On October 10th, I wrote a post about my Supply Issues. On October 19th my coworker gave birth, so the last day I pumped at work was on the 17th. Since then I’m pulling double duty job-wise at work (not for double pay, sadly), and there is absolutely no time for pump breaks. In a way this is a relief, because I was SO stressed about my pumping output (or lack thereof) and that sucked. This means that all daytime milk 4 days / week is coming from my freezer stash – and it means my supply is obviously dropping during the day even on the days that I am home. A generous blog friend has offered to send me some milk if need be to get us through to one year, and I might need to take advantage of that offer. Over the past month Harvey has also decided to only rarely nurse when I’m home at lunch, so at 10 months old, he’s pretty much on the following schedule:
- 5 and/or 7am – early morning nursing session upon wake up
- 10:30am – 3oz bottle from my freezer stash after nap #1
- 3:30pm – 3oz bottle from my freezer stash after nap #2
- 7pm – nurse before bed
- …and sometimes he wakes up to nurse around 12-2am, and I always do it because I’m so worried that he needs the calories!
That’s it. Maybe 12-15oz/day on work days and even less on the days that I’m home? If the Nanny tries to give him a 4oz bottle, he doesn’t finish it, so 3oz is the max we try now. I just looked back and realized that Stella was only nursing 4-5x/day at this age as well, so I guess I shouldn’t worry too much, except Harvey has actually LOST weight from 9 months to 10 months. Granted he is moving a TON, but to actually lose weight? At 9 months Stella weighed 20.2# and Harvey was 20.1# — almost identical weights. At 10 months Stella weighed 21.5# and Harvey had dropped to 19.4#, so he’s now 2# less than her at this age! I know they’re different kids, but gah… it’s hard not to worry as a parent, isn’t it?
Harv just has zero desire to nurse during the day — and even the morning and night time nursing sessions I have to be in the pitch black, and sometimes I have to let him cry in the crib for a minute at night before he will settle enough to nurse. Sometimes he just won’t nurse at all before bed. He is just go-go-go all the time! I never understood before when a nursing Mom would say “he weaned himself at ___ months!” Um, shit, now I do.
Thankfully the kid LOVES to eat solid food, but I think I’m going to have to concentrate on getting some high calories + high fat food in him, because he needs to be a growing boy at this point – not a shrinking one.
The most recent pic I have of him nursing – 6+ weeks ago on a hay rack ride at the pumpkin patch. We just never nurse during the day!
If you want that milk, lets do it soon! Its expiring by the day. No worries if you don’t. I can honestly say I’ll be ok tossing it if needed.
Bryson refuses to self wean. He begs to nurse all day. January is our month. Remind me of that on Jan 1. Ha!
I LOVE that picture. Perfection!
He drank your frozen milk no problem last week! I’ve been meaning to text you about that. Will you look into shipping some milk? If it’s too expensive, don’t worry about it. I’ll find a way to make it through. if it’s not too ridiculous though, I’d really appreciate it!
Good luck weaning Bryson. Stella absolutely loved nursing – cold turkey was definitely the way to go with her, b/c she understood “all done” when we stopped at 17 months. I hope it’s a smooth transition for you whenever you do it though. I’m curious if your triple bed naps will continue to happen without the nursing! Love those pics 🙂
Just FYI, I looked at shipping my milk to another blogger and it was going to be crazy expensive! Let me know if you find a cheaper alternative, that’s good information to have. I ended up donating locally through eats on feets – you can look it up for your area and see about getting some there if you need to Josey.
No Eats on Feets anywhere near me, sadly. The problem with living in the middle of nowhere!
Both my kids weaned themselves at 11 months. I still remember the temper tantrum they both threw when I offered them the boob. When they were done, there was no reasoning with them.
Like you, I worried about calories with the weaning. Avocados, eggs, nuts and yogurt have helped with making sure they get the calories they need. I also offer sippy cups all day long in order to help alleviate dehydration. Nuk makes a good one for learners.
Hang in there.
What kind of nuts do you do? We already do a ton of avocado, eggs (hard boiled & scrambled), YoBaby Yogurt, and beans. Never tried nuts though!
You sound sooooo much calmer about this now than you did during that other post. I hope you feel more at peace about it than you did then. I felt bad you felt so bad!
Yeah, I’m closer to the year mark, so a little more relaxed about it all. So tired of stressing about it.
Perfect timing with this post! My little guy is 2 wks younger than Harvey and I am also worried he is not getting enough calories. He is my 4th as you know and my smallest (my third was just a overall way bigger baby even now at 2.5!) and he is just barely 18 lbs but super tall! The ped said his chart looks good and it’s normal to plateau from all the go go go…but I still worry!
My first got 6 months of breast milk, my second and third I did a full 12 and 13 months. I have lost weight even more recently without even working out (haha normally this wouldn’t be a cause to complain!) but I am now back to my pre pregnancy weight before my first and my boobs feel empty! I nurse 3-4 times a day and 1 time maybe twice when teething at night. He has enough wet and dirty diapers but the last week I don’t feel like it’s enough!
Waiting for ped to get back to me…but he has never had formula so I don’t know if he would even take it (and I am hoping not to go that route as he is almost 10 months) and too early for cow’s milk so wondering what the other options are….I mean I know he is getting milk but I want to be sure it’s enough!
I’ve only felt engorged a couple of times this entire time of breastfeeding Harvey (and often did with Stella). Everyone says engorgement (or lack thereof) doesn’t mean there isn’t milk in there. It’s hard to trust in it sometimes though! It sounds like our kids are doing roughly the same thing with nursing… let’s both take a step back and just have faith in it that they’re fine, just like their doctors say. 🙂
Thanks I totally needed that reminder 🙂
I think that you are doing a great job!
I’ve seen this before, but someone just shared it on fb today. I just read the 9- and 10-month-old parts, and it made me think of you and Harvey. Check those months out if you have a second. I know you’re super busy right now. http://www.thealphaparent.com/2011/12/timeline-of-breastfed-baby.html?m=1
Thanks – I’ll check it out!
Aw, I’ve been wondering how this situation has been going for you, so I’m happy to see this update. It’s awesome you’ve got friends who have offered to send you some milk too!
I second The Alpha Parent timeline a read. I saw it a while ago and after reading it again just now, I realize some of the things stated for the 9/10 month mark apply more to L than it ever did G 🙂 It’s crazy how different they are when it comes to nursing.
I also <3 that picture of you and Harvey!
[…] it was just impossible for me to take pump breaks, so the pump was retired. A month later I wrote this post about how we were trying to make it through the last couple of months, and a good blog friend […]