Out and about with the bug

Today I took Zoe to my work christmas party. It seemed like a good idea when I RSVPed when I was still pregnant, and even last week. But yesterday wasn't one of our best days so far and I was wondering if I'd taken on more than I could handle.

Zoe really was just very unsettled and didn't want to sleep. She got about an hour in the morning but between lunch time and 8 pm last night, she had only 1/2 an hour sleep. I kept on feeding her and feeding her at the breast to try and calm her down, but it didn't feel like she was getting much milk.

I always try to feed her about 1.5 - 2 hours before I need to leave the house. That way, she has an hour to feed and then I have some time to hopefully get her off to sleep, or at least relatively calm. But this morning, it wasn't looking good. She didn't seem sleepy at all and then started to cry. On the way over to North Sydney in the car, she was crying on and off and I was wondering was I completely crazy to try and take a 7 week old baby to a work function.

Anyway, once we found a park, I gave her the bottle I'd taken with me while sitting in the car, and put her back in the capsule and into the pram. Amazingly, she fell asleep straightaway. And with the help of quite a few willing helpers rocking the pram, she stayed alseep for about an hour. This gave me enough time to have a chat to everyone, although she started to cry again when it was time to eat lunch. But I'd been there for nearly two hours by that stage, so I think we had a good run.

When it came time to change her nappy, I asked about a parent room, which they didn't have but they did let me use a small room they use for 'brides' (we were in a popular wedding reception place). So I was then able to breastfeed her again as well. I was really not looking forward to getting my breasts out in front of my work colleagues, so it was nice to have some privacy. I've still a way to go to get used to breastfeeding in public.

Of course, everyone thought she was just gorgeous and marvelled at how small she is. I am a bit sensitive about her size for obvious reasons but everyone was very kind and didn't say anything to upset me. All in all, I'm very glad I went and it was nice to see everyone again.

As for the breastfeeding issues, I think we are now making some progress. Now that I'm back on Motilium, I'm trying to have Zoe suck at the breast as strongly and as frequently as possible to build supply. Last time I took it, my breasts did get harder and produce more milk but I don't think she was sucking well enough to keep it going.

Yesterday morning I expressed as I do each morning, and I had a whopping 75 ml in 15 mins. This is the most I've ever got from one session. It had dropped down to 45 ml at best in the last couple of weeks. I took it as a good sign that things were on the way up again.

When I fed Zoe at midnight last night, the supply was ok but not wonderful. I actually ended up giving her 2 lots of 50 ml bottles because she was just so unsettled and crying. I am now convinced the doctor was wrong and the crying is not due to hunger, because the extra milk made no difference. It just made her throw up everywhere. We both finally got to sleep at 3am.

The 7am feed this morning was just a dream. If all feeds could be like that, we would be all sorted. My left breast (the good one) felt nice and hard before the feed, and Zoe latched on beautifully and got great gulps of milk with nice big swallows. The right side wasn't too bad either.

At the next feed when I changed her nappy, it was soaking wet so she'd obviously had a good feed. If we get one feed a day that is that good, maybe we can progress to more each day being as good. I am determined to get her to suck as much as possible so she really empties the breasts and they keep making more milk. I am swapping her from side to side each feed and making sure she is sucking well (breaking the seal and starting again, if not).

This weekend, we go away for our 'mini-break' in Sydney. LH bought this as a birthday present for me and its a practice run for going on holidays with the bug. We are going to the old quarantine station at Manly, so we can get there between feeds and will also have the car to take lots of paraphenalia with us. I am really looking forward to getting out and about.