Another first in the books for our baby girl.  Over the weekend Baker hit 6 week old – I feel like time is such a thief.  ALL of my girls are growing like little weeds and I cant help but just sit and admire them as I notice new things about them almost on a daly basis.  Jolie was sitting in my lap last night and I was playing with her bleachy blonde hair — which is halfway down her back these days — and she said, “Hey mama..you like playing with my hair?” I sure do.. Since when did conversations with my toddler get to be this causal?  Its amazing how fast Parker and Jolie have grown up in the last 6 weeks since bringing Baker to this world.  All this growing up has made for a couple of pretty awesome helpers around the house.  They are always eager to be involved.. they stand on their bathroom stool at the changing table to ‘help’ change her diapers, bring me her Wubby when she is fussy, and help me burp her after she eats.  Before Baker was born I knew I wanted to include them in every which way I could and in pleasing my mama heart, when it came down to big sister responsibilities, these two were.so.ready.

Breastfeeding this time around has been much different than how it went with the twins.  I was very successful in nursing my two babies for 13 months – but it took a ton of work.  The first 8 weeks were exhausting.  I was feeding around the clock, and when I wasn’t nursing them, I was pumping in order to make my body aware that I needed more milk – enough to feed two hungry littles.  Thankfully it figured it out and I was able to stop pumping after every single feeding before going back to work.

With Baker, my milk came in on day 2 and I was in so much pain.  My body was reminded of the last time I produced milk and was producing enough milk for two babies. Even after Baker would nurse for 30 minutes I still felt like she wouldn’t make a dent in the milk that was left in my breast.  I was icing my boobs (yes, you read that correctly) as well as pumping for relief after she ate.  I had to do this after most feedings while I was in the hospital and ended up coming come with over 20 ounces of milk to store in the freezer.  This carried on for the first week after we were home, and finally my body figured out that I was in fact only feeding one baby.  Since Baker was about 2 weeks old, I started pumping here and there- usually first thing in the morning for about 20 minutes and before I go to bed for 20 minutes.  During that time I get anywhere between 3.5 ounces to 6 ounces, depending upon how long Baker decided to nurse.  Much less stressful and definitely not as time consuming than what I had to do with Parker and Jolie.

I waited until Baker was 5 weeks old before offering her a bottle – mainly because I didn’t want there to be any kind of confusion, even though she and I made a connection very quickly.  My concern with all that was low, but I also hadn’t had a need to offer her a bottle yet.  While Baker is a fairly easy going babe, we deal with gas a lot.  My let down can be pretty aggressive, so she pulls off several times to catch her breath and in turn ends up sucking down a lot of air.  Not every feeding is like this, but at least once a day we battle a ‘tummy ache’ due to gas pains and she will burp for at least an hour after eating.  I was worried how well she would do taking a bottle for this reason alone.  

After an exhausting three days of cluster feedings during the day and into the night (hello, 6 week grow spurt – please don’t stay long) Jordan offered to feed her a bottle at the 3am feeding.  It is outrageous how refreshing it is to get 6 solid hours of consistent sleep.  I was feeling great, she was sleeping great, and Jordan was getting to spend some one on one bonding time with his newest daughter.

When I was pregnant three years ago, I had heard of the Dr. Brown’s bottle – all the parts seemed like a ton of work when I had two of everything to wash, dry, and store.  So – we tried a different bottle with the twins that worked just fine.  When I started to recognize Baker’s issues with gas and sucking down too much air, I started to look into the different bottles we could try out that would alleviate this issue – not only now for practice while I am on maternity leave, but definitely to get a head start for when I go back to work and she’s having to take at least two bottles while I am away.  Enter in the Dr. Brown’s newest release: the Options Bottle.  This particular bottle is designed to grow with your baby and to be used with or without the vent system, not to mention a vent system with much fewer parts than the original bottles by Dr. Brown’s.  Just what I was looking for – a bottle with little assembly required, but with promises that it won’t exacerbate my girl’s gassy issues (as well as any issues of colic + spit-up).  Once she is older and past the slower-paced feedings (and hopefully has grown out of sucking in too much air when she eats) I have the option (get it?) of using the bottle without the vent and using the paced nipple flow alone.  After three successful practice bottles with her daddy (and basically zero gas), we decided have the girls feed their littlest sister for the first time – and, you guys.  YOU GUYS.  I basically cried my postpartum heart out.  How long can I use this ‘postpartum’ excuse without looking like a train wreck and crying tears of joy at every single interaction between the three of them. 

I feel like I am approaching the end of that road, yes?   

Probably.  Just give me a few more weeks.