Edie gave us a night off and went to sleep at 11:30pm last night. Not only that, but she didn't wake up again until 3:30am! And even at 3:30, she just took a small bottle and zonked back out without a fuss. She then proceeded to sleep until 7am. She had a minor flip-out at 7:30am, but eventually fell back asleep propped up in her boppy in the bed with us and we all napped from 8 until 9:30am this morning. From all of the Culvers (Maurice included), thank you Edie. And from Edie, thank you Auntie Em (my brother's girlfriend Emily) for the adorable sleep suit seen in the pic above.
It's funny, because in our breastfeeding class, they went on and on about how much better the breast is than formula and I specifically remember there being a check list of sorts and then it rated whether the breast or the bottle won each point on the list. For example - higher IQ (breast wins), better immune system (breast wins), cheaper (breast wins)... blah blah. In the end, formula/bottle only won one point, where the breast had won all the others. Well, I've come up with a few items they forgot to put on the list:
Sleeps longer after feedings - bottle wins
Nipples don't feel like they're going to fall off - bottle wins
No exposing self in public to feed - bottle wins
Feedings take half the time - bottle wins
Baby poops less - bottle wins
I could go on, but I won't. I'm still pumping every 3 hours and giving Edie the milk I produce, but my supply hasn't really increased, so it's definitely necessary to supplement with the bottle. I've been on the Fenugreek for a week now, and despite smelling like Ihop, I'm still only able to pump one ounce per feeding (she likes to eat about 3 ounces per feeding). The nurse at our pediatrician's office was great and assured me that even with this small amount from me, she's getting all the good stuff. Edie is obviously bulking up, very few of her newborn sized clothes fit anymore and she's only 13 days old today! I know our home scale isn't precise, but yesterday I got on while holding her and then without and it says she weights 8.5 pounds! She's turning into quite the chubby monkey. Jeff has nicknamed her "the little beast" because of what a hungry hippo she is. I don't really feel that I'm missing out on a great bonding experience by not putting Edie to the breast right now. We spend all day together and I sing to her, bop her constantly, we nap together and spend time chest to chest when we can (although she is not a fan of laying on her stomach and fights to hold her head up the entire time). About once a day, I'll put her to the breast to see if she's interested, and she takes it right away, so I figure if my supply miraculously comes in this week, she'll come back to the boob without much coaxing. We're sort of playing things by ear around here as to whether/when we transition full time to formula. Right now, the doctor has recommended we switch to a lactose free formula and I've started cutting out my dairy to see if that reduces her gas pains. Betsey's formula swap suggestion is also intriguing, so I'll look into that.
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A bonus to formula and breast for me right now - when I'm incredibly exhausted I skip a feeding/pumping and just let someone else give Emmi the bottle with formula. Good stuff. We still have to supplement after every breastfeeding with formula.
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