so, i think i should share about the first couple days of motherhood, because they were an experience!
i never imagined that so much of my sanity could be dependent on my breasts! :P i guess that's what happens when you suddenly become a 24/7 restaurant.
just after jia was born, and before we had even left the delivery room, they wiped her off and handed her to me to breast feed.
my mom laughed because she said you could hear sucking all the way across the room! the girl knew exactly what to do, and she was doing it vigorously!
however, the cruel joke of mother nature that they don't tell you is that you don't actually get breast milk for 3-5 days after giving birth! in the mean time, you have something called colostrum, and it is there in much smaller quantity...though they said just a few drops of it in each feeding is all the nutrition a newborn needs in the first few days.
well, not my newborn apparently.
on our first night, she wanted to feed constantly. i would give her a feeding, and then two seconds later she'd be asking for more. now remember that this is after i've already been in 36 hours of labor and still haven't slept.
the hospital lactation consultants made their rounds the next day, and she told me my colostrum was plentiful and i shouldn't worry.
but then little jia started to get angry! i had predicted she might have inherited the "hangry" (hungry +angry) quality from my family before she was even born. while most preggo moms say that their baby is extra still if they haven't eaten, when i was preggo if i went to long without eating little jia would be thrashing about everywhere.
on our first night home, the little girl who had always so vigorously and eagerly taken to the breast now started refusing it and throwing tantrums any time i tried to put her near it! she was just absolutely frustrated that she had to put in so much effort, for so little reward!
the next day we had an appointment with her pediatrician. at this point i was so exhausted after another sleepless night, and probably emotional from hormones on top of that that i was desperate to figure out what the deal was.
the doctor checked her out and weighed her, and she had indeed lost about 9oz since leaving the hospital the day before. he said that while colostrum would nutritionally be enough for her for a couple more days, she seemed to have a much bigger appetite than most newborns, so he recommended that we supplement with formula until my milk came in.
i had initially been hesitant about introducing her to the bottle very early. i heard it makes babies not want to drink from the boob after that since it's more work. but at that point, i knew we needed to give her what she needed for our own sanity. plus, it was absolutely heart breaking to watch her frantic, and to feel helpless to do anything! :(
right there in the doctors office she downed a bunch of formula in a matter of seconds. newborn tummies are very small, so the doc was surprised at how much she ate. it looks like we may have a chunk on our hands though. :)
since we started supplementing, it's like we have a whole new baby! those first couple days i was thinking in the back of my mind that my husband and i would both need to quit working or something to raise this kid, because it was seeming like a 2 person job...at least! haha. now she is so chilled out and happy though...a pretty mellow kid. :)
my milk thankfully let down the next day as well, which also made things easier, and she's been able to make the adjust back and forth now pretty well. it certainly doesn't make sense to me though that milk takes a few days to arrive! someday i might have to ask God what that was about. maybe not all newbies are little porkers like ours. :)
i never imagined that so much of my sanity could be dependent on my breasts! :P i guess that's what happens when you suddenly become a 24/7 restaurant.
just after jia was born, and before we had even left the delivery room, they wiped her off and handed her to me to breast feed.
my mom laughed because she said you could hear sucking all the way across the room! the girl knew exactly what to do, and she was doing it vigorously!
however, the cruel joke of mother nature that they don't tell you is that you don't actually get breast milk for 3-5 days after giving birth! in the mean time, you have something called colostrum, and it is there in much smaller quantity...though they said just a few drops of it in each feeding is all the nutrition a newborn needs in the first few days.
well, not my newborn apparently.
on our first night, she wanted to feed constantly. i would give her a feeding, and then two seconds later she'd be asking for more. now remember that this is after i've already been in 36 hours of labor and still haven't slept.
the hospital lactation consultants made their rounds the next day, and she told me my colostrum was plentiful and i shouldn't worry.
but then little jia started to get angry! i had predicted she might have inherited the "hangry" (hungry +angry) quality from my family before she was even born. while most preggo moms say that their baby is extra still if they haven't eaten, when i was preggo if i went to long without eating little jia would be thrashing about everywhere.
on our first night home, the little girl who had always so vigorously and eagerly taken to the breast now started refusing it and throwing tantrums any time i tried to put her near it! she was just absolutely frustrated that she had to put in so much effort, for so little reward!
the next day we had an appointment with her pediatrician. at this point i was so exhausted after another sleepless night, and probably emotional from hormones on top of that that i was desperate to figure out what the deal was.
the doctor checked her out and weighed her, and she had indeed lost about 9oz since leaving the hospital the day before. he said that while colostrum would nutritionally be enough for her for a couple more days, she seemed to have a much bigger appetite than most newborns, so he recommended that we supplement with formula until my milk came in.
i had initially been hesitant about introducing her to the bottle very early. i heard it makes babies not want to drink from the boob after that since it's more work. but at that point, i knew we needed to give her what she needed for our own sanity. plus, it was absolutely heart breaking to watch her frantic, and to feel helpless to do anything! :(
right there in the doctors office she downed a bunch of formula in a matter of seconds. newborn tummies are very small, so the doc was surprised at how much she ate. it looks like we may have a chunk on our hands though. :)
since we started supplementing, it's like we have a whole new baby! those first couple days i was thinking in the back of my mind that my husband and i would both need to quit working or something to raise this kid, because it was seeming like a 2 person job...at least! haha. now she is so chilled out and happy though...a pretty mellow kid. :)
my milk thankfully let down the next day as well, which also made things easier, and she's been able to make the adjust back and forth now pretty well. it certainly doesn't make sense to me though that milk takes a few days to arrive! someday i might have to ask God what that was about. maybe not all newbies are little porkers like ours. :)
She's absolutely precious!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are doing a wonderful job!!
It does get easier I promise. ;-)
In no time it will be a piece of cake.