Its not all about me...

One thing I have learnt the past 2 weeks is the above.

I have had to put my selfish head away and get out my sensible one, and think about whats best for my baby and not whats best for me. Seems every post i write the subject is breast feeding. So since my last post about feeding things aren't much better. We had a few "okay" days and then back to rubbish days again. I went to the clinic for her 6 week check and she had only put on 4oz in 2 weeks and had dropped to the 25th centile. I was advised to top up with formula which I said i didn't want to. I was asked to come back in 2 weeks again to have her weighed.

3 days before weigh day and things seem to be improving. She was feeding a lot more and for longer and had a few periods of being awake and happy! Which was a huge turn around! Weigh in day. Only put on 2oz. Worse than before and now dropped to the 9th centile. Lots of tears, lots of feeling sorry for myself. I was advised again to top her up with formula as her weight was not good at all.

The long and short of it... I didn't start with a bottle until 4 days later. I had a good talk with Joe, Mum and a breast feeding councillor and felt a lot more comfortable with my decision to give one bottle in the evening to try and boost her weight and hopefully settle better through the night.

Daddy gave her her first bottle whilst i sobbed at the end of the bed!!

We then had her 8 week check at the doctors the following day where i poured my heart out and explained what had been happening. She said to top up with formula after every feed rather than just doing one a day. This in turn would boost her weight a bit and also fill her up a bit more so she would stop feeding every 1.5 hours and start going 3 hours like she should be!!

So that afternoon we start the top ups. She started taking 2oz after a feed from me and seemed SO much more settled and content. She started sleeping better through the day and we had lots of coos and smiles... like this one....

Now we have the problems of not latching on to me and wanting the bottle instead... Why can't things just be simple?

Thought of the day - Life is a giant jigsaw, and its down to us to piece it together and make sure everything fits.