Milk Madness

In the part of the country I currently call home, people get a little crazy around the month of March. In fact, some may describe their sickness as a sort of madness, March madness. Fortunately, I am not one of those people. I get crazy about sports alright, but my madness comes in the Fall, when the best sport of all is played. (And before my basketball loving readers can jump in, I do realize that football would be much better with a playoff system. Still, every game counts in football, which makes it much more exciting!)

But this post is not about basketball, or football. No, I am here today to talk about milk. It seems that the babe is not gaining enough weight as of his two month appointment. Our guess is that my milk supply is low. Now, I can't imagine why, unless having feedings constantly interrupted by two older boys fighting over toys has something to do with it. That, along with having a baby with mild reflux and serious colic, has led to some milk-flow issues. Thankfully, he IS still gaining weight, but his curve is dropping.

Isn't this every nursing mother's nightmare? I have had two good nursers who gained weight well, so this is new territory for me. I had cut out dairy in hope that it would help his colic, but that often left me feeling hungry and unable to get enough calories. In trying to help my baby, I may have actually hurt him. I am not sure the dairy thing is even the cause of his colic. I guess that means I am saying "so long" to the dairy fast for Lent.

While I stock up on ice cream and cheese, I am also settling in for what my friend calls "nurse-apalooza." We are going back to the newborn days of nursing every hour or hour and a half. Basically, whenever I can, I am going to have that boy eating in hopes of getting my supply up. I am not looking forward to all I will have to let go (cleaning, laundry, getting anything done, leaving the house), but he's worth it. I am not desperate enough yet to go with formula, and I am going to try my best to avoid it. If he really starts getting fussy or actually losing weight, then I will consider it.

In the meantime, excuse me if I don't write for awhile. I've got a baby to feed. Now if only there were some good sports to watch on TV...