The early childhood nurse came around this morning and we discovered that Tess had actually lost weight since last Thursday’s visit. The nurse’s recommendation is that I stop trying to breastfeed altogether, she thinks that Tess is getting tired from breastfeeding and not drinking enough milk from the bottle. If I don’t get more nutrients into Tess she’ll get more and more tired, and lose more and more weight.
Anyway, I feel very sad about it. I’m worried about Tess and I’m also sad that my goal of breastfeeding seems further away than ever. Also, expressing milk around the clock is so unbelievably tiring. It takes so much time.
The nurse did say that if I needed more sleep I could give Tess formula. But I’m not that desperate yet.
UPDATE: the nurse called back an hour ago and said she’d showed my file to the senior lactation consultant in the Inner West Sydney region. Her advice was that it would be okay for me to continue breastfeeding, as long as I limit it to 10 minutes each side. Also, I should be limiting feeding sessions to 45 minutes total (i.e. breastfeeding and bottle feeding time). Anyway, I’m excited that this new plan allows me to continue breastfeeding! Fingers crossed for weight gain in the next week!
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