remember driving when I was so freakin' tired it was ridiculous! So I feel for you. And I look forward to your Christmas post whenever you post it. Hugs!
It does sound like Lacey's reflux is what is getting to her. Could have been exacerbated by the mucus from the cold. Here are some things that worked with my girls: 1) raise one end of the crib with medical books so her head is slightly elevated. 2) With Tori, my letdown was so quick she would get too much milk too fast and that would make her reflux worse. I nursed lying down so she would have to work against gravity. 3) Also, I'm guessing Lacey's on the baby zantac? If that isn't working, we had good luck with prevacid. I think it was a pain because we had to dissolve tablets but I think it worked better. Hang in there! I've so been there, and it's not fun.
Oh, Julie you sound exhausted! I wish I could come over an help! It sounds like you have a plan that should work well, I will cross my fingers for you. Have you talked to your doc about Zantac for Lacey? I have heard wonder stories about it. Also. They sell a crib wedge that is supposed to elevate them just enough so the reflux isn't encouraged. I think one of the other May mommies dealt with this...maybe LauraC? Hopefully you will be able to get some sleep soon, I'll be thinking of you.
WOW! Thanks ladies for the tips and commiseration :)
I should have mentioned that she is on the zantac (as was Lana) which has improved her arching and popping on and off during feedings, but I can tell she still has a lot of discomfort during some feedings. I am thinking if things don't get better soon, I will switch her to the prevacid. She also seems to have lower GI issues with gas and pooping. Cutting the dairy has helped, but there may be other things in my diet bothering her. Its like a needle in a haystack trying to figure what is bothering her, but I am now going to cut out broccoli and other gassy veggies which I eat quite a bit since we are a veggie loving family. I could tell last night something was definitely bugging her and around 4am she had a big toot session followed by a huge poop. Poor thing. My ped suggested allergy testing her for food allergies since she has the milk intolerance, but I am not convinced about the accuracy of the blood test (I have been through this myself).
I am however pretty convinced its not a supply issue b/c I felt really full overnight and she didn't drain even one boob during her night feedings. She did give me one 3 hour spurt last night, so there is hope. But thanks Donna for the tips--I don't mind oatmeal or gatorade. I hate pumping more than anything though--I have issues after my year of pumping with Lana.
We also already have her crib mattress elevated and she often sleeps in the swing, even at night b/c it seems to be just at the right angle for a reflux baby.
Anyway thanks again for all the tips and support!! I am hoping that encouraging a schedule will help or I could just wait out the phase and hope its sooner rather than later.
Hang in there! I feel your pain right now, Jr. has gone from being an amazing sleeper to every 2-3hr wakings for the last week or so. Last night was horrid, he was up so many times, always wanting to eat (after rejecting the paci which he actually LOVES). And his daytime sleep is bit wacky right now, too, despite us starting a more firm schedule/routine. I think it must be the 3 month growth spurt.
I really don't think it's your supply. If you are nursing that much, you are making milk. I really wish I'd had as much confidence about breastfeeding the first time around as I do this time - I have so many less worries about my milk supply. I realize now that the baby nurses alot in order to make your body make more milk. So I think you'll find that after this growth spurt you're making alot more, which is easier to quantify if you're pumping at work like I am (for instance this past week I went from pumping maybe 4oz at a session to 6-8 oz a session!! Just from Jr. waking up all night nursing, not from anything else like fenugreek or oatmeal). Anyway I could go on and on about the breastfeeding - just try to ride it out.
I also agree to pump after she eats, at least when you're awake LOL. Even if she won't take the bottle you can save the milk and use it for things like mixing w/cereal or baby food once she starts solids. And of course maybe she'll eventually give you a break and take a bottle so you can let someone else feed her:)
I feel your pain! We are exactly where you are -- eating every 2 h during the day for the last 3 days. . .And now a cold so feeding is difficult. And reflux. I agree with your friend re: nursing lying down. It's really helped. Just position her belly to belly and she drinks from a water fountain.
I share your exhaustion! It's frustrating not being on a schedule. We still don't have one. Poor kid - he just has to go with the flow and nap when he can (car seat, swing, whatever).
Please post an update and share some tips when you find some that work.
Hang in there!
Hey on the zantac front, for almost every kid I know who had serious reflux issues, the zantac worked for a little bit to reduce the acid but then as she grows, her body produces more acid so the zantac becomes ineffective. We had to go back frequently to get Nate's zantac dosage readjusted. I should have just switched to a PPI inhibitor instead (think that's what it's called but I was SO sleep deprived it might be wrong).
Basically when his dosage of reflux meds were wrong, he would wake every hour wanting to "eat." Or so we thought. He was using feeding as a pacifier to soothe himself bc he was in pain. We tried every combination of diet, elevating mattress, sleeping in car seat but what it really came down was that he was legitimately in pain and looking for comfort. As much as I wanted to breastfeed (I exclusively pumped for 3 months), things settled down a lot when he was on 100% soy formula.
It's tough bc it's hard to separate the newborn issues from the reflux issues! And when doing things in the middle of the night we NEVER made good decisions! ha ha!
Happy holidays! I hope 2010 brings you some sleep!
IMO zantac is for the birds. Run, don't walk, toward a prescription for a proton pump inhibitor like Prevacid. It has worked wonders for both of my kids. From everything you describe, it sounds like reflux might be her main issue/discomfort right now.
Good luck to you and Lacey, I hope you find some solutions that let you both get more rest.
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