Maybe she's got it?

Since Arianna is enjoying her day with her friends at daycare, I decided to take advantage and get some 'Daria' things done.

First I stopped off at my office to show off the little cherub. Of course she was a big hit - how can she not be?

After we left there we drove into the city for an appointment with a lactation consultant. The last two nights Daria has fed about 8 times between 6 and 11 and done so amidst screaming... she also has been a loud nurser - she would make a 'smacking' sound alot and had me worried her latch wasn't correct. Add the two of them together and I was pretty convinced her poor latch was making breastfeeding pretty ineffective for her.

I got to the LC office and was pleased to have someone who had worked with me and Arianna when we were still trying to breastfeed. She remembered my face which was nice.

She weighed Daria before we started - 9 lbs. 9 oz. she's a moose! Then I got situated on the couch and got the boppy pillow in place and we got her latched on. Not only did she pull the 'let's be an allstar' card but she took in 2 oz. in just 10 minutes - WOW! Then, she went to sleep.

So she made a liar out of me, basically.

But I got some good tips on positions - my problem has been that I'd get her latched on and then get her in the correct position, probably breaking her latch in the process. I also asked her about introducing a bottle - I've been pumping once a day to build up a small freezer stash and would eventually like to introduce an overnight bottle so its not always me feeding her at night. In a moment of weakness last night I attempted to introduce a bottle... it didn't go well. The LC told me that I shouldn't be the one to introduce the bottle as sometimes the baby can tell who's feeding them and it might be confusing to it. So in another week or so we'll try introducing the bottle after we're sure she doesn't have any latch issues.

On the plus side, her cluster feeding between 6 and 11 PM is a good sign - she's storing up for night time so that she can sleep through the night, so we may get reprieve from nighttime fussiness sooner rather than later. Right now she's only up once after 11/11:30 - usually between 3:30 and 4:30 and then she sleeps until 7:30 or so which is great.

After leaving the LC we met hubby for lunch and now I'm home. She's fed 3 times with my new position knowledge and done great - no smacking sounds and her nursing really 'feels' right now. Of course, she was crying each time I'd lay her down - hopefully that's just a 'I'm still hungry' cry and not something else. She seems to be sleeping soundly now... so I'll take advantage and clean the bathrooms before she wakes up and we have to go pick up her big sister...