Sleepy Henry

We took Henry to the doctor for his follow up yesterday. The NICU doctor wanted him to get a weight check and a bilirubin level check to make sure he's gaining weight and that his bili level isn't rebounding too high. Unfortunately, he's not gaining weight at this point. In fact, he lost about an ounce since he left the hospital. His bili levels were slightly higher than they were when he was discharged but not so high that the doctor thought they warranted further treatment.

The bigger concern is his continued weight loss. All babies lose weight after they are born but they don't like to see a baby lose more than ten percent of his birth weight and Henry is coming really close to that threshold. So, after the doctor's appointment, we decided to go down to Special Addition (a maternity and nursing boutique here in town) because I knew they had scales that we could use to see how he's been doing while he's nursing. 

We got down there and weighed Henry and then I nursed him for about thirty minutes and then we weighed him again. The scale told us he only took in .6 ounces of breast milk during that time. A baby Henry's size and age needs at least 16 ounces a day to thrive. Henry eats eight times a day so, if that was a typical nursing session, then he's only been getting around five ounces a day. We decided to rent a scale so we could track his intake from home and make sure he's getting enough.

We brought the scale home and I've been weighing him at each feeding to see what he's getting at each feeding and the numbers haven't been good. He'll nurse for twenty minutes or so and the most he's gotten in one feeding is 1.2 ounces. Part of the problem is that he is just so sleepy. Every time I go to nurse him (and I've been having to wake him up every three hours to do so), this is what I deal with:

He can't stay awake long enough to get a good feeding. Jaundice can make baby's sleepy but he can't flush the jaundice unless he eats and he can't eat unless he gets more energy. It's a vicious cycle. So, I've made the executive decision to start supplementing his nursing with bottles of breast milk (I'm still pumping and have tons of milk in the freezer and fridge). I feel like if we can get him to eat more, then he might perk up a bit and be more interested eating. With Oliver I was terrified of introducing the bottle this early but I feel like it's the best thing for Henry right now. I feel like priority number one is getting more food in him and priority number two is getting him back on the breast if he ends up having troubles nursing because of the bottles.

So far it seems to be working. I wake him up, weigh him, nurse him, weigh him again, and then give him a bottle to bring his total intake at that feeding up to two ounces, and then I pump. It's an exhausting schedule for me since it means that each feeding takes over an hour but I know it's what's best for Henry. He hasn't had any problems at this point going from breast to bottle and back again (although he certainly does suck those bottles dry quickly) so maybe we will just end up with the benefits of putting some weight on him and won't have to face any struggles with nipple confusion/preference, etc. Fingers crossed.