Breasts and Bottles

 This is another post that sat in my draft folder for awhile because I didn't have time to finish and post.  I updated it at the bottom to show how our progress is going.

It has been a real minute since I've had time to post...wait, to tell the truth it has been a minute since I've been able to do anything since Ashten got here.  He has been a total blessing and I love him to death, but my little man has me totally twisted.

Mad about being put in the car seat.

First of all, I think I returned to work too early.  I went back the week after he turned one month.  Although I really didn't want to, I needed to.  For one, bills still need to get paid, and two, I just felt like I needed to breath...without smelling baby poo...and I felt like I was getting depressed sitting at home with my baby.  Even though I miss him like crazy while I'm gone, I needed a change of scenery and the more I sat at home, the weight wasn't coming off. 



Anyhoo, introducing him to bottles was a disaster at first.  I did continue to breast feed.  I pumped and put milk in bottles for him to drink while I was at work and I breast feed him the rest of the day and night.  But that didn't work for long because my milk supply decreased so I had to supplement with formula.  No matter how much encouragement my lactation consultant and dr gave,  nothing helped with increasing my milk supply.  I found out the hard way that stress is not good for mommy or baby.

We started out giving him Gerber Good Start which I don't think he liked.  We had to make 4 oz bottles because he would throw up 2 oz.  I went back and forth to his dr trying to explain to them that it might just be possible that my baby's tummy was just not agreeing with this particular formula.  There was only so many times that I was going to watch my baby throw up milk from his nose and mouth.  And yeah the first few times, I was scared to death and when he cried, I cried.  I called the docs office every day and they just kept reassuring me that it was just his immature digestive system getting use to bottle feedings and formula.  Okay, I listened for awhile, but I'm a firm believer that if things don't work, try something else until you find what works.

So, we went to Enfamil.  It was a slow start, but eventually he took to it.  So I returned to having a happy baby that was full and gaining weight.  Phew!  This just goes to show you that sometimes you have to go with your instincts because with all the training doctors have, they fail to see that what works for one person, doesn't always work for another person.  I know they mean well, but in my personal opinion, I think I am going to skip the family practice when it comes to my children and opt for a pediatrician.  To me family practices are less personable and deal with general stuff.  A pediatrician is skilled in children's care and they give the child more personal attention.

UPDATE 

We've had some good breast feeding days and some bad ones that required a formula feed.  I have now gotten in the habit of pumping and storing what I can and not stressing when I don't have enough.  It's true that your diet, how much water your are drinking and your stress level affects your supply.  I use to get upset when I had to break out the formula, but now I'm glad that I have accepted that I'm not supermom and rather than starve my baby because I can't produce enough milk, it's okay to supplement.  I only do it enough so that I can build myself back up and keep him from going hungry.

It usually takes me a day or two to get back right.  Normally what I do is send formula to the daycare while I am at work.  I pump during the day and store that for later.  I then strictly breast feed when I get home for the rest of the evening and night.  This gets me back on track and he goes back to all breast milk in the bottle or from the source.  I'm still learning, but we are getting there.