One Week Old
Ansel is gaining weight fast! He only lost 2 ounces before he started gaining again (newborns can lose up up to 10% of their birth weight in the early days). He is a voracious eater and he's got a latch of steel. Ouch. I'm making a ton of milk and it's been a little frustrating to leak all over everything all the time. I've been nervous about going ( Read more... )
You sound like you're doing great. Sleep is always something hard to come by with a newborn in the house. Just do what you can. I had trouble with side-lying nursing until my kids were a few weeks older, as well. It gets much easier when you don't have to check the latch so much anymore. I ended up asleep in the recliner with a baby in my arms quite often!
I used to double up on the nursing pads or use disposable paper nursing pads when I was really leaking a lot; I know you may not want to buy those, but if you do, the Target & Johnson's brands are comfy and the Lansinoh brand is really itchy.
You can also gently press with your forearm, this works great while nursing on the other side, or if you're not feeding him and feel the let-down reflex starting. (like, in line at the grocery store the first time you actually leave the house without him, BTDT!) It usually takes about 6 weeks for milk supply to regulate, sometimes as little as 3.
If he's fussing a lot at feeding time as the weeks go on, you may want to look into tips for oversupply / fast let-down. I had this with both kids. Block feeding (one side at a time for a certain # of hours) worked great for us. Nursing uphill didn't work for me at all, I just couldn't get the hang of it.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html
The funny thing is that once I had the letdown tamed back a bit so they weren't getting sprayed in the eyeball, they each fussed at me because the milk wasn't coming fast enough. Ha, ha. Funny babies!
I bet you are getting much better breastfeeding info from your midwife than I did from any of the OBs or pediatricians we have seen! ;) And you have your sister nearby to help, which is wonderful.
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