Piper Feeding Update

Two weeks ago (when Piper was six weeks old) I took Piper to see Kathy, a Sacral Cranial Specialist at the Lotus Tree, to see if Piper had any issues with her month that might be causing me not to produce enough milk. Kathy found a few issues and worked her magic to get Piper's mouth in better shape for breast feeding. We visited her again last week (when Piper was seven weeks old) for a follow up session as well. Overall Piper's mouth is a little tight but not nearly as bad as I remember Pennington's being. The therapy that Kathy did on Piper has definitely helped to improve my milk supply. Piper has continued to gain more than enough weight over the last two weeks, averaging around 8 ounces a week.

I also went to the "Breast Feeding Bunch" last Wednesday which is a free breast feeding group that St. Lukes offers. The benefit of going to the group is that you can do free weight checks and ask a lactation consultant any questions you might have. The lactation consultant on hand mentioned that her latch looks great. Since I know Piper is gaining more than enough weight, I decided to cut back on supplementing to a maximum of 6 ounces a day to see if she continues to gain an adequate amount of weight. I will make sure to include a feeding update on Wednesday after I go to the Bunch.

I would like to mention a few things I have learned over the last two years about breast feeding that will hopefully help others out.

1. Take the class and read a book on it before you have the baby. Breast feeding is so much harder than you think. I made a HUGE mistake the first time not doing that.

2. Meet with the lactation consultants. For the most part they are really helpful.

3. Go see a Sacral Cranial Specialist. For some reason lactation consultants are not really good about referring you to see one but I will say that the SC Specialists are much better at fixing your breast feeding issues than the lactation consultants.

4. You seriously have to feed the child 8 to 12 times a day. This basically means you don't do anything but feed the baby over the first few months of their life. Piper is almost 8 weeks old and I am still feeding her at least 8 times a day (every 2 to 3 hours).

I remember reading in a breast feeding book that once you get to six weeks it starts to get easier. I will definitely agree with that. Since breast feeding is continuing to go well (minus the fact we are still supplementing a little bit) my next challenge is going to be to figure out how to continue breast feeding when I head back to work in January.