Oh. My. God. At last I can come up for air because at last my son has finally come up for air! Several friends had warned me that growth spurts are exhausting, and I certainly took their words seriously, but nothing quite prepares you for the six-week-old's growth spurt. With little Darrell, it actually began a little past his fifth week and had I realized what to expect, perhaps I might have invested some time in developing a special contraption that keeps him attached to my boobs 24-7... because that's pretty much the only place he wanted to be!
Every 30 to 90 minutes, he wanted to eat, and my milk bags could barely keep up. In fact, a couple of times, they couldn't keep up and we had to resort to giving him some formula. I remember at least once (though it probably happened a few times), he cleaned out the left side, then the right, then the left again, then the right... and after an hour or so of this I was completely tapped out. So we gave him 3 oz of formula... and he sucked it down! I thought surely it wasn't possible for his tiny stomach to hold all that milk plus the formula, but I guess that's what the growth spurt is all about: an expanding stomach! (I know... just wait til he's a teenager, right?!)
I felt a little guilty about giving him the formula because I want to breastfeed exclusively, but there simply wasn't another option on a few occasions. When your kid is screaming from hunger and there's nothing left in your breasts, but there's a shelf of free formula samples... well, you're not going to let him go hungry! I did call Mom's Place, the WIC lactation center, however, to ask them if they had any suggestions. I began taking fenugreek, a supplement to increase milk production a little over a week ago, and I've been downing water like crazy, so they suggested I come in for a pre- and post-feeding weigh-in.
My appointment is tomorrow, but I'll admit I was a bit annoyed with the woman on the phone. She said it can be tempting to offer formula during growth spurts to "give myself a break," but that it's important he only eat from the breast to stimulate more production. I kept my cool but was angry at the implication that I had any other choice: like I said, if I'm totally tapped out and my kid is hungry and I have the ability to feed him with formula, I'm going to do that before I'm going to let him scream for the next hour while I recharge. We never gave him formula unless my breasts were empty. In any case, I blew her off. I figure I'll do what I feel is right for my child and I'll see what they say tomorrow. Meanwhile, I've give him the new nickname "Count Suckula." After that True Blood marathon with my mother that I mentioned before, I felt like I was being fed upon by a milk vampire all this past week!
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