Singing and Eating

Rosemary sings. For awhile she would sing, "Na, na, niiii! Na, na, niii!" It's supposed to be the name game from Pooh's Heffalump Movie, shown below.

The song starts at 0:39.

Now, she also sings, "Dow-ie dow... A dowie dow!" Which is her version of The Farmer in the Dell. I'll try to catch video of her doing it sometime. I sang that to her once because she asked me to sing a song about cheese. Having no other ideas, I remembered the cheese standing alone at the end.

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How did I end up in this position again?

Poppy came home on Monday of last week. I prepared a bottle for her after every nursing session. She would nurse strongly and still drink a half to a whole ounce from the bottle. On Wednesday I asked my lactation consultant how to wean myself off the breast pump. I spent a lot of time last week drenched in breast milk; it was super plentiful. I was making far too much milk for Poppy, and it was actually a problem. The engorged breasts were hard for her to latch onto, and the excess foremilk gave her digestive issues. I was given the advice to pump for only about 5 minutes - certainly not until I was empty. I followed those directions, and felt a lot more comfortable by Saturday. Sunday, Poppy didn't nurse well. On Monday I found myself struggling to rouse her enough to finish a bottle. She's getting better now, but we're doing more bottle-feeding. She either falls right to sleep at the breast, or she'll aimlessly (and endlessly) root without latching on. I'm back to pumping for full 15 minute sessions, usually because Poppy didn't drink out of the breasts at all.

I need to remember that she is still a preemie. Yes, she is a month old now. No, I can't just run out of the house for a day trip without bottles and expect her to eat well. I hate that I still have to pump these full feedings out, but I need to remember that it won't last forever.

I wish to remember worrying over numbers: Is she being fed every two and a half to three hours? How many ounces is she drinking? Can we get her to finish at least two ounces? Is she gaining weight, ounce by bitty ounce? Has she had six wet and three dirty diapers today? Numbers, numbers, numbers.