Lactation leads to multiplication

Rowan has broken the six pound mark!  That means he is over twice his lowest weight, and well on his way to twice his birth weight (I’d say by next week he’ll hit that milestone).  It’s crazy to look at this teeny guy and realize he is two times bigger than something.

I had my appointment with the lactation consultant today.  I was a little disappointed.  She didn’t look at his latch, or watch him nurse at all.  So it was basically just pre/post weights.  Which is useful, but I guess I was hoping for a bit more.

I think that sometimes I am caught in the situation of knowing too much but not knowing what I don’t know.  As in, I am clearly extremely dedicated, and rather educated, on breastfeeding.  But that does’t mean I know everything about it.  But I think sometimes health care professionals think I’m more knowledgeable than I actually am (for example, the dr at Duke who asked if I was in health care, based on the discussion we had about my cervix).  And it’s nice in most ways, because it means they talk to me more openly.  But when I don’t know something, sometimes it never gets caught and corrected.  I don’t know if that makes any sense.

Anyhow.  Back to the LC visit.  What we determined is that while he latch is good (I guess… again, she didn’t look at it), he’s not transferring much milk.  The same or less as he was in the hospital.  Which reaffirms my belief that he is latching on and basically waiting for milk to appear in his mouth.  Also, the nurse from Durham Connects noticed that his latch becomes a little shallow.  Which is one of those things that I might not have caught on my own.  He latches on well at the onset, and then slips back.

The LC and the Dr both think it’s just a maturity thing, and that sometime in the next month it should start to really click.  I hope so.  I’m tired.  I did confirm with the LC today that me not nursing him in the middle of the nigh wouldn’t hurt anything.  Because right now he’s not getting much milk from that, and it is adding to my sleep deprivation, which is pretty high at the moment.

I suck at asking for help.  But tonight I sucked it up and asked my friends for help with meals.  Charlotte, who is great at organizing things like this, set up a meal train.  I feel vaguely uncomfortable, but also really need the help.  I made a quiche yesterday, and while it was delicious, it just added too much time to my evening, and made everything else more squished.  I only find time for blog writing because I’m spending a couple hours per day pumping.