Yellow Baby

Leni's been hit with some jaundice. On Monday Jesse noticed the whites of her eyes were looking a bit yellowish. He took her into the health centre to get a weight as suggested by the nurse on Saturday, so when he was there, he got the nurses to look at her and they agreed she had a mild case of jaundice. I let the nurse know over the phone that she was a very sluggish eater and we were having difficulty keeping her awake during feeds and so she sent another nurse to our home the next day. 

Tina, the home visit nurse, came and said Leni's jaundice had really progressed; when her jaundice was down to her chest the day before, it was now to the tips of her toes. After watching me feed Leni and hearing the story of her birth and the first few days postpartum, Tina came to the conclusion that I was not making enough milk. 

Me? The 6 oz per boob with Gemma me??? Not enough milk? When i'm eating soup by the potfuls (literally) each day and drinking like crazy? 

Yup. That me. 

It's true that I had stayed away from the pump this time in order to avoid being engorged for 6 weeks straight. I was hoping that Leni could just nurse off me and we would have a balanced supply and demand situation. But I guess being as sluggish as she is on the boob, she wasn't stimulating me enough to make more milk and so my body was just doing what it was told. 

New plan: Pump. like crazy. Get as much milk as I can into this baby so she will pee and poop this jaundice out. That is the first thing - getting rid of the jaundice. 

So overnight, I've been pumping and forcing Leni to eat as much as 2.5 oz per feeding - which means right now most of the time i have to supplement with formula because I'm only making about 2 oz at most. She has done well and even though sometimes it is hard to keep her awake still while she eats, she has been able to finish most of the 2.5 oz each time. This is huge, seeing how even 36 hours ago i could hardly get her to finish an ounce. Unfortunately, she is still very lazy at the boob and most of the time will just sit there with my boob in her mouth, not sucking. Let me tell you, it is incredibly frustrating going from a voracious eater like Gemma to Leni. 

So please pray for us that this jaundice will be gone very soon, as it has been sticking around longer than it should. I know that in most cases jaundice is quite harmless, but there are cases where it can actually cause brain damage if it's severe. Please pray for our little Leni... thank you...