The Cottage on the Hill

More Woman-Talk Ahead.... There are a few more reasons why my milk failed: 1. I never bothered correcting a poor latch-on because it didn't hurt me and she seemed to be nursing well despite it. Both Bubby and Baby Girl have a slightly convex upper lip between nose and mouth. It's an endearing feature, but their upper lip would curve in rather than flanging outward during nursing. She often would "click" while nursing. Now I know that this was a BIG faux pas! 2. She was a fast nurser and I was glad of it. Most of my nursing sessions lasted under 5 minutes!! She would drink away the let-down, switch sides and need a burp and then sleep for 3 hours. I'd be happy and get up and go start another project. Not good...not good. 3. With Bubby, I LOVED the Baby Whisperer books. Now, I feel like they contributed to many issues, including nursing. The author is against letting a baby comfort-suckle mommy because it makes them too dependant blah blah blah. So, I had it in my h...

Warning...woman-talk ahead. Stephanie, thank you SO MUCH for your advice. I should print that out and keep it in my Home Management Binder for when I have baby #3. I did put your advice to work yesterday, but still nothing but a 1/2 an ounce of watery milk. But, it did get me to thinking and thinking HARD about what went wrong this time. I was doing so much right (exclusively nursing round the clock), so I was pretty shocked when I got my first post-partum period at 2 months. At 3 months, I had a huge hormonal shift that was like crashing into a brick wall. It seemed as soon as I hit that hormonal brick wall, my milk supply went down to nothing. So, I started feeding her more often, but she would still cry and fight. Quinoa, fenugreek, borage, eating enough food that I actually put on weight.....taking afternoons off for nursing and napping sessions. At 3 months I lost my let-down, too. I had a great let-down at the start. But once this hormonal shift occured, my let-down left. But I d...

I took the day off yesterday and nursing is back on track. Here's what I did. In the morning, I nursed every 2 hours instead of every 3 to help build up my milk supply. In the afternoon when Bubby went down for his nap, I curled up on the sofa with Baby Girl and just let her nurse and sleep as she pleased while I watched two shows (The Fanny Crosby Story and A Midwife's Tale...both are good but the latter had nudity in it that I was completely unaware of). In the evening, she nursed every 2 hours as usual. Stress is what did it. They always say don't upset a pregnant woman, but that should extend to nursing moms as well. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to this, though. Not only do I have so much to do, but I want to do so much. I mean, even on my "day off" I scrubbed floors, did laundry, sewed a quilt, made a peach pie, cooked dinner on the grill, harvested from the garden, scrubbed the bathtub, paid the bills, organized a grocery list, walked the do...