Baby stuff - long!
I'm writing this stuff down mostly as a record.
We were really worried about reflux recently. It seemed that he would eat, turn red and scream, spit up, and scream for almost every nursing session. It was terrible! Usually reflux isn't treated unless the baby has problems gaining weight. Ansel has no problem there. He's huge. The ped said she would only consider medicating if he was miserable. Otherwise, just let him grow out of it. I was starting to try to determine how miserable he was and if we had crossed that line, it was that bad.
We seem to have reached a turning point in the past few days, though. He has been much easier to burp, and most of his nursing sessions have been peaceful. What a relief! I don't think I've been eating any differently, so I'm doubtful that it is diet-related. Plus, the LLL website stated that food avoidances during breastfeeding tend to be cultural, not necessarily founded in fact. Since I'm vegan, I already abstain from all dairy, so he can't be reacting with a lactose intollerance. If there is a food sensitivity going on, it could be soy because I do eat a lot of soy. However, I haven't been avoiding soy the past few days and he's doing well. So I don't think it is soy.
The hardest thing for me lately is getting him to go into his deep sleep at a reasonable hour. And by reasonable, I mean before 10 pm. We regularly have been still up trying to lull him into sleep at 10:30, 11:00. He is definitely tired, but fighting it. My other post where I wrote about creating a quiet, peaceful environment and having him finally sleep...well, that was kind of a fluke because it hasn't happened like that much since that one time. Basically, I nurse him and he starts beating his arms and legs against me. He thrashes and kicks and hits. He's only 8 weeks old!
I went to a lactation support group on Monday, and the facilitator suggested that he is used to a stronger flow of milk from my fast let-down, and gets frustrated when the milk slows down. She said to switch him to the other side at that point. So I do, which works until that second breast slows down. Then he is thrashing all over again. So then what? I've been putting an end to meal-time at that point and trying to mellow him out some other way, which tends to result in his getting even more mad (at least until Macneil takes him, which usually calms him pretty fast). But I don't know what else to do? I don't know if he's still hungry. He usually only does this in the evening, but not after he finally goes into his deep long sleeps. When he eats in the middle of the night, it's usually very peaceful. He hardly wakes up.
I wanted to make some mommie friends at the lactation group, but I felt a little out of place because almost all of the moms had problems with under supply or their babies were underweight. Ansel looked absolutely giant next to them. They had these tiny tiny tiny babies that were older than him. And here I was with this fat happy baby. I should probably go back anyway. But I felt like I'd inadvertantly be rubbing it in their faces that my baby is well nourished. I know how painful it is to have a ped tell you that your child is not thriving from watching my sister go through it.
The woman sitting next to me had over-supply, but she came off as slightly smug. I might have misread her. I'm willing to allow for the possibility that my first impression was wrong.
Ansel is getting so strong. He holds his head up really well and prefers to be upright and moving almost all day long. When we bounce on the ball, he moves his arms and legs along with the bounces. He even started alternating pushing with his feet to make himself bob from side to side. It is so exciting to watch him learn and change.