For those that know me on Facebook, you're aware that Matthew has been seeing the doctor pretty much ALL WEEK. (I am getting to know the Naval Hospital pretty well.) And for those that follow here, from a previous post, you know that my milk production was down and we were supplementing. Well I finally have time to explain fully what's been going on. Let's start at the beginning, shall we, and bear with me this is a bit lengthy.
We moved from Hawaii when Matthew was almost 6 weeks old and shortly after we got here we noticed what were believed to be colic symptoms. He was crying on and off during the day. We got him a pediatrician (and by got, I mean Tricare selected one from a list and assigned Matthew to this guy we knew nothing about.) At 7 weeks old we saw Dr. P and mentioned the crying & the fact that Matthew was not going #2 without help. Dr. P simply told us that Matthew had colic and the #2 thing wasn't a big deal (he actually said it was fine for Matthew to go over 2 weeks without having a bowel movement.) I questioned this immediately and started asking Navy wives in the area who they liked as a pediatrician (something I should've done in the first place, ah well you live you learn.) They came up with Lt. D. Lt. D unfortunately couldn't see Matthew until he was 12 weeks old. When we arrived at that appointment, his weight was just 2 ounces more then it had been at 7 weeks of age. This was a definite concern and Lt. D agreed that his bathroom issue was also not okay. She immediately suspected my milk supply, so we began supplementing and I saw the lactation consultant. Despite the best efforts and doing everything the LC suggested my supply continued to drop and we had to supplement Matthew more & more. Lt. D wanted to check Matthew again at 14 weeks (this week) and at that appointment he had gained no weight, which meant he'd gained only 2 ounces of weight in 7 weeks. She asked me to go completely over to formula, saying I could nurse him only after I'd formula fed. And she said if he had not gained any weight in the next day, he'd have to be hospitalized. Thankfully, he did gain a little weight. He is still considered underweight for his age and will continue to be monitored.
Thank you for all the prayers and I will try to update again.
My friend just had to start giving her little one formula because he was underweight too. I know she took it really hard because she wanted an all natural birth and had to have a c-section, and then was really looking forward to breastfeeding as much as she could this time around, but even though she is still producing enough, it's just not enough for little Jesse. He will be 6 months this month and she wanted to go until he was 1 year.
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