Hello All,
It’s been a busy couple weeks. Family has been in town, Garden Flower is growing, and we’ve decided we’re moving back east. As much as we love the beautiful scenery, a steady job, affordable cost of living, and stability, we decided to heck with all that and we’re coming back east. What is the rest of that worth if Garden can’t grow up around her family? We aren’t positive on the time frame yet (though we have a pretty good idea) but we’re coming home!
John 20:29
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Everyone knows that you need to be careful when changing the diapers of little boys. The fresh air hits their body and the next thing you know they’re marking your wall. You have to be careful. I had heard rumored that the same was true for girls, but now I have seen. How much more blessed would I have been had I believed what others had said rather than learning this particular lesson for myself. Rather than learning the same lesson three times in 2 days… if only I had listened.
Momma Bear went to a lactation specialist today to see what she could better to to breast feed Garden Flower. Over the last few days Momma and Flower have been trying to learn together how to better breast feed, but they still needed a little help.
As they first entered the office the first thing they lactation specialist said was “That is not a happy baby.” The consultation then proceeded and almost 2 hours later the verdict was that Momma Bear’s milk had not come in sufficiently and that we needed to start supplementing with formula. The recommendation of the lactation specialist was as follows:
1. Breast feed Garden for a half hour on both sides (total 1:00)
2. Pump all remaining milk using a breast pump (15 minutes roughly, total 1:15)
3. Feed all the pumped milk to Garden using a syringe hooked up to put Garden on the breast and latch on to suck, but all the milk is coming through the syringe, not the breast (15 more minutes, total 1:30)
4. After an hour and a half of pure torture on Momma and Garden, mix up a couple ounces of formula and feed her until she’s satisfied (another 15 minutes, total 1:45)
After a couple of weeks of that, we were told that Momma Bear’s milk might come in. MIGHT! So our option was to either have Momma Bear spend 18 hours a day trying to breast feed to still have to supplement with formula, or just go ahead and cut our losses and make the switch to formula.
Momma had already spent the previous 10 days trying her hardest and Garden was losing weight. Garden was upset and hungry and Momma was sore and bleeding.
Though it may not sound like it, it was a hard decision to switch to just formula for Garden. We had been planning on breast feeding since the very beginning of the pregnancy. Momma felt it was her responsibility as a mom to provide that food for her baby, and not doing so in the natural way she felt like a failure. We know that there are loads of benefits to the natural milk, but we’re all tired, and Garden needs to eat. Formula here we come.