Because Henry only weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. at birth, he doesn’t have the extra cushion of weight loss that all babies lose in the first few days of life. Many babies lose up to a pound while waiting for mama’s milk to come in and getting the hang of breastfeeding. Henry doesn’t get that luxury. So, that means more work for mommy and daddy. How convenient.
The first few days home were pretty much consumed with nursing and feeding. I would spend about a half hour trying (in vain a lot of the time) to get him to nurse. THEN, I would have to pump as much colostrum as possible. THEN, Andy would spend another twenty minutes feeding Henry using a little syringe while he sucked on Andy’s pinkie finger (so that he would still associate sucking with food). This process usually lasted about an hour…and Henry had to be fed every 2 hours. So, if you’re really good at math, you’ll realize that meant that we got an hour break and had to do it all over again. Also, little Henry was a great sleeper at night…in fact, I bet he would have slept through most (if not all) of the night except that we had to set our alarm for feedings. Again, normally most parents wouldn’t have to do this, but we just had to do everything we could to keep his weight over 5 pounds. Not sure what would have happened if it dipped below that, but both the hospital and Brenda said we had to keep it from happening.
The feeding extravaganza has slowed down a bit now that milk is in, but he’s an on demand kind of feeder. He nibbles here and there so I feel like a giant walking 24 hour buffet.
Went to the pediatrician for a follow up on his heart murmur…got the results back from Stanford (can’t imagine how much that cost!)…and as far as anyone can tell it’s no big deal and he should outgrow it. Not sure how long it will take…could be 2 weeks, three months or five years. But so far, nothing to be alarmed about. We have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks, but Dr. Bravo isn’t worried.
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Your post brought back a lot of memories! Shannon was 5 pounds 3 oz at birth, and the hospital also put the fear into us that we HAD to keep her eating all the time. We were crazy feeding freaks for a month or two, we were so afraid of her losing weight and having to go back to the hospital.
Hang in there! Henry looks perfect, and I’m sure he’ll be packing on the pounds right away.
Henry looks so tiny compared to Andy’s giant hands! He is absolutely perfect :) We had to feed Dillon with a syringe, too. It was nice to share the feeding duties.
oh i remember the days of trying to nurse, pumping, feeding the pumped milk, washing everything, and starting over again… oh my!