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Booby baby! – Val’s story

Posted on May 8, 2009
Filed under: Sleepy baby

During my pregnancy at about 18 weeks I was told that I was high risk, due to some hormone imbalance and the fact that i was on medication in the beginning of my pregnancy. When my water started leaking right at 37 weeks, I was a little scared because I knew it was barely full term. The labor was fast and she was born after only 10 hours. The first night and next day we tried breast feeding and it worked, she latched on great! I was so excited, but on the third day she would not wake up and I would try to get her to feed and she would just fall asleep at the breast. Her doctor came in and told me she was jaundiced and he wanted me to give her formula after trying to breastfeed, I was very upset but I did it anyway. I told her doctor I did not feel comfortable going home because she was not eating well and sleeping a lot.

We were discharged. I was angry because I felt as though my age was the reason everyone was treating me like I didn’t know anything. And this was only the beginning of it.

That first night home she was doing well she would eat for about 40 minutes. We had 3 good feedings and were still supplementing with formula as her doctor said. That night she had started falling asleep at the breast again and would start crying nonstop. I knew something was wrong, I would try to feed her but she wouldn’t take from the breast and she would eat no more than 5mL from the bottle.

Mommy and Baby The next morning I took her to a new doctor and she had dropped to 5lb 14oz and she weighed 6lbs 6oz at birth. I started crying, I thought I was a horrible mother. They said it was normal and to not worry but I still felt like something was wrong. I told her she had not eaten for over 8 hours and I didn’t know what to do. The doctor said we would do some blood tests and they sent me somewhere. At this point I was pretty much given the run around. The whole time the baby is just sleeping as my mom was taking her to different offices and I was trying to find a pump to rent. After finding a pump I was feeding my baby colostrum with a syringe. By three o’clock I had had it. I took her to the local hospital ER. The doctor came in and I explained the situation. She told me I should take her home and that all I had to do was feed her. They said that I obviously don’t know this but babies cry a lot. I told her I refused to leave until my baby was checked in. She left and the nurses came in and told me my baby would be checked into the NICU. I was so upset, but happy at the same time. I knew she would get help. I was so exhausted and I still had not eaten by ten pm that night. I went home and they were going to give her formula.

I had a horrible night but I decided to drink Milkmaid Tea. And when I woke up I had an abundant supply! I went in and was told she had a very high level of bilirubin. Causing her jaundice to be very bad and making her too lethargic to even cry. They had her under the lights and with an IV. That nurse told me I made the right decision. I was there from 8am to midnight. We did everything to get her to breastfeed. She was still so tired she would barely eat; she was only eating 20ml which was half formula and half breast milk, per doctor’s orders. They thought she had breast milk jaundice, which I was hoping she didn’t. After the shift change I asked her new doctor if I could do breast milk only feeding since they were feeding her only formula at night. The nurse said it was okay so we weighed her before and after and she had eaten 58mL!!!! Almost 2oz! I was sooo happy, but then during the night she was back to 20mL. This continued for 5 days, she would eat a lot with me, when it was only breast milk but then at night she would go back to very little. Finally I said I will stay here for every feeding until you realize she is eating. And sure enough she did. The doctor realized she was just a breast baby!!! The lactation nurses that helped me were so happy! We came home weighing 5lbs 14oz after dropping to 5lbs 12oz when she was checked in. Three days later at her check-up following her discharge, she weighed 6lbs 5oz!!!! She gained almost a pound in three days. And I’m happy to say now a month later my beautiful baby girl is weighing in at 9lbs 10oz!!! She was going on a hunger strike for breast milk! This just goes to show that some babies do not like formula! Even if you try 3 different kinds! And she is exclusively breastfeeding by the way! :)