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4 week old baby not pooping, baby Hayden, baby hayden 4 weeks, baby not pooping 10 days, Breast, breastfed baby not pooping, Breastfeeding, breastfeeding no poop, exclusively breast fed baby not pooping, Fenugreek, Hard Rock, Hayden, Hayden 4 weeks old, Human breast milk, Infant, Jennifer, newborn not pooping, newborn not pooping ebf, supplementing with formula
Three very tough weeks have gone by since my last post… sorry about that. Today is the first day I have had a moment where I am home and baby Hayden will finally let Mommy get a few things done… including some time to spend writing on the blog. So again, sorry I disappeared! I hope you all come back
This is going to be just a quick post for now, I will post again probably later today. Chase and I are getting ready to go back down to San Diego – Daddy has some work to do! Once again, we are staying at The Hard Rock! I love this place, but mostly just because they have a Pinkberry in the lobby of the hotel. Score.
Anyways, just thought I would share some pictures, and say hello. I feel like I have been gone for an eternity! Here is a little bit of an explanation: Hayden has been a very difficult baby for the past three weeks because I wasn’t producing enough breastmilk for her. I didn’t realize what was happening (Grandma helped me realize I wasn’t drinking nearly enough fluids), and she was hungry all the time- therefore attached to my boob 24/7 and not a happy camper!
Since we realized what was wrong (this past Sunday evening) we have started supplementing with formula. I have been pumping on the side, but between both breasts I can only produce about 1/4 oz. per pump session! Umm… TMI real quick ~ I went from leaking breast milk all over my pajamas and the bed.. to a Great Milk Depression. What went wrong?
Well, looking back… this happened because I was so stressed having her on my boob nearly every minute of the day that I forgot to take care of myself. So ladies- if you plan on breastfeeding your little one, make sure you are drinking enough water. Buckets! All along I have been taking Fenugreek vitamins, my regular vitamins (D, b-12, Iron, Prenatal, & Probiotics) and putting down lots of nutritious smoothies, but I somehow overlooked the single most important thing- water (which also helps your body create breast milk) My body was dehydrated and so was Hayden’s. She hadn’t pooped in 10 days! We went to the doctor and they said she was gaining weight (7 lbs. 4 oz. now), and she had a soft tummy which meant she wasn’t bloated. They weren’t real sure why she hadn’t pooped, however they said this was a common occurrence with newborns who are exclusively breast fed. So I went home and continued to unknowingly breastfeed my hungry baby about 1/4 oz. per feed. No wonder she was attached to me every minute of the day. Most babies her age put down 2-4 oz. per feed. Luckily, after we gave her the formula, she was able to fill her little belly up and she had a huge blowout poop! Needless to say, oxi-clean didn’t even get the stain out of those jammies!
Well I would love to post more, but Hayden just woke up and I need to pack for SD! I will be back later, promise
xoxo Jennifer
Related articles
- Birth Story Part II (sweetlyvegan.com)
- Expressing Your Breast Milk (enfamil.com)
- Baby Hayden 1 Week Old (sweetlyvegan.com)
- Bottle-feeding and Obesity Risk (scienceofmom.com)
- Choosing to Supplement (enfamil.com)


Welcome back! Congrats on baby Hayden’s arrival!
We nominated you for an award in your absence.
http://thesundaybottles.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/blood-wine-and-awards/
Thanks Craig! You are so sweet!!! xoxo
Yay, I’m glad your back! Hayden is so cute, I love the pics! She has such big eyes!
thanks KJ! She does have big eyes! I think she got that from her mama
Welcome back. I’ve recently been following your blog and am a mommy myself. For what it’s worth, I breastfeeding my daughter exclusively for 7 months and continued to breastfeed until she was 18 months old so I just wanted to chime in and tell you a few things. First, go see a lactation consultant. If you really want to bf they will be your best friends. You can never gauge how much breast milk you have from how much you pump. A pump will never be as efficient as your baby. Plus, depending on how good your pump is and how familiar you are with it is how much milk you’ll get. Some women have plenty I milk but never are able to pump a good amount. The only way to ever know if your baby is getting enough milk is if he or she is growing an gaining weight. I had a hard time bf at first and struggled a lot. At the same time I learned a lot and mostly that new moms fail at bf sometimes not because they really aren’t producing enough milk but rather they were just never really educated about bf. I wish you luck.
Good looking out! I’m glad to hear someone else who started out like me ended up breastfeeding for so long! I would ideally like to breast feed until Hayden is at least a year so I am going to keep trying. I will definitely be getting in contact with a lactation consultant. I’m glad I wrote about it here on the blog tho, bc all of you new mommies really help with your advice! Thanks!!
First & formost I apologize that this is WAY long. Hi! Welcome back!! I feel you w/the breastfeeding. My son is going to be 3 weeks on Monday. We had a similar situation; our baby became dehydrated & I was way too engorged & my baby would not latch. I had to introduce the bottle & pumping way early then I had planned to. We even fed him w/an eye dropper for the first two days home. He went from his birth weight of 8lbs 3oz to 7lbs 1oz in a couple days. We didn’t get any poopy or pee diapers for like for 4 days strait & that really stresse me out. We went to see our baby dr. & she suggest supplementing w/formula or pumping. I would pump & hubby would feed our baby what I got. I think it was like .5 oz, not a lot at all. I started to freak that I wasn’t producing enough so we got this tea at Whole Foods; ‘ Mothers Milk ‘ it has worked tremendously!!! Also eating oatmeal has helps as well as lots an lots of water. I am pumping about 11oz per pump session & I pump about every 4-5 hours. My doctor says this is a good supply. My son only takes the boob in the morning & mid day & by night time he almost demands the bottle because he gets a little impatient. All in all I freaked when the dr. suggested supplementing w/formula. So I went on a massive search to figure out how to get the most out of pumping & my milk supply. Breastmilk is the BEST for baby & its natural. He has already gone back to his original birth weight. I wish you the best of luck my friend, I know this new mommy thing is new & scary but you can do it!! Oh & I follow you on instagram my instagram name is dcscott & I have a picture of a baby polar bear if you want to follow me. I also wright a pregnancy/baby/fitness blog (which is private) but I would LOVE for you to check it out sometime. If your interested I can email you the link. I simply love following you & your journey & truly wish you the beat w/your little love!!
Thanks Cerina! Sounds like you were getting what I am getting now ~ .5oz. it’s miserable! I am so going to pick up some of that Mother’s Milk… I have heard about it but didn’t know how much it would actually help. So I’m so glad you told me it really works! How long did it take for your supply to go back up? I will totally follow you on your blog! I love to see what other mommy’s are doing and especially because our lil ones are so close in age!! Send me over the link @ sweetlyvegan@gmail.com. Cant wait to check it out
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Congrats on your beautiful baby girl! Just got around to checking your blog out for the first time in a couple months… I had my son June 2 and haven’t had a moment (I feel like) to read blogs… Motherhood is crazy fun, but exhausting, as I’m sure you are feeling also:) anyway hope mama and baby are doing great, can’t wait to see an update!!