Strike Day 5
Hm. I wonder if I should still think of this as a strike?
Highlights from the Doctors appointment yesterday
What do babies do when they go on a strike with a breastfeeding Mom? I mean five days like this can and will dry up a supply. Would that pretty much mean they are weaned? What would the Mom (assuming she doesn't bother with, or in past history didn't have a pump) do to give the baby milk? Would it be cow's milk from then on? Or jus whatever the baby drank? Sigh. I wish I knew the answers to these. I wish I could talk to 500 different women through history to get their perspective and experience on these things.
In fact, that is one of the things I would like to do in heaven. Talk to women and hear about what it was like for them -- from one of my ho chunk ancestors 500 years ago, to one of my white ancestors 600 years ago, to my grandmother and her mother, to an egyptian slave, to a anazasi woman, to ... well you get the picture.
So I guess my current plan is to keep pumping three times a day and just keep dumping milk. As in, I give it her, she doesn't drink it and then it's gets dumped. What is a reasonable time frame for doing this? I wonder if I should introduce cow's milk after two weeks of this and see if she'll treat it the same way and then start decreasing pumps even more and quit.
Highlights from the Doctors appointment yesterday
- I like the new pediatrician. She's young, energetic, she listens to me. At the end she asked about Dr. Burk and I said "We just don't click. I have been dealing with mediocrity for months for fear of something worse. It was finally time to change that." She agreed and said that "Dr. Burk can be very....frank." Ha ha. That's one way for putting it.
- No more bottles. Sippy cup from now on. I feel a little sad about this. I didn't get to really enjoy that last bottle with her. Tim was the one that gave her that bottle in the morning. That was the closest I ever got to snuggling with her.
- No more thickener. She agrees with me, that if she can and will drink out of a sippy with regular juice/water or milk then that is what it should be. She should still shoot for 20-24 ounces of liquid a day, but for now we are letting "her" dictate what she wants. Which means I don't have to chase after her with sippy cup every five minutes all day. She said "if she aspirates, and get's sick then we will know not to do that anymore. But I don't think she needs it anymore."
- Suggested adjusted Morella' prevacid dose, but I said to wait on that.
- Morella cried and whined almost the whole appointment which was really annoying. :( She was hungry and tired. One piece of string cheese, and sippy of milk wasn't enough. Maybe it would have been if she drank the darn milk!
- She weighed 16 pounds and 12 oz. She is now officially below the 5%.
- She has an appointment next week for a weight check to make sure she isn't losing any weight.
- In the meantime, keep giving her moisture rich foods, no more apple juice -- and use white grape or prune instead.
- Her lungs were clear (a worry I had about giving her thin liquids), she is not dehydrated.
- Her gums were swollen and she is teething. I hope it ends soon.
- She noticed I have been pumping and giving her breastmilk for this whole time and was impressd and complimented me. :D Dr. Burk never did that. She seemed to think I was kind of crazy for doing it. I guess. :(
What do babies do when they go on a strike with a breastfeeding Mom? I mean five days like this can and will dry up a supply. Would that pretty much mean they are weaned? What would the Mom (assuming she doesn't bother with, or in past history didn't have a pump) do to give the baby milk? Would it be cow's milk from then on? Or jus whatever the baby drank? Sigh. I wish I knew the answers to these. I wish I could talk to 500 different women through history to get their perspective and experience on these things.
In fact, that is one of the things I would like to do in heaven. Talk to women and hear about what it was like for them -- from one of my ho chunk ancestors 500 years ago, to one of my white ancestors 600 years ago, to my grandmother and her mother, to an egyptian slave, to a anazasi woman, to ... well you get the picture.
So I guess my current plan is to keep pumping three times a day and just keep dumping milk. As in, I give it her, she doesn't drink it and then it's gets dumped. What is a reasonable time frame for doing this? I wonder if I should introduce cow's milk after two weeks of this and see if she'll treat it the same way and then start decreasing pumps even more and quit.