Saturday, November 29, 2008

amboobdextrous, or the next nursing update

Moving right along... the biggest change since my last nursing update is that Maxwell has taken off! He's latching so much better, and at our last visit to the lactation consultant, he actually managed to get more milk than Shoghi! I'm still not giving him lact-aids, but I hope to start trying that this week.

One "bad" thing that's happened is that I'm running out of the domperidone I was given by a friend, and my doctor won't prescribe it since it's off-label. I can't take the other common medication that they will prescribe because it can cause depression, to which I am already predisposed. I really can't risk that right now, on top of everything else. I have recently learned that 4 months postpardum is a common time to start having PPD, and the boys just hit 16 weeks yesterday. So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that. I have another 3 weeks of the dom, so I have to come up with a strategy right away if I'm going to wean off of it.

Speaking of weaning off of things, what's your take on caffeine while nursing? I know you're not supposed to drink coffee, but seriously, how could I possibly endure life without it right now? Do any of you readers have experience with caffiene affecting your supply?

As far as supplement goes, Shoghi is, as of today, down to one ounce, about five times a day! That means he's probably getting more than 20 ounces from nursing - wow! When Max gets to have a really good nursing session, I drop his supplement down to 1.5 ounces for that feeding. Granted, this doesn't happen as much as I'd like, but how could it, really - I end up having both of them in my arms at the same time so much, there's just no way I can do it right now. I can best manage to feed Max with a bottle while having him sit in my lap, and with the other arm, hold Shoghi while he nurses. This is the position we often use at night. On a good day, I manage to get them both nursing at the same time once or twice (hence the title of this post). I can say this much - it's getting much, much easier to have them tandem nurse as they get bigger. It was such a huge frustration when they were so little that I completely tabled even trying until pretty recently.

I couldn't talk about nursing without talking about sleeping. On quiet days at home, we are now falling into a clear pattern, with a rough morning and late afternoon nap, and settling down for nighttime napping/sleep at about 7pm. The coolest thing is that lately, the boys are getting into some really long sleep periods at night, and I have begun to be able to offer nursing only to get us through from midnight until about 7 or 8 in the morning. I don't really have an expectation of them developing fast and clear habits this early, so I just love it for when it happens.

I sleep with the boys in my bed, with Shoghi next to me and Max on the other side of him. I've begun experimenting with sleeping between them, and rolling back and forth as they want to nurse, but so far, that's been more exhausting, and it makes me uneasy to have my back to one. It's easier to simply move to the other side of the bed to nurse Max when he wakes. I love sleeping with the boys - I really can't see how I would get any sleep at all if they were not in bed with me.

Finally, this week was our first Thanksgiving, and it was also my 36th birthday (on Thanksgiving). It probably goes without saying that this year I had more to be thankful for than ever, and thinking about all that is going to happen in terms of the boys' development in the next year just astonishes me. I certainly missed being with both my East Coast family and Jennie's family with whom I have celebrated in recent years. It was a joyful day here, though, and we all got just a little teary, noting the election of the embodiment of hope, Barak Obama, and all the tremendous gifts our children, family and friends are bringing to our lives.

8 comments:

  1. You are amazing...I am so impressed by your commitment to breast feeding. Your sons are very lucky to have you! xo

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  2. love that pic and what a great update! i had no prob with caffeine and supply but limit it to coffee in the am just so i can sleep myself when S actually snoozes at night. good luck finding some dom-wish i could help...k

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  3. Awww, what a sweet shot! Shows just how different your boys are turning out to be! They are both adorable!!!! :)

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  4. I am hands down amazed at how much progress you have made so quickly Celeste!!! I know that it seems like forever to you, but in the 3 weeks (ish) since I have seen you I cannot believe your great news! Congratulations mama. Again, blown away. xo

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  5. What wonderful progress you are making!! I so admire your dedication and commitment. Your boys are very lucky to have such a special mama :)

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  6. I'm so happy for you and your boys.

    Re: caffeine.
    I never had any issues with it effecting my supply, but my daughter would not sleep if I had any caffeine at all. She's easy-going, so she'd be happy, just couldn't sleep. I'd guess that every cup of coffee I tried to have would put her off 4-5 hours at least.

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  7. Hi, Congrats on your progress. First of all, I exclusively nursed twins until they were 18 months, so if I can help you at all, please let me know. Second...when my decaf was accidentally replaced w/ caffeine...I don't know if it affected my supply, but is sure affected naptime! My advice: stay away from it.

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  8. I see you have low milk supply dot org as a link and they suggested shatavari. I found that it worked better than Reglan for me. had a singleton sleepy boy born 3 months early and it took forever for us to learn to bf so congratulations on getting two to nurse! That is impressive!

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