Monday, April 29, 2013

Little Olivia

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my struggles with breastfeeding. I ended the post on a positive note, wish a plan in mind and the plan to continue to breastfeed.

Well I hate to say it but I am conflicted again. We took Olivia for her weight check at the doctors office. We left with a referral to see a specialist. Olivia just did not gain enough weight. I was very disappointed. It  wasn't all bad. The doctor was very nice, and she said she doesn't really think something is wrong, developmentally Olivia is ahead, she is very active, but we need to check it out to be safe.

Since about the same day we have been having a struggle with Olivia. We can not seem to get her to eat more than a few bites. Due to no allergies in the family we were given the green light to give her just about anything to find something she will eat. She doesn't seem to want to eat anything.

She is also nursing less due to me working during the day. While I am working my husband gives her some formula. But that too is a struggle.. she will drink some, but never more than a couple ounces. She is no longer nursing or eating at night. I don't think I am producing as much milk as before. She has become a bit fussy and is not as happy all the time as she used to be.

This stresses me out. A huge amount. The husband usually has more luck getting food into than I do. She will always take a boob from me, rarely food, and almost never a bottle.

We see the children's nurse again this week. We do not know yet when we will see a specialist. I hope we can get some tips this week. We need her to eat and gain weight. I need her to eat food that I give her. My husband goes back to work here in a couple of weeks and I will be taking the role of stay at home mom again for a couple of months.

Anyone have experience with a picky baby that won't eat? Got any tips?



2 comments:

  1. Hi Desirae, First I want to thank you so much for featuring me tomorrow. I was very excited to receive your comment today.

    It was a very long time ago that my son was young and so I don't want to presume to give advice on feeding the baby, who is beautiful by the way. As one mom to another, I can tell you how important it is to be kind to yourself during the stressful times. As you wait to see the doctor, try to relax and breathe. Hopefully, the children's nurse will be able to give great tips which will work for your baby.

    One another tip that I learned through my creativity training is ask myself, "What worked before?" Did you do something that you may have forgotten to get your other children to eat?

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  2. Olivia is absolutely adorable! Don't beat yourself up over Olivia not eating like the charts say she should - Princess Nagger was like that, too, and always came in underweight in the averages. But her pediatrician wasn't worried because she was always healthy and happy. :) I was a light producer of breast milk so I did have to supplement with formula - the one thing I noticed is that certain types or brands of formula Princess Nagger didn't like and wouldn't eat much, but once I found a formula she actually liked, she'd go to town.

    It could be that Olivia doesn't like the formula, and maybe once you find one that she likes, she'll drink more than a couple of ounces. PN also didn't like me giving her a bottle - she preferred a boob instead when I'd feed her, so definitely don't stress about her not wanting to take a bottle from you. I also had to increase the times I'd pump to help increase the milk production - that seemed to help, too.

    Like Ginny said, it's definitely important to be kind to yourself during this stressful time - hopefully this will just turn out to be one of many phases. ;) ((HUGZ!!))

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