Ben at 3 Weeks

Ben was three weeks old on Monday. He's starting to be more alert between feedings. He's started focusing on our faces and it seems like he recognizes our voices. He's starting to hold his head up when we put him over our shoulders. He's super cute, especially his little round head. Our main focus is still on feeding and sleeping of course. Ben weighed 7 lbs 13.7 oz this morning, so he's still gaining weight at or above the expected rate of .85 ounce per day.

We are still supplementing with formula. My milk supply is still going up, but very slowly at a rate that can really only keep up with Ben's increased demand - not enough to eliminate the formula. I've tried everything you can possibly try: pumping, herbs, and even a prescription medicine. Pumping is painful. It seems I may have Raynaud's Phenomenon. The lactation consultant said she had heard about it, but I was the first person she had seen with it. I'll have to talk to my doctor about that at my appointment next week. I took herbal supplements, but they didn't seem to have an effect. Then my doctor gave me a prescription for Reglan. Within 24 hours of taking that, Ben started having increased bowel movements and discomfort. When I say increased, I mean from 2 per day to 18. Everything online says that the medicine shouldn't cause that side effect in the infant though it is listed as a side effect for the mother. Oh, and once you start taking it, you can't just stop - you have to wean off of it, so I just took the last dose yesterday. Ben is still pooping too often for a baby that is getting formula. At this point we don't know if it's because of medicine still in my system or if he's developed an intolerance to the formula. We'll have his one month check-up next week, so we'll ask what to try next if it hasn't normalized by then.

Ben is still getting about 3/4 of his nutrition from breast milk and there are lots of reasons for his health to keep at it, but it is honestly wearing me out. He falls asleep every time I try to feed him, so I have to keep waking him up or he'll want to eat ever hour to hour and half instead of every two to three hours. With him falling asleep, weighing him before and after to see how much milk he transferred, changing his poop diaper, and giving him a bottle, it takes about 45 minutes to feed him, so you can see why formula in a bottle starts looking more and more attractive, especially when you want to try to leave the house with a three-year-old in tow. I think I'm too type A for breast feeding too. I mean, what am I going to do when I return the rented scale and I don't know exactly how many mL he got?

At this point I've set the two mini-goals of making it to 8 lbs (Ben should be there by this weekend) and then making it to 1 month (next Thursday). We'll talk to his doctor then and see if we should change anything - whether it be for Ben's health or my sanity.