A Hard Day's Night

Our first nights with Lennon home were challenging. The one thing we consistently heard from other parents throughout my pregnancy, and always with a laugh, was something about sleep, or I should say the lack of.  I think other parents find some kind of pleasure in the fact that someone else won't be sleeping!  No matter what anyone said could have prepared us for what sleep deprivation is actually like. It's much worse than we could have imagined!  And the whole "sleep when the baby sleeps" advice is much harder than you'd think. When are you supposed to shower?  Eat?  Dress yourself?  Plus it's not always easy to just shut down and sleep even if you're exhausted!  Many times I would just start falling asleep and Lennon would be ready for her next feed!

Feeding is going much better now but we have had some struggles.  The day after we came home a public health nurse came to the house to check on Lennon and me. Lennon weighed 6lbs 7oz. Quite a drop but still in the safe range. She was also a little jaundiced so we had to make an appointment to go see a public health nurse again the next day.  Our appointment the next day, our first outing, was good and her jaundice was down. No need to worry!  

Our first outing

A few days, and sleepless nights, later we had a follow up appointment with my maternity doctor. Lennon had gained a little weight back but feeding was not going well. The night before she was literally on me all night, never satisfied. I fed her at the doctor's office and she weighed her again and she weighed the same as before feeding. This indicated that I probably had low milk production. The doctor put me on some medication and a feeding plan and also gave us "permission" to give a bit of formula after a feed if needed. 

I started the meds and we did supplement with some formula before bedtime a few nights. I'll admit this felt like a bit of a failure but she was constantly hungry and we were all exhausted. It helped her to fill up and get some sleep. After a few nights we didn't need the formula anymore and I've been exclusively breadtfeeding since!  We had another doctor's appointment about a week later and she was gaining weight. All was good!  I am continuing to take the medication and feeding (and nights!) is going much better.  She's still a slow and sleepy eater but I'm sure that will get better with time.