A not-so-Brief History of our Problem:
After she was born, I had some difficulties with breastfeeding, and I think it got my supply off to a rough start. Vienna nursed around the clock, but was not gaining weight the way she should have been. I was checked out by LLL, my midwives, a lactation consultant at the nearest hospital- all of them said her latch was great, we were nursing “long enough,” and there should be no problems. But it took DD six weeks to regain back to birth weight.
At six weeks, I had started to pump, due to the preparation for returning to work, and had a four ounce bottle. I thought, “well, let’s see if she’ll take to a bottle.” She downed it in less than a few minutes, and for the very first time, she had the satisfied, “milk-drunk” look of a happy, well-fed baby. OMG, she’s been hungry this whole time.
I kept on with BF, but supplemented with a bottle. She never took more than 3-4 ounces after she had nursed both sides.
She lost interest in BF around 8 mo, and I found out I was pregnant, so I wasn’t surprised. But- she still continues to not take more than 4 oz (usually) at a sitting. She has finished 6-8oz only- maybe- three times her whole life.
Even after starting solids, she still continues to want her bottle in between meals- sometimes right after a meal, in fact. But, it’s just sip, sip, and off running to the next adventure.
She wasn’t eating very much at meals, so several months ago, DH and I started watering down bottles in between meals. It helped somewhat, as she did start eating more, but not nearly what several books, including BW books have stated as “average” diet for a 12 mo child. She signs, and tells us “all done” and will start throwing food on the floor to get her point across. Sometimes she’ll eat a few more bites, but not finish the meal. Within an hour, she asks for her bottle.
To add in the sleep aspect, she’s only rarely slept straight through the night. At 12 months, she was waking up, on average, 1-2 times, with sleeping straight through about once a week. Now, after molars have started to appear and a few schedule interferences, she’s waking 3-4x a night, no sleep-throughs. The only way to get her back to sleep is to give a bottle, which she’ll take up to 3oz, and goes right back to sleep. We had started to water down her nighttime bottles, too, and I think it was helping. After chatting with the Sleep forum ladies, they thought she might actually NEED those calories, and so we went back to full strength.
I’m wondering if this is a combination of habit and hunger, but also a psychological need to know there is food always available, since she was hungry constantly through the first 6-7 weeks of her life! She’s never been a pacifier baby- she get’s mad that it doesn’t give her something…
I still feel slightly guilty over it- but I know that there was no way to have known- my midwives, the GP, the lactation consultant, all were amazed at how bright-eyed and alert (not to mention not sleeping) she was for being so young. They thought she was just using up calories faster than she could take them in!
If anyone has any thought, please help us!
Thanks, Shauna
