Nursing Progress

As has been mentioned in past posts, nursing was one thing that we were not able to do with Addie but really wanted to be successful with for Ian.  I began praying from the beginning of the pregnancy that God would allow this baby to be a natural born nurser and to allow this baby to be born hungry.  I also read two books during my pregnancy that were all about nursing. 

From the first moment that Ian was given to me to nurse, my prayers were answered. He latched on perfectly and we have had successful feedings ever since.

Although I am huge on schedules and putting babies on a schedule, during these first few weeks, I have a basic rule of feeding him when he wants to eat in order to increase my milk supply and to bring him back up to his birth weight (He was 7 pounds 1/2 an ounce at birth, left the hospital at 6 pounds 8 ounces and is now at a whopping 8 pounds!)

But I probably should have been a bit more specific in my prayer request. 

This boy can eat!

Non-stop!

There have been times when he has been fed 4 times within a three hour period.  And we are not talking about a snacking baby.  We are talking about a boy who eats a full meal at each sitting!  At first it was funny how much he was eating until I would instantly get sore at thought of another feeding.

Yesterday, at his 2 week appointment, I asked our doctor when it would be possible to put him on an actual schedule after I explained our feeding situation.  She said that because he had surpassed his birth weight, I could start him on a 2 hour schedule during the day and gradually work up to a 2 1/2 hour one.  When we arrived home, I began the two hour count.  We had the smoothest evening ever!  I was able to accomplish my night prep in record time since having him, and he is finally taking to a pacifier. I had noticed that some of his feedings were me just being a pacifier.

Addie is almost completely better from her cold, and we really enjoyed having Grandma join us on our doctor's visit (she will only come if there are no shots involved.... she doesn't want her grandchildren associating her with pain) and her treat of McDonald's after the visit. Grandma also made us dinner and dessert on Tuesday night (absolutely delicious!) and is taking Addie to the library today for storytime.

Today I am able to breathe a huge sigh of relief that with each passing day, things are getting easier and falling into a nice little pattern for us.