Getting Bigger

Evelyn had a doctors appointment this morning to check her weight. About a month ago Evelyn had her 4 month check up and her weight, 11lbs 12oz, was a little lower than I would have liked (only 9oz more than her 2 month check up) so we began to investigate what the problem could be and soon realized that she was not nursing for very long so I began to supplement after every feeding and within a week she had gained over a pound bringing her up to 13lbs 4oz . We visited the lactation consultant and the doctor and discovered that there were several problems, one, I was under a lot of stress with school and three kids, two, I wasn't eating enough protein causing my body to not be able to produce enough milk and third, Evelyn has a tongue tie, meaning her frenulum is too short (she inherited this from her dad,) she can barely get her tongue out of her mouth. Luckily her tongue tie is not severe enough to require surgery and should not affect her speech. Armed with this news I began taking herbs and a prescription medication to boost my milk supply, pumped several times a day and nursed Evelyn as often as possible. A month of this routine has paid off and now I only supplement a couple of 4 oz bottles a week and today Evelyn weighted 14lb 13oz and is back in the 42nd percentile, she is also 25 in long. I am so excited that supplementing may soon be a thing of the past. A special thanks to Micky Jones, a wonderful friend and lactation consultant who helped us, and to Dr. Eidson, our pediatrician, who suggested that surgery was not necessary and who always supports our decisions. I feel like Evelyn and I have overcome a great hurdle in our nursing relationship and pray that this relationship will continue for many more months.