We are lucky that Oliver is a decent sleeper. He seems to have his days and nights figured out so that he’s not up all night crying or wanting to play. He even manages to get in at least two good naps every day which gives Brian and I the chance to get things done (showers, work, eating, etc.). All that being true, however, I’m going to whine now because he has yet to hit that magical six-hour mark that the experts call sleeping through the night. A few weeks ago his first stretch of sleep was lasting four to five hours but that stretch of sleep was in his swing and was starting around 7:30 pm. So, even though he was sleeping almost five hours in a row I wasn’t. (I kept imagining the blog post I would have to make when he hit that six hour mark after going to bed at 7:00 - Oliver Slept Through the... Evening!). But at least he was getting close to the six hour mark and I was only having to get up with him twice a night.
But the last three nights he’s gone back to waking up every two to three hours to eat - so the opposite of what we’re going for. I’m hoping this is just a growth spurt and that he’ll soon go back to gaining on that six-hour mark. My hunch that this is a growth spurt was sort of confirmed by a trip to a lactation consultant yesterday. I had been having some questions about breastfeeding and Oliver’s poop problems led to a crisis of confidence so we made an appointment for a consultation. She weighed Oliver before, during and after a feeding, observed his feeding behavior and dirty diapers and tested the fat and calories in my milk.
So, what exactly are Oliver’s “poop problems”? I’ve been skirting the issue since I’m sure not everyone wants all the nasty details but here it is - Oliver’s poop is green... has been for almost two weeks now... for those who don’t know (and don’t care) breastfed babies are supposed to have yellow poop, not green. Green can mean problems - specifically something called a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance when the baby gets too little of the fattier milk that comes towards the end of a nursing session. That’s what I’ve assumed the green poop means and I’ve been freaked out that Oliver isn’t getting enough fat and calories from my milk. This led me to try block feeding (only offering Oliver the same breast for numerous feedings) which was painful for me and made him really fussy. Well, turns out the green poop is more of an aesthetic problem than an indication of anything going wrong with breastfeeding. Oliver is gaining weight like a champ (he’s 11 pounds, 3 ounces... so he’s jumped in the percentiles, an indication that he has been going through a growth spurt) and my milk is crazy chocked full of fat and calories. She tested my hindmilk and foremilk and even my foremilk had more fat and calories in it than average and my hindmilk was off the charts. No imbalance here, just a green pooping baby. No more block feedeing for us. It was so nice to have my confidence restored - Oliver and I are doing great at breastfeeding and he’s getting everything he needs.
Now I can just focus on getting through this growth spurt and hoping and praying for that six hour sleeping mark.
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