Layla is doing amazingly well. She is so smart and funny, I can't imagine how much more her personality will grow as time goes on. She is a peanut. At her 4 month wellness appointment, she is in the 90th percentile for height and the 10th percentile for weight. In the past, I would be stressed over her slow weight gain but believe it or not, this neurotic mamma has learned to roll with it. She is happy, healthy, and meeting all of her milestones right on time. Her pediatrician showed no concern with her growth so therefore, I'm not either! She's not a big baby and probably won't be a big person in general.
I'm most excited that for the past few weeks we have had no use for formula! As happy as I am about that, I am even more thrilled with how less stressful nursing has become. I was making myself stressed, I was complicating the whole process, and when I learned to 'just let it go' everything fell into place.
As of yesterday, my awesome midwife Mandy gave me a prescription for Reglan. I've spent so much money and exhausted every herbal supplement/natural attempt at increasing my supply. Fenugreek made Layla extremely gassy & also can affect thyroid levels (I have hypothyroidism) so that was out. I spent $40 on a bottle of Goats Rue only for it to make Layla gassy as well (I think it may have helped slightly but not worth the gas!). A few days ago I purchased a huge bottle of Brewers Yeast capsules. I'm continuing with them as well as the Reglan. I was told with the Reglan I should see a small increase within 48 hours and should note my supply doubling by day 5. Fingers crossed!
Our biggest hurdle as of now is SLEEP TRAINING! Ugh, I wanted to avoid it. I'm a sucker and can't stand to hear Layla cry. However, the dreaded "four month sleep regression" hit us and it hit hard. Like, up every 2 hours each night hard. 30 minute naps hard. Exhausted mamma and exhausted baby hard. No bueno. I was going to try and ride it out, but once Layla was becoming obviously chronically tired I knew we had to bite the bullet. Crappy naps = crappy night sleep, and the vicious cycle continued. I felt my sanity slipping through my hands. So, we are in Day 4 of our training and so far, we've seen improvement each day. Her naps are extending to at least 45 minutes (the length of a sleep cycle), she is learning to fall asleep on her own, and she's back to only waking 2x/night. The pediatrician said she is capable of going all night without feedings, however I feel like it's okay for her to eat right now. Like I said, she's a peanut..she weighs 12 pounds & if she's hungry I want to feed her.
Even as I type this, Layla has been napping for an hour. This may not sound like much to you but if you've lived the short-nap-hell we've experienced for what seems like forever, this is epic.
On another note, I decided once she hit 4 months we would start with cloth diapers full time. We were spending so much money on disposables and I knew I needed to just pick a date and go for it. So far, so good. Her legs are finally chunky enough so that we don't have leaks. We put her in an Honest Co. disposable diaper at night because those suckers are super absorbent! We love Honest Co. products. They are pricey for diapers but if we are mostly using cloth, it's not too often we have to buy them.
And just like that, she's awake!
Until the next long nap...
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment