Lactation Consult

6 Weeks

Not being able to breastfeed from the get-go was hard for me. I’m a big believer in immediate nursing after delivery, skin-on-skin time and the benefits of breastfeeding. I went to a lactation consultant with Nora and it worked. Breastfeeding is hard work. It does not always come naturally. I cried a lot with Nora due to breastfeeding, trying to get her to latch, spitting up, gas, etc. But I stuck with it and was happy to last about 8.5 months. 

There’s no way I’d be able to exclusively nurse at this point - Hannah will not get enough food from me, nor her caloric needs to beef up for heart surgery. My goal is to get her good practice to go full steam after heart surgery.

I can’t decide if exclusive pumping is easier or worse. I’ve been pumping every 3 hours for 6 weeks. I have to be near an outlet to plug in. I can’t have Hannah help me out in public, which would be easier. However, pumping is 15 minutes versus a 40 minute nursing session.  

Hannah and I met with a lactation specialist at Children’s today - they already have her history and medical background, so why go anywhere else? 

Believe it or not, Hannah did pretty good for nearly zero experience. They weighed her before and after her nursing attempt and drank 18mL! Her bottle volume is 70mL. It sounds like a little, but I think for never nursing, she did good. I always think it’s neat how medical professionals can weigh a baby after feeding to determine how much they ate.

The lactation specialist consulted with our Cardiology Nutritionalist and they agreed I can attempt to nurse once a day, no more than 10 minutes. Then follow up with a 50-55mL bottle still fortified with formula for calories. 

Hannah is now 6 lbs 6 oz - still not gaining quite enough, so we’ll probably be upping her to 24 kcal/oz.