Supplemental Nursing System

Sometimes I feel that we make one step forward and two steps back. Sigh. After being so excited that Cerise finally gained weight last week, I feel we're back to square one. The medicine that the pedia-cardio gave to relieve the pressure from the lungs is a diuretic. Meaning, Cerise will be urinating more often and consequently may lose weight. Since she is peeing more often, this is suppose to make her want to feed more also. But as it is, she takes the same amount of milk and maybe even less now. Sigh again.

I bought her these Breast Flow bottles that's suppose to mimic the breast. It has two nipples that regulates the flow of the milk. Only when baby sucks can the milk come out. At first, she readily took to it and was taking enough milk in a day. I think she gained weight already when she started taking this bottle. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, she just rejected it. No warning, no symptoms. Just no bottle. I tried the Evenflo bottles. I tried Avent. I even went back to the Pigeon bottles that she used to drink from with breastmilk. Still no progress.

I was able to feed her with a sippy spout that Alyssa used to take when she was an older baby. The spout is closed and liquid will only flow when sucked. The beauty of this is that the baby is able to regulate her milk intake. Cerise took to that and can drink in it but only in small amounts. She refuses to drink more than half an ounce in that cup. Frustrating, really!

I'd like to monitor the quantity of her milk intake so I can see how much she's drinking in a day. For her age, infants usually take in 3-4 ounces in a 4-5 hour period. That's about 20-24 ounces a day. I checked the Dr. Sears book and it says that 2-2 1/2 ounces per pound is a better way of quantifying a baby's milk intake. Since Cerise is 3.5kg, she should be taking 15 to 20 ounces a day. As it is, she barely reaches 10 ounces although we can't really quantify the breastmilk she gets from direct breastfeeding.

Then I thought of researching about the Supplemental Nursing System of Medela. I wasn't sure if this would help but I was thinking since Cerise preferred feeding directly from me, this would enable her to get more milk without jeopardizing also my breastmilk production. Good friend, Jen Tan of Next9 slings was able to hook me up with Medela Moms and I was finally able to get this:

This works by attaching a tube (connected to supplemented milk) right beside your nipple to allow baby to suck on the breast while getting milk. This is usually used by adopting mothers who wish to breastfeed. It is a good way to relactate and to feed preemies or slow weight gaining babies. I thought this would be perfect for Cerise! Good thing Medela Moms has this in stock!

I tried using it tonight. Not easy! It takes practice for you to shoot the tube into the baby's mouth. Cerise was getting frustrated at first. But we were able to manage and she was able to take in one ounce of milk. I tried using the medium tube at first but will try the bigger tube tomorrow for faster milk intake. I hope that this would enable Cerise to take in more milk so she'll gain already.

We'll be seeing a pedia-endocrinologist when we go to Manila. Cerise's pedia here in CDO recommends it. My friend, Dr. Zeka Tatad-To also suggested the same thing and mentioned that most failure to thrive babies is an endocrinological problem. I hope that we finally find out why Cerise is not gaining weight so we can address it right away.

However, amidst all the trials she is facing, Cerise remains to be an alert and active baby. She loves looking at her play gym friends and talks to anyone who would listen to her, usually mommy or her sisters. :-) I hope that she'll be ok soon for her sake and for my sanity.