Just after some simple observations, I've found I rarely need to calm her down by letting her breastfeed after all. In fact those 5 s's really work wonders. She could be very upset and crying and all you have to do is swaddle her, put her on her side, and jostle her around a bit. BOOM she's silent and content in under a minute.
Also I've been practicing letting her drift off on her own, because SO many people have been holding her since she was born that I was getting really worried about the way she would wake up when set down. But again, she's proven me stressed for no reason because she's really catching on quick to what I do.
If she wakes up after I set her down, I just help her to fall back asleep without picking her up. She now likes her swing finally. I can put her in there wide awake and she falls asleep on her own. We also let her lay wide awake in her moses basket last night because it was late, I was tired, and I thought, well she's probably fine so we went to sleep. Thankfully she eventually went to sleep on her own too. Good girl!
I've heard the first 6 weeks are the hardest, and I'm happy things are looking up. On the other hand, I still can barely pump 2 oz of a milk and sometimes none at all. I need to get a little guidance on that because it's definitely confusing me.
I'm happy that although she can be fussy and gassy and what not, she can always be calmed down. I love my little baby Olive!
(Here is a picture of her practicing sitting. She doesn't love laying on her tummy so this helps her with her neck muscles too... she liked it!)
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow pumper... it takes time figuring out what works. For me, pumping on Monday was the worst thing ever. Mondays were too stressful. Also, figure out your milk schedule. I know this sounds weird but sometimes when Levi was full on breast milk I had an entire boob full (usually mid afternoon... especially after he got a little older).. so I pumped then. When I went back to work I had to set a schedule on my computer to pump so I wouldn't get caught up with something else. I know this sounds strange.. but for me... when I pumped I tried not to think of Levi... I found thinking about him was more stressful "I have to get milk I have to get milk" that I would not let down... when I randomly pumped and was fooling around on the internet all of a sudden I looked down and I had several ounces. As Levi got older I started taking fenugreek to help with my milk production as well as drinking mothers milk tea. Remember, the secret of pumping is totally individual. Good luck my friend... you've made it this far with breast feeding... it only gets easier.
-Veronica
I can't believe she can hold her head up already.
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