Today I met with the pediatric dietitian, Jennifer Taylor. I felt like it was successful and walked out of there feeling optimistic. Lexi is a stubborn baby who wants what she wants. So Jen gave me some tips in trying to help her gain weight. I did take a bottle with me so Jen could see that Lex wants nothing to do with it and when she wouldn't take the bottle, I ended up nursing her. One thing Lexi has started doing is nursing and then pulling off like she's frustrated because she wants more milk, but there's nothing left to eat. Jen picked up on that too. We chatted for a while and in the end, walked away with a few ideas to help me and Lexi.
She suggested I:
pump after nursing. Because I don't have the greatest or strongest breast pump, I went and rented a hospital grade one at Norco. It's pretty penny at $60/month, but I will do what I have to do to help my baby gain weight.
try the Breastflow bottle. We have tried two other kinds of bottles, but Jen said this is the one they recommend because it is the closest to the breast they have found. I tried it tonight with pure breastmilk in it and Lexi was less than interested.
take fenugreek. I tried this with Mitchell, and didn't feel like it did much to increase my supply. All it did was make me smell like maple syrup. The more research I have done, I realize that in order to increase my supply, I have to be taking 3 capsules, 3xs/day. I have only been taking 1 capsule, 1x/day. I may have to increase my intake, but I don't know if I will or not.
add butter to any solid food that Lexi eats. The more fat she can get, the better.
give her full fat yogurt. some suggestions were Stoneyfield Yobaby and Zoi greek yogurt. I need to get to the store to buy some.
Then she gave me some recipes to try that are a mixture of breastmilk and formula. She was hoping I could use the higher calorie formula, Neosure or Enfacare, and be able to use less of it, so the taste wasn't so strong, but it's $25 formula, so I'm waiting to hear from my doctors office to see if they have any samples.
If I am to use Similac Advance or Neosure formula, I mix 1 tsp powder to 3 ounces breastmilk. Somehow that doesn't seem like enough formula to do anything, but my thought is that we start small and work our way up.
If I use straight powder with water, I am to mix 3 scoops to 5 ounces of water. It causes the baby to take more calories rather than it be watered down with water.
We also have to do weekly weight checks. When I weighed her today, she still weighed the same she did 2 weeks ago. Didn't lose, but didn't gain.
This has been a long process. I'm tired in every aspect of the word. I just want my baby to eat and be healthy. While I think she is healthy, I need to her to gain weight for my own peace of mind. I think I'm in denial because I look at Lexi and think there's absolutely nothing wrong with her. She's strong, she's healthy and she's amazing. How could there be anything wrong with her? It's hard to see the outside so perfect and know that the inside isn't doing what it should. Or better yet that MY body isn't doing what it should. So frustrating.
I try to have faith that it will all work out and that with patience and time she will gain weight. Right now I'm hoping for a miracle.
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