HV:how are things
kif: become much easier. master kif (10wks) seems to have sudddenly decided to feed every four hours
hv: yeah, put an extra ounce in the bottle and that'll be fine
kif: he's exclusively bf
hv: ooh, you can't do that. bf they have to feed at least every 2-3 hours
kif: (why am i justifying myself? where's my nutter alert?) You misunderstand, since about 3 days ago he only wants to feed that often. I'm really not forcing him to go hungry.
hv: do you produce a lot of milk?
kif: err....
hv: have you tried hand expressing to see how much you get
kif: errrrr....
hv: has he been weighed yet this week? please make sure to attend the weigh in clinic tomorrow
[kif makes busy plans to be as far away from weigh in clinic as possible - am i an irresponsible mother?]
[later]
hv: why do you want a dummy if you're bf?
kif: because it helps him get to sleep without me feeding him down
hv: you know you can feed lying down?
kif: yes, but I like to spend time with Dd1 when ds is asleep
hv: she's a good girl, i can see. just tell her to go back to her room.
[kif quietly grinding teeth - didn't realise wanting to bf my baby meant bonded slavery as human dummy to sucky baby]
hv: and how's he sleeping
kif: ok, but he feeds every 4 hrs at night same as in the day, so i don't really get an unbroken stretch.
hv: oh that's good. I did a course last week, and they told me that you need to feed at night to help make milk
[kif trying hard not to mutter "the little guy wasn't born yesterday, y'know. it's been a slog but helloooo I think it looks like my milk supply is established]
hv (for no apparent reason): and don't think of going on a diet while bf.
Now I'm pretty confident - and mumsnet keeps me well informed - but i have to admit it all upset me. I cried to my dh, and can't seem to stop pinching and poking my chirpy little chappy obsessively checking if he's dehydrated. To note, the little guy isn't huge, but since week three has hugged his centile like glue.
If she was my main source of advice support I'd be running for those SMA hills long before now. I'd leave bfing Kif in a parallel universe where I'd be sure I'd be relentlessly feeding, pumping, ignoring Dd, and fat.