It's Not Easy Being Green

We had a great doctor’s appointment today. Audrey got a good report and was such a trooper about her immunizations. We followed her Aunt Kim’s recommendation of the pacifier dipped in sugar water and it worked like a charm. She screamed and cried when the nurse stuck her, but she quit crying the second I picked her up and then fell asleep before we could get her to the car. We didn’t even have to use Tylenol (yet, at least)! The look of shock and betrayal on her face will wear on me long after her little band-aids come off, though. The great news is that she weighs 11 lbs 11 oz and is 23 inches long. My little Chunk gained two pounds (right on track!) since her one month visit. I must admit, I was really worried about this. As Kim pointed out, though, I was worrying right through packing up clothes that no longer fit or trying to clean under her double-chin! Silly Mommy.

What follows is an extremely boring detail of feeding and weight issues that we’ve been going through for the past few weeks. I must warn you that unless you’re Audrey’s grandparent, you’ll probably fall asleep before you make it to the end. I don’t blame you. Nonetheless, I wanted to document the ordeal so I can remember for myself (and so I can have evidence when AJ is fifteen and yelling that I don’t care about her):

Rewind to about four weeks ago when Audrey was 5 ½ weeks old. Out of nowhere her…ah-hem…poop had turned from cheery sunshine yellow (as it should be in breastfed babies) to various shades of green. After a couple of days of this and lots of research, I decided to call the lactation consultant at the hospital. I was worried that perhaps my new exercise routine or my cutting back on my calories may have affected my milk supply (I wasn’t doing anything severe by any means. Just reducing my calories to what one nursing mother requires, instead of my previously eating what several nursing mothers, a female body builder, an active construction worker, and a baby elephant would need to survive.)

Anyway, the lactation consultant said that this new color could actually indicate overfeeding. While I was feeding Audrey the correct number of times per day, she thought that perhaps I was forcing her to continue past the point that she was finished. Thus began my shortened nursing sessions. The second that child started falling asleep, I’d cut her off instead of trying to keep her awake like before. I never let her go longer than three hours between daytime feedings, but if she’d act hungry at two and a half, I’d try to stretch her out. I also began single-side feedings only, to make sure she was getting enough hind milk. I’d read that the green poop can also indicate a deficiency of this calorie-rich portion of the meal.

Fast forward to two weeks later, when AJ was about 7 ½ weeks old. I had a hunch that she wasn’t gaining weight as quickly as she needed to be. On top of that, her poop was still green. I decided the first lactation specialist I’d spoken to must have been wrong, so I called the one at our pediatrician’s office. I asked her if we could come by for a weigh-in and a consultation. We headed up there the next day and I held my breath as I placed Audrey on the scale. She was 10 lbs 11 oz. Even though that was almost a pound in the three weeks since her one month check-up, it was still about 5-7 oz below where I thought she needed to be. She still needed to be gaining about two pounds per month at this point. The lactation specialist didn’t seem concerned. I asked if I needed to be waking her up at night or pumping and measuring and she said no.

As far as the green poop, she said it was likely something in my diet that was upsetting Audrey’s tummy. She grilled me about any changes I’d made around the time the color shift occurred. I thought long and hard and finally told her that other than cutting out the bowl of ice cream and brownie every night, there hadn’t been any difference at all. She agreed that probably wasn’t the cause, while silently judging me I’m sure. She suggested I go on the BRATT (bananas, rice, applesauce, tea, and toast) diet for a few days and then gradually add things back in order to figure out what was causing the color difference. She also suggested I start going back to double-side feedings at each nursing session.

I walked out of there discouraged and annoyed. I had followed the first lactation consultant’s advice and now my baby wasn’t fattening up like she needed to be. Furthermore, the second lactation specialist was convinced that some change I had made to my diet was causing my little darling discomfort and undesirably colored bowel movements. I, however, knew I hadn’t changed a doggone thing about what I was ingesting. I eat the same things now that I did five years ago with the exception of mustard, more fruits, and a multi-vitamin - none of which is new since Audrey came along.

That night, after venting my frustrations and overly-concerned maternal anxieties to my very patient husband, we came to several conclusions. First, David intelligently declared that no one really knows what they’re talking about when it comes to babies. Everyone has their own opinion and they vary so widely that you can drive yourself crazy trying to follow each suggested tip. He also helped me realized that we shouldn’t take advice from someone over the phone, as I did with the first lactation consultant. (We are, however, going to allow two exceptions to this “not over the phone” rule: our pediatrician and our friend Nurse Holly. Sorry, Holly.)

Most importantly, we decided to feed the baby when she is hungry and let her stop when she and I both agree she has had enough. Sometimes she needs some encouragement to stay awake and I don’t think this means that she is going to become morbidly obese down the road and appear on Dr. Phil blaming me for making her fat and ruining her life. I still don’t let her go more frequently than 2.5 hours with the exception of her evening feedings, as she has developed her own cluster feeding pattern by eating around 5:30ish, 7:30ish, and 9:30ish. I think it’s her way of tanking up for the night. (And while we’re thankful she is going for long stretches at night, this cluster feeding in the evenings puts a major strain on date nights! McDonald’s for thirty minutes is looking crazy romantic at this stage in our lives.) Anyway, I don’t let her go longer than 3 hours during the day, but this rarely has to be “enforced.” I’ll reevaluate that part if I have to start waking her up from naps on a regular basis. I also went back to nursing on both sides each time. (And, wow, I haven’t felt pain like that since the first week! I know, I know…TMI)

This system is what’s known as “Parent Directed Feeding” or the E.A.S.Y. method by some of the baby care books. Up until I spoke with the first lactation specialist, I was using these techniques. After being temporarily sidetracked, I decided to start using them again along with my own stinkin’ intuition for a change. I call it the “Mama Knows Best” method.

So, I ignored the BRATT diet suggestion, implemented my MKB method, and prayed. As you read at the beginning of this rant, it worked. Our sweet girl gained two pounds in two weeks and is doing great! Her thighs are beginning to resemble mine these days, which is great for her and hopefully temporary for me. As for the green poop? It’s still around. Holly changed a diaper and saw it with her own medically-trained eyes. She said A) it was fine and to quit worrying and B) they get more questions at her office about poop color than any other topic, so I shouldn’t feel like a total paranoid freak. (Okay, so she didn’t say I shouldn’t feel like a total paranoid freak, but her statement about getting all those questions let me off the hook in my own mind. She knows me well enough to know I’m always going to be a total paranoid freak.)

Thank you, God, for a healthy report. And for green poop. It’s much better than white, black, red, or no poop at all. One of my childcare books summed it up nicely, "If the color bothers you that much, wear sunglasses when you change the diaper."

Like my previous post about the Maxeys stated, we are so very blessed to have a healthy child. Maybe one day I'll be able to quit worrying so much. I think about the time I do, she'll get her driver's license and start dating. Crap.