bad blogger

I've become a much worse blogger than I ever intended. Most of that is due to the fact that Piper doesn't often let me have both hands to myself. She has decided that she likes to be fed or held almost all the time.

Speaking of feeding, Piper apparently has her dadddy's metabolism. We just got back from the pediatrician, and she still has not gained back up to her birth weight. This comes after feeding her whenever and wherever she wants, sometimes up to four hours at a time (seriously). Most of the time she will nurse for an hour or so, which is still longer than she realistically should, but she still shows signs of hunger. I have been working with a lactation consultant, and I now pump as much as I can after each feeding. Up until today, I have been banking that milk and feeding several ounces to her each night. But now, in order for her to gain weight, I now have to limit each feeding to 30 minutes, feed her the pumped milk after every feeding, and try to feed her again two hours after each feeding begins. Exhausting. The pediatrician, lactation consultant, and I all hope this system will encourage Piper to be more efficient at the breast and not use her mommy as a human pacifier.

And speaking of pacifiers, we're now offering one to Piper, something I swore I'd never do. It's just that four hours of feeding is just too much for me to bear. That, and Piper obviously isn't getting the benefit of four hours of feeding, and the doc actually thinks she is actually burning more calories being a lazy eater during that time instead of waiting until she's truly hungry to nurse.

Although it seems here that it's been a rough couple of weeks, I have to admit that she still sleeps beautifully during the night. She wakes up twice to eat and goes right back down. I'm definitely thankful for that since she's literally sucking the life out of me during the day :-).

Here's to hoping we get this worked out this week.