Friday, October 27, 2006

Research would have been good

So I have been busily working to increase my milk supply by pumping so that Anna can have one more breastmilk bottle a day. I nurse her in the morning, but by evening, after she's had a couple of formula bottles, she is spitting up the time. All.the.time. The boys scurry after her with the wet wipe box to clean up her messes. I have had to change her outift as many as 3 times in a few hours, as she will spit up and crawl through it, smearing the nasty stuff all over herself. It is GROSS. No question that soy formula does not totally agree with her little tummy.

Well, it is not easy to start pumping again after months of not doing so, and after a few weeks of only nursing once or twice a day, but I finally started letting down for it, and things were going fine. Then, all of a sudden, three days ago there was no more milk. Maybe 1/4 ounce total each pumping session. What?! I tried pumping at different times of the day--same result. So frustrating! Finally I got smart and searched "nursing while pregnant" last night on the computer. Well! It turns out that during the second trimester, your body stops making milk and gears up to make colustrum for the new baby. Since I figure I'm at about 13 weeks, that would fit right in. People who continue nursing throughout pregnancy are mainly doing it for the comfort of the child, not for any milk benefit. My kids have never been ones to just comfort-nurse. If they are nursing, they expect things to happen and tummies to be filled! Anna fussed around this morning when I was nursing her, so I am sure she is noticing the same thing--not much more milk. I guess this is about it for her, then. I'm actually have a hard time dealing with that. This is so not my timing! She obviously needs something other than formula, and now I can't give her that. It's frustrating, and I'm trying not to resent the new baby. I guess this weekend I'll head to Walmart and buy the expensive pre-digested formula and give that a shot.

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