On teat on time

 On teat. 

My breast milk journey so far hasn’t been extremely hard, it was awful at the beginning but it hasn’t been terrible throughout. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still can’t produce enough to feed this young lady but I’m not trying to feel guilty about it. 

But more on actual breast milk production later. I promised I’d write about it when I wrote the entry, Painful Milk (https://enosuasheart.blogspot.com/2022/01/painful-milk.html?m=1). I surely will. Today though, with me counting down to 12noon with Naa Ameley fast asleep on my arm, I’ll write what I’m currently thinking about: feeding times 

On time.

Can you imagine! I dozed off with her! Loooll… anyway, after seeing to a couple of things, I’m back to type… so… where was I? Yeah… I’ve remembered…

On time.

When I started producing breast milk, it was so small that Naa Ameley would spend so many waking and sleeping hours during the day on my teat. No joke, she would suckle till she dozed off and then wake up and start sucking again. There was a day I was seated from 8am to 9pm and only rose to use the washroom! If I was lucky, she’d fall asleep and stay asleep for a while so I could detach her, let her continue sleeping and I’d rest from feeding. But that often didn’t last long. Feeding on demand was hard when you couldn’t produce what was demanded… 

By the time I’d give her the bottle of formula at night, she’d be so hungry she’d eat with such enthusiasm it could make me feel bad. And on days she had formula during the day, she could sleep for hours. 

But I was determined to increase my breast milk production. So the only thing that prevented me from giving her more formula during the day was extremely sore teats. 

On teat on time.

By the time we were relocating back to Tema though, I realised this was not sustainable. She couldn’t be on teat all day… and she shouldn’t take her sweet time doing it either. If I didn’t have the luxury of lots of breast milk, I wasn’t going to take away all my time either. Something had to change. And I did…

I changed her feeding times from all times any time to every 2 hours on the hour for 30 mins. 30 mins of feeding and an hour and a half of waiting till the next feed. And boy, was that hard. But then I discovered cuddles. Thankfully, I could give her cuddles that calmed her down when she was getting really hungry and it was time yet. I’d give her the pacifier and she’d sometimes fall asleep. Just like she had when I started writing the post. Formula was reserved for feeding right before bedtime so she could sleep for long, for night feeds so anyone else could feed her, and for early morning feeds right after she woke up and was starving from many hours of no food. Then around 9am we’d start our on-time feeding. 

On time on teat.

9, 11, 1, 3, 5, 7… we’d feed for 30mins and end it then. After a while, I noticed she improved how regularly she sucked during those 30mins. At some point, we crossed an uncomfortable period where she’d cry and fall asleep right before feeding time so I’d wake her up to feed on time to allowing her to wake up on her own at or soon after feeding time to have her 30mins with me. She soon became known as our alarm clock. Getting irritable at 8:30am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:30pm, 6:30pm or 8:30pm and being calmed till feeding time. Or waking up from sleep right before feeding time. She was getting good at it but then I realised I was getting tired… 

So guess what we’re doing now? Trying to feed her every 3 hours instead of 2 but for an hour instead of 30mins. That often allows me to pump as I feed her, if I do pump (yes, we finally got our own pumps). It also allows her to feed from both teats if needed.

And because of that change, we’re back to cuddles before feeding time is up. I’m so glad they work for her. I’m not sure how I’d be able to calm her down without water logging her (i.e. giving her way too much water giving her water helps with that and her frequent constipations) or giving in to an early feed. 

You’re doing so well, Naa Ameley. I’m proud of you. And guess what? I’m doing so well too! I’m super proud of me. Knowing all we’ve been through with this feeding journey, I’m more than just proud. I’m grateful, super thankful, at peace and happy. Just happy. 

Looking forward to you settling into our new Dawn, 9, 12, 3, 6, 9 feeding cycle. And well, if you don’t eventually, we’d try something else. 

Either way… I’m proud of you! And proud of me too… ❤️

3:23pm

1st Baby diaries || Wednesday, 16th February, 2022 || 2 calendar months, 22 days