Sam takes a couple of pumping sessions just to produce the amount Jorie currently gulps down in one feeding. Producing is apparently harder without a real baby there. Sam's mom says that staring at a picture of the baby helps.
Feeding's still difficult in general. The baby's latching skills are improving but far from perfect, and it hurts Sam. Sam's mother is trained as a lactation consultant, and she's helped a lot, but it's a tough process.
We've at least tried to get away from the assumption that feeding the baby is the default response to any kind of fussing; Jorie's thrived on the bouts of near-continuous cluster feeding but it is murder on her mother, and it can't go on like that. The result is slightly longer episodes of crying while we try to figure out how to settle her down; we're learning, but it's terrible when Sam's trying to get a bit of rest, because the slightest sound from the baby wakes her up. Worse, the baby is still mostly nocturnal; her period of maximum wakefulness is usually midnight to 6 AM.
I'm having a bit of survivor guilt about it--it really hasn't been that hard on me personally, and I try to do the household chores and cooking and help Sam out any way I can.
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Date: 2006-09-04 12:24 am (UTC)Feeding's still difficult in general. The baby's latching skills are improving but far from perfect, and it hurts Sam. Sam's mother is trained as a lactation consultant, and she's helped a lot, but it's a tough process.
We've at least tried to get away from the assumption that feeding the baby is the default response to any kind of fussing; Jorie's thrived on the bouts of near-continuous cluster feeding but it is murder on her mother, and it can't go on like that. The result is slightly longer episodes of crying while we try to figure out how to settle her down; we're learning, but it's terrible when Sam's trying to get a bit of rest, because the slightest sound from the baby wakes her up. Worse, the baby is still mostly nocturnal; her period of maximum wakefulness is usually midnight to 6 AM.
I'm having a bit of survivor guilt about it--it really hasn't been that hard on me personally, and I try to do the household chores and cooking and help Sam out any way I can.