Little Piggy

Because of Will's weight loss, we had to bring him into see the lactation consultant / nurse practitioner (Denise) on 7/25. I chose Creekside Pediatrics because they have an onsite lactation consultant that is covered by my insurance. She was great! I really liked her and she was a huge help. She showed me a few techniques regarding latching and showed me how to use my other hand to make sure little Will is "working" the entire 20 minutes he is at the breast and not just hanging out. Denise assured me that we did the right thing by supplementing while we were in the hospital and the few days before my appointment. When William was discharged from the hospital on 7/21, he weighed 6lbs, 9ounces. When Denise weighed him on 7/25, he weighed 6lbs 14 ounces. He measured 19-1/2 inches (he grew 1/2 an inch!) They were very pleased with this weight gain and said we didn't have to supplement with formula anymore. yay! She told me to feed him on demand but not to let him go any more than 3 hours during the day or 4 hours at night. My milk had been in for a couple of days at this point (it came in on Saturday, 7/23 -- the same day his umbilical cord came off :) ) so we were confident he was getting enough to eat. I was so relieved that we didn't have to supplement anymore. I just wanted to be able to give him everything he needs to grow strong and I felt horrible when I couldn't do that through my milk.
The next day, on 7/26, we had an appointment with the Pediatrician, Dr Fox. He gained another ounce and then weighed 6lbs 15.9 ounces. Dr Fox also said that his circumcision and umbilical cord looked great!
We still had to go back for another weigh-in on 7/29 to make sure Will had gained adequate weight without receiving formula supplements. I was so anxious about this weigh-in because William had been eating on demand for the last few days which many times is every 2 hours and that can really wear a mommy out! So I was anxious to see if our hard work was paying off. So on 7/29, 7lbs 6.6 ounces!! :) Only 2.5 ounces from his birth weight! Our little piggy!! :) The average is an ounce per day but Will had gained 2 ounces per day! :) Denise said I could stop waking him up at night to feed beginning on Sunday, 7/31. Will has slept so well at night so I had been waking him up many time to make sure he didn't go more than 4 hours but he definitely eats a lot during the day!!  Even though I can now allow Will to ask for food at night and not wake him every 4 hours, he still cannot go any longer than 6 hours. I thought there was NO WAY he would ever let me sleep that long since he LOVES to eat but last night (8/1) he proved me wrong! He ate at 10:15pm before bed and didn't wake up to ask for food until almost 4am! I was shocked and was actually worried he wasn't ok - but he was...just sleepy from eating all day I guess :) I love our little piggy even though he doesn't allow mommy to do very much except feed him during the day! ...and for the record, that 5-1/2 hour stretch of sleep hasn't happened since and it probably wont happen again.