Tyler: Week 11

September 1-September 7, 2010 (10w-10w6d old)

Breastfeeding:

Tyler's been a little bit of a lazy nurser.  His sucker is weak, he's wanting to latch onto just the nipple and he's not wanting to work for the hind milk that requires a little more effort.  He gets impatient and cries.  I know there's milk left because I can squeeze and milk comes out.  He slaps my boob when he's not getting milk fast enough.  Kerry loves it and says "who's your daddy?".  Not getting the high calorie hind milk means he's hungry again sooner and puts us into a nursing every single hour routine.  This makes for a very tired mama.  I can usually turn this around by supplementing, getting him full as a tick and getting back to larger meals every 2-3 hrs instead of hourly snacks.

On a more positive note, we're no longer having hour long sessions due to constantly falling asleep on the job.  Average session time is 15-20 mins, much more doable!

I've noticed that I no longer have a let down nor leak anymore.  I thought maybe this was a sign of decreased supply, but then read that this is completely normal as supply and demand has balanced.

I'm still pumping but only 2-3 times a day.  The only time I can pump is after Ty goes to bed for the night because he doesn't leave me with any to spare during the day.  It's a challenge as I always have to try and pump more than I supplement in order to keep a supply in the fridge.  I am keeping ahead and Ty is getting what he needs, but it's a round the clock challenge.

I read that your supply standard is established in the first couple of weeks after birth.  It will then fluctuate from there on out based on supply and demand, but it only varies a little up/down from that standard set in the early weeks.  So it's very important to nurse/pump every 2-3 hrs those first couple of weeks to set your standard high.  This is how the body learns to provide for singletons or multiples.  I think this is part of my problem, I had such a rough start the first few weeks that my standard got set low and now I have to work extra hard to stay on the high side.

I've found that sleeping/naps equals more supply.  My breasts are way more full after 3 hrs of sleep than they are after 3 hrs of awake.  So when the supply seems lower than I'd like, I go take a nap.

Ok, enough about my boobs!

Diapering:

The leak issue seems to be resolved.  I stripped the diapers in case there was a buildup.  I did a cold rinse, hot wash with 1 tsp of original blue Dawn dish soap and then 2 hot washes with no detergent.  I also add Calgon water softener along with the detergent now.  If hard water was the culprit, this seems to have fixed the problem.

I tried out a new dipe this week, the GroVia AIO.  It is super trim and soft and seems to work well.  There's no stuffing and it dries fairly quick for 100% organic cotton as the insert is only sewn in at the top.  It has side snaps that are hard to get used to, but other than that, I really like it.

I also found a night time solution to leaks.  Wool covers!  They go over the dipe and if there are any leaks, it wicks up the moisture and allows it to evaporate into the air.  Wool has an antibacterial property to them so they don't get stinky and only need washed every couple of weeks, unless they get soiled.  They are great and really work.

We are now officially in all cloth diapers except for when we drop him off in the church nursery.  We use cloth overnight and during errands.  It's super easy and we just keep a small wet bag in our diaper bag to put the dirty dipes in.  We also use cloth wipes while out and throw them in the wet bag along with the dipes.

Tyler Update:

Ty is very ticklish, all over.  He squirms and grins like crazy when we give him a baby massage with our finger tips.  He gets a massage after every diaper change which has resulted in him being a content baby during changes because he has something to look forward to.

He's kicking stronger these days.  He lifts his legs in the air, stomps them down and lifts his butt while on changing table.  It makes diaper changes a little more challenging.

His talking has increased in volume.

His hands are starting to open up more and not always in a fist.  Wow he's got big hands!  He used to keep his hands in such a tight fist all the time that I would find lint in them when giving him a bath.

He took his first bath with daddy.  He thinks it's so cool to be in the deep water.  I think we got a fish on our hands.

He grew a second chin.

He weighs 10lb13oz.

Show and Tell:

Big brother Austin and his wife Kadi visited.

While they were here, we celebrated an overdue 18th birthday and their marriage.  Kerry made them a cake and I made the cake topper.  Do you think the food network would hire us?  Maybe we could start our own cake show like Aces of Cakes or Cake Boss.

Ok, despite the fact that we are NOT professional cake bakers (I know, it's hard to believe), it must have at least tasted good as Austin tore into it before we could even light it and sing happy birthday!

Misc pics of Ty:

Video:  Tyler watching himself on video

Video:  Mama trying to get a smile

Video:  Mama blaming the wrong guy

Mama Update:

I did as promised and put up all of Ty's newborn clothes, I nearly cried.  I know, I'm pathetic.  My baby is growing way too fast!

Thanks to BFing, I had to invest in a whole new set of bustier bras.  They start out so comfy, but 10 mins later they are causing pain, all 9 of them and they are all different.  I'm not risking another blocked duct, so off they go.  Whenever I come home the first thing I do is run in the house and rip it off because it's so painful.  I went to take a late evening walk one night.  It was dark, so I ventured out braless.  I started out empty as I had fed Ty recently and all was good, that was until the end of the walk when they decided to fill up.  These mamas about knocked me off balance.  Good thing it was dark as I had to hold them all the way home.  So I don't know what to do, I can't go in public without, but I can't take the pain either.  Any other BF mamas experience this?