The nursing issue

As mentioned befor, ZK needs to feed very hour when he's awake. Growth spurt? Maybe.. But he's been like this for almost four weeks! Every day!

I think this is related to his sleep issue - if he sleeps more, he wouldn't need to nurse so often but he would still grow well cos he would be sleeping and not expending extra energy being awake!

On the other hand, hourly nursing could have affected his sleep too. Maybe he's too hungry to sleep? But I think he should be drinking enough leh... On the morning of 12 August when he was 4.5 weeks, we gave him his first bottle to see how much he could take and he finished 175ml! But one hour later, he wanted more! :( And yesterday morning, I pumped my right boob which hadn't been "used" for six hours and got 125ml in 15 min; could get more but my bottle was full. This morning, my left boob, almost unused for six hours, gave only 60ml, but he helped drain everything. Assuming equal capacities in both boobs, he would have had 65ml and more. Anyway, babies are supposed to extract milk more efficiently than the pump right? Unless he's not efficient? :(

I don't think we have an issue with latching on - it doesn't hurt although we could take a few attempts to stuff me into his hungrily searching mouth! - but sometimes he would tug and pull at the nipple during a feed, and that hurts! Or he would pull off while clamping down, which hurts more! But after pulling off, he'll often eat his hands or search for food or cry for more - then why pull off in the first place? I think LS used a most fitting word to describe babies - inexplicable *.*

So this, coupled with not sleeping, means that I don't get to do much, especially if I value my sleep. Which I do! I used to try to do some admin or housework when he sleeps at night but not anymore. Nowadays, I also practise eat-whenever-I-can. Not hungry when he's sleeping? Never mind, just have a cracker. Maybe three. It's just difficult eating while nursing, especially when breakfast consists of a hardboiled egg and peanut butter on bread. For lunch and dinner, I often pick rice off his thighs to eat. I shall not think about having just wiped that succulent bit of flesh during the earlier messy diaper change *.*

Anyway, I've been reading about achieving full feedings and doing everything I know, but he still gets hungry an hour later. If I'm lucky, a poop may distract him for a while more, but I've not gone to two hours' interval after the first two weeks. Btw, the interval refers to starting time, i.e. the interval between the end of one feed and the start of the next could be as short as 15 min!

I think he must be comfort nursing sometimes, especially at the end stretch of a long session. Or when he cries right after a long feed due to lack of sleep (see the previous sleep issue) or when he's kicking his legs in a certain way (see the upcoming poop issue). But he does suck and swallow vigorously at the start of each session so I'll still feed on his (hourly) demand.

Really hope he'll settle into a more sustainable (for me) nursing routine soon. For now, I'm resigned to the fact that I'm more cow than human in the day!