Interwebz to the Rescue

After reading my pumping post, a kind Facebook friend connected me with his godsend of a wife, who is a pediatrician and lactation consultant. This angel helped me understand that the reason Miles is nursing so poorly is that he’s a slow grower who is very flow dependent, which means that he’s low on energy from being tiny and conserves energy in part by falling asleep while eating when the flow slows below a gush (my paraphrase — her explanation was much more detailed and professional-ish).  And once he gets caught up to where his body wants to be weigh-wise, his nursing personality will likely change dramatically.

In the meantime, pushing calories with pumped breastmilk and formula via bottle is the way to go, and is actually GOOD mothering, not the failure I had been perceiving. Which is what you all were trying to tell me.

Our conversation was much longer and more involved than this quick summary, and I left with a two-week game plan that has me pumping with much less stress for much shorter periods and has Miles getting at least one extra feeding a day and a better balance of nursing time and supplementation to get him caught up. Today was my first day of guilt-free bottles, and interestingly enough, Miles nursed better today than he has in a week. I think we’re on to something here…