Kyle went back to work Monday, so I’ve been flying solo for the past few days. It hasn’t been so difficult, since Kyle helps get the older two ready and off to school before going to work, then he is home again in the evenings (I so could not have handled him working the two jobs at this point…) Lydia has been looking to me like her cheeks are a bit fuller. I have pretty much just been expressing milk after each feeding, then when it’s time to feed Lydia again I add two ounces of formula to whatever I had expressed and that’s what she gets. So this morning I took her to Valerie’s for a weight check. Of course that made me nervous. I mean I’ve been looking at her thinking her cheeks are looking a bit fuller but then I was afraid that I was only thinking that because I was wanting so bad for her to be gaining weight. I was afraid to put her on the scale only to find out that she’s still not gaining. But I took her anyways, and we waited our turn and when we put her on the scale we found that she has actually gained 12 ounces! So she went from 6 pounds even last week to 6lb 12 oz today! I’m so glad. Of course I’m still sad that I’m not making enough milk to feed her, that I had to supplement with formula to get her to that. But it’s better for her to be gaining weight, than it is for me to struggle and be unhappy because I can’t provide enough milk for her and watch her suffer with hunger. So I’ll just deal with it and try to stop beating myself up over that! 🙂
There are herbs you can take to increase your milk supply. I have a friend who reciently had mastitis so bad they had to do surgery and her milk supply greatly decreased, she took the herbs and had plenty of milk. Several other friends report the same results to me. I can’t recall the name, fennel or something, just google “herb to increase milk supply” and you should find it.
Good luck!