not nak but holding baby so this is not going to be pretty
I had an amazing natural birth 6/24 I delivered him on my hands and knees and imediately flipped over and swooped him up. (so rapidly that my leg actually kind of brushed him when I was moving and I thought I kicked him). He nursed within 30 minutes and we have not been separated. His latch seems fantastic (little to no pain even in the first days) . My second ds weaned during the pregnancy at over 3.5 years. I guess that alone made me slightly arrogant? we overcame several obstacles and I guess I thought I was prepared for anything.
Onto our current challenges, ds is a sleepy boob baby. I think I seriously overlooked several warning signs or (red flags) out of denial or arrogance....he passed his meconium within the first few days met his number of pees and acted very normal for a newborn. He didn't poop again until day 8! (and I'm assuming lost weight up until then as well) Yes, I know that should have really sent off an alarm...I feel really stupid noIw....I've cried my eyes out . It should have been obvious. I really thought with the amount of time he was spending on the boob he would be fine and my midwives assured me on occasion a baby may just need stimulation to go so we tried that and he was lightly staining a couple dipes. He had the blowout and has since met his poops and pees. (thankfully) he's been on the boob pretty much hourly -2hours at most since day 1 (I have the house to prove it ugh!) but he just wasn't spening enough time actively sucking. I'm disappointed in myself for not seeing this soon enough.....he's 12 days old and according to 1 scale 9 oz from his birth weight and on another 6-7 (fish scale harder to tell) away. I feel this could have been prevented if I had been more diligent.
On the bright side he seems to be doing well despite my mistakes, he has awake periods is gaining is not overly fussy etc.I think his laid back nature could have attributed to this. He's not appeared jaundiced at all is alert etc....My theory is he was getting enough from letdowns to keep him hydrated but not really enough to gain. He started gaining with me switch nursing like mad and doing breast compressions. I have an appointment with an ibclc today and I'm praying that she won't recommend supplements. I just need someone to tell me that with compressions and switch nursing I can get his weight up and go from there. He literally nursing 15+ times a day . I am waking him at night every 2 hours but he wakes me sometimes before the 2 hours is up. I'm disappointed but know it's not worth dwelling on. ds2 took 23 days to regain his birthweight. As long as we have no other issues latch supply etc (which is why I'm seeing the lc today even though my gut tells me it was simply my overlooking some obvious warning signs in the beginning) is it possible to get him back on track without supp'ing? If I have to pump I will but am hoping to avoid it as the constant switch nursing with compressions is pretty consuming. I am curious to see what he's getting per feed. thanks if you read this.
