Breastfeeding : Not going to give up.

I will start this post by saying thank you to those of you keeping Ian and I in your prayers...keep the prayers coming.

I can't believe that its already the middle of August. WOW.

Ian Matthew 6 weeks old.

I love love this boys fuzzy little head.

Thank you God for my sweet baby Ian!

I have a update on my breastfeeding rollicoaster ride.

My sweet Ian weighed only 9.11 at his 8 week check up last week.

 That is a 1 pound weight gain since birth, not good.

 He should weigh a pound or 2 more.

Ian got mildly dehydrated 2X since birth. Once at 3 weeks and another after I reported things were going great! Ian is mostly on formula as of now. I still pump and feed breast milk but my busy life has not let me pump as much as I need to. I must still give formula also for now. Ian uses the breast to pacify and to get to sleep and at times there is milk to feed him. The stimulation is good to increase my milk production.

What I need to do is cut out 1 formula feeding every two days. Replacing it with breast milk,(pumped for now so I can SEE how much he's getting). Going to the breast cold turkey for all feedings like I had been doing, caused him to not be getting enough to eat and ending up dehydrated. My breast can make enough milk but I need to work my way up to it by slowly replacing the formula. I also need to pump every few hours at least if not more to get my milk supply back up.

Ian's ped doc said, I need to be able to pump about 1 oz per hour to have enough for Ian to eat.

My life gets so busy and the time flys so fast. In September I think things will slow down.
As it is now I pump about 3oz total from both breast every 4hrs. (2 oz from one side and 1 oz from the other) There are times when I pump that a get a bit more, like maybe 4 oz total.

I am still taking Fenugreek capsules.

We have had dentist visits X 8 and doctors visits for all sorts of stuff  X10.

Noah needs to get tested for food allergies, but that's for another post.

I will weigh Ian tomorrow while I'm at the doc for Noah.

post edit: 
I weighed Ian today Aug.16 (1 wk after his last weight check) and he is now 10.11 so a 1# gain in 7 days! That's great!  That was an unofficial weight check.
Another weigh in Sept.5 2012  Ian is now  11.15  Dr.'s goal was 13# by Sept. 12.
post post edit: I took Ian in to be checked for whooping cough though I don't think he has it.
and he weighed 10.8 so that is down 3oz from the week before.

We have had three weeks of VBS and a child needing rides to and from summer school (Jun 26- Aug2)

Job interviews to drive my oldest son to and the list goes on and on.

I'm going to keep with it.  My goal is to breastfeed FULL time by the end of September.

 I will not let my baby starve......and I thank God for formula!

(and for my other kiddos for being such great helpers)

Peace+

Georgiann