Had a scan on my legs today to make sure there are no nasties lurking in the deep veins... and thankfully all is clear which (touch wood) should mean that my very last appointment with the hospital is next week when I see the Haematologist again for one final session. I should then also be able to come off the Fragmin and hope that nothing unpleasant happens once I do :-)
H has been a delight today, very smiley and happy and peaceful!
I've been stressing over breastfeeding a little today. I don't need to stress but I can't help it. G and I discussed this the other night and I was able to voice my stupid concerns, which stem from not breastfeeding Dylan when he was little. I felt like I had failed him at the time and stupidly I still do. So every time I feed Harry I feel bad that I wasn't able to do it for D, plus I feel like I need to do it 'perfectly' to compensate for my failings last time.
G put some perspective on it. D was a big hungry boy who wasn't satisfied by breastfeeding. He attached himself to me 24 x 7 for the first 3 weeks of his life and cried for more whenever he was removed. This was probably as a result of the undiagnosed Gestational Diabetes and his blood sugars constantly going low after he was born. Then I was rushed into hospital with a Pulmonary Embolism and we had no choice but to give him Formula because his mummy was sick, pumped full of radioactive drugs, and in a hospital bed for a week. I physically couldn't feed him... and of course when he was switched to Formula he ended up thriving and changing personality to become a happy smiley baby. Once I was out of hospital I was still taking some nasty medication, plus there was no way D was going back to being hungry again! But still, I failed. At least up there, in my head, I failed.
Harry is a very different boy in that he *is* satisfied with what I can give him. As long as I'm willing to feed him often, which of course I am! It's tiring, never getting more than 3 hours sleep during the night, but I willingly do it.
Last week though, I went out for a few hours in the evening for the first time since H was born. I pumped some milk and left it for G to give H from a bottle. He drank it without a problem and then slept for 5 hours straight. Last night I went out again, same thing, and H slept for 6 hours straight. So I am thinking maybe he's not taking enough milk from me during a feed so he's hungier sooner. That or he is over-feeding from the bottle.... I'm not sure. Either way, 6 hours is a nice long stretch during the night!! I don't know , maybe I'll continue to express some milk for the fridge for the occasions where he's obviously hungrier than normal. And make a concerted effort to get him to feed 'properly' instead of being lazy and falling asleep after 10 mins.
The other thing I've been pondering on, far too soon really, is weaning. With D it was relatively easy because he was formula fed so there was a natural progression onto solids when he was ready (which was 4 months, the then recommended time to start solids). Now it's 6 months. The theory being that your baby's digestive system can't really handle anything else before then and you put him at risk for issues later on if you give him solids too quickly. Ok... but what if he gets hungry before 6 months and wants more than I can provide? What if, say, at 4 or 5 months, he starts crying for food every 10 mins because the breastmilk just doesn't satisfy him anymore? Do I start solids early? Or, do I give him formula to supplement him?
The Breastfeeding Brigade seem to suggest that you should avoid formula and start rice cereal sooner if your baby needs it. But surely that contradicts the guidelines about when to start solids and maybe Formula would be a better option as it tends to fill them up more and doesn't have the digestive system issues??? All the information out there is a mass of contradictions!
Posted by katie at September 2, 2004 05:33 PMHow on earth did humans manage to feed their young before there were books and Web sites and special interest groups telling them how to do it? :-)
Seriously, though, I know of people who were never breastfed. People who continued to get breast milk in addition to other food until they were well over a year old. And while I don't know when all of my friends and relatives were started on solid food, I'm sure there was a fair bit of variation there, too. Everyone seems to have survived the assortment of feeding schedules.
So don't worry too much about it.
Posted by: Steve at September 3, 2004 10:15 AM