Feeding issues

Presley has had so many issues with eating and gaining weight. She is just not an aggressive eater...meaning she would sleep ALL day long and not wake up to eat and be just fine. I was really worried at the beginning about this, because I have never known an infant that did not like to wake up and eat. But thinking back to my last trimester, she slept a lot in my belly. I would have to poke at her sometimes to make sure she was still alive in there. No kidding! I guess babies really do show their personalities in the womb!

Anyway she lost quite a bit of weight at the beginning of her little life, but gained her birth weight back by her 2 week checkup. Dr. P, her pediatrician, was ok with this and just wanted to see Presley at her normal 2 month checkup. But mother's intuition told me she was still too little when she was 4 weeks. So we went and saw our lactation consultant (the lady who had been helping me with breastfeeding). She had only gained ONE ounce in a WEEK. Bad, bad, bad! Breastfed babies are supposed to gain 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce per DAY. Needless to say that earned us a trip to see Dr. P.

Dr. P wanted me to start supplementing with some formula to see if Presley could gain weight. By her eating the formula we could rule out whether or not the issue was with her not getting enough "hindmilk" (which is the fatty part of breastmilk, with all the calories, that comes at the end of the feeding) versus it being a medical issue of why she couldn't gain weight. Thank the Lord above that there was/is nothing medically wrong with Presley! She just isn't a vigorous enough eater to get enough hindmilk at each feeding.

So now we are still supplementing with soy formula about every other feed. She lets us know when she is not done eating and needs a bottle by screaming her head off after nursing! She also doesn't nurse well in the middle of the night. She is so sleepy (wonder where she gets that from?!) that she won't wake up to eat. So...we decided to just give her a bottle those times too. That has helped a lot. I still have to wake up to pump out the breastmilk that she doesn't eat, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make! :) Overall, this is working because she was 7 lbs 12 oz at 6 weeks and 8 lbs 9 oz at 7 weeks. I'm anxious to see how much she'll weigh on Monday at her 2 month checkup!