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Trying to pacify a gassy, poopy baby.
Add to this the fact that if he's awake, he's fussing and sometimes screaming his head off because he's got gas or is trying to poop. For the first 1.5-2 weeks, he was doing wonderfully. He was nursing, pooping, and sleeping and wasn't fussing at all. Now, he brings his legs up close to his stomach and, in between screams, grunts and pushes. What feels and sounds like a heavy load is actually a very wimpy poop. And it's green instead of that golden yellow color and it has tons of mucus in it. Yep. Booger poops.
Color of Desmond's poops.
So, as I scour the internet and the WAB (womanly art of breastfeeding), I find that I may have an issue with oversupply, which means that I produce way too much milk. Poor little Desmond is finally just figuring out how to latch on correctly and now he has to deal with being bombarded with a ton of foremilk (the watery milk that leaks out when you first go to nurse). He sometimes starts gulping loudly (which adds more gas to his gut because he ends up swallowing a lot of air) and sometimes looks like he's about to choke! He ends up getting full quickly on the foremilk and doesn't have a chance to drink the hindmilk (this is the milk that's way up in your milk ducts...this is the "dessert" of the meal. I call it the ice cream since it's high in fat and acts as a laxative).
Initially, I was switching breasts as soon as he "finished." By "finished," I mean if he started slowing down his sucking or doing those flutter sucks or actually turns his face away. But what was happening was that he was getting just foremilk from both breasts and none of the hindmilk. So, after reading WAB and other posts on the internet and getting advice from Christy, I started "block" feeding, where I will feed Desmond as often as he wants to from one breast only for a period of 4 hours and then I'll switch to the other breast. This gives each breast a break (decreases demand which will hopefully decrease my supply a bit) and allows Desmond to have access to the hindmilk in each breast.
How cute is this??? Totally not posed! For those of you who can't figure out what's going on, Desmond is propping himself up while he's nursing.
We have started seeing a little bit of improvement: last night, after being up with him from 1-4 in the morning, he blissfully slept for 5 hours! and he had poops that started resembling the golden yellow variety we have been waiting for.
Happy well-rested, well-pooped Desmond!
By the way, 3 years ago, I would have vomited all over myself if I knew that I was going to spend a whole blog post talking about a baby's eating, pooping, and sleeping habits. This has to be incredibly boring for my non-parent friends and relatives. My younger self empathizes with you :)
Maybe now is a good time to startpumping and saving some?
ReplyDeletei had the exact same problem and did exactly the same thing. we ended up with a really weird feeding schedule. she would get one breast per feeding and the next would be on the other. it's worked out perfectly for us, but when i explain how we do it everyone is all like 'wtf? how does THAT work?' it does. i pumped and dumped A LOT b/c my supply was insane. alex wouldn't take a bottle and there was no reason to keep it b/c it would go to waste anyways so i just dumped it. if i had known that i could have donated my milk, i would have. it could have been put to good use.
ReplyDeleteis desmond not burping well? when alex was a couple months old, i watched this program and the resident doctor gave a really good demonstration of how to get a baby to burp. it's weird, but it works. i think i have a video of me doing it to alex. i'll see if i can dig it up and i'll email it to you. seriously, it was a godsend. she did the same thing desmond is doing.
I think even two years ago you would have vomited all over yourself about this blog ;) I still laugh to myself that you have a kid, but love it at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem with our 7 week old! I am thankful you posted pictures and info on what you did. Helps to reinforce I am doing the right thing to correct the issue. How long did it take for things to get back to normal? It has been 3 days since I stared one breast at a time and still no change.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! You are a witty and refreshing writer. :)
Bird Nerd (love the name, by the way. One of my best friends also works with birds, parrots, and helps to rehab them and to teach people how to properly care for and interact with these beautiful animals),
ReplyDeleteIt took about 3.5 weeks to regulate. It was a very long 3.5 weeks, but his poops were back to normal by then. I do have a few words of caution: make sure that while block feeding, you are in tune with your milk supply. If I had to go back and do anything differently, I would have pumped the foremilk (and saved it!) prior to feeding Desmond, so that he had access to the hindmilk and I had some milk saved up for the future.
After block feeding for about 2 months, my milk supply dropped and Desmond wasn't sucking long enough to give me a decent letdown, which would lead to crying, which would lead to stress, which would lead to a very short feeding. He was eating every 1-2 hours and I had a hard time keeping up. I pumped when I could so that I could give him supplemental breastmilk after a feeding.
So, give the block feeding a shot for another week or 2 and see if you notice any change. If not, I would definitely try to consult a LL leader or lactation consultant in your area. They're a godsend and could give you better advice than I can.
I hope everything works out for you and your baby! Thanks for the sweet comment. Let me know how everything turns out...