Alright, so we got james weighed today.
If you haven't been following PFB (Project Fat Baby), get the back story here.
Or, to make a long story short, the doctor was slightly concerned about james weight at his 6 month appointment, so I made a plan to fatten him. My doc suggested feeding him two "meals" a day, but this basically immediately made him constipated, and seeing as he is eating just fruits and veggies, those aren't really very fattening anyway . . . especially compared to the alternative (whole human milk straight from the tap).
So my plan to fatten him was to breastfeed him more often for longer and to bed-share with him to allow frequent nighttime nursing.
So today we had his weigh-in!
He was 17 lbs even, up 1 pound 2 ozs from less than a month ago (5/18). I think we did pretty darn good, because he only gained 1 lb, 5 ozs between 4 and 6 months, so you could say that over the last month, he gained twice as quickly as he had been gained.
So I'm back looking on the growth charts, but I found more detailed ones, so I could get really down to the nitty gritty in terms of what was going on here.
Born November 19th, 2010; 8 lbs, 7 oz (80%)
Two Months Old: 12 lbs, 6 ozs (60%)
Four Months Old: 14 lbs, 9 ozs (30%)
Six Months Old: 15 lbs, 14 ozs (20%)
Seven Months Old: 17 lbs (30%)
I think the approximation I was doing off of the less detailed chart missed the real story here. His main percentile loss was between two and four months actually, NOT between four and six months. This makes PERFECT sense because that was the absolute worst time for us in terms of the food allergies. We didn't diagnose him and start treating him until he was around 3 months old, and then it took us another month at least to get things under control, so between 2-4 months he was basically spitting up and/or vomiting huge amounts of each meal. He probably would have lost even more weight than he did except I have a nice full supply so he was somewhat able to make up for all the spitting up . . .
Anyway, I succeeded in pulling his percentage up 10 points in less than a month, which is pretty darn good!
So if you have a baby who is not gaining well . . . FIRST rule out any food sensitivity or other health issues that could be a factor. SECOND breastfeed the baby more, especially during the night. (And THIRD, look at the baby as a whole person--losing percentiles can be NORMAL in a breastfed baby, especially between 4-12 months, while they find their "real" place on the chart.
Personally I think the size of a baby usually has to do with the Mom and the way her body builds a baby, but the size of the child (over one and definitely over 2) is a totally different thing. We all have a tiny friend that was a HUGE baby, and at some point he/she needed to transition from one to the other, right? Alternatively, sometimes babies are very small but then completely pork and grow up between 6-18 months. So I think adjustments to percentiles is NORMAL.
One other thing, though, is that I definitely was not being patient enough with james' nursing between 5-6 months. That lazy half-asleep sucking is where the MOST fat is, but when I have things I want to do it's easy to cut him off when he's so slow and leisurely. Furthermore, he was really distracted at this time, and I had the mentality at that point that if he needed to eat then he would. And while I still think that is true, making an effort to put more focus and importance on his nursing, I think, has caused him to do the same. Your baby gets signals from you, and if you want him/her to nurse more, better, and for longer, that will be very encouraging for them. Meanwhile, if you act like nursing is a chore to get through and are impatient with it (as I was being), your baby will get that signal too.
I honestly think if I'd continued the way I was going, especially if I was trying to get him to sleep through the night in his own room, and especially if I'd given him unlimited access to food, he definitely would have weaned early (as I did).
But since it is important to me to nurse him until he is at least two, I needed to change and do something different. So far it is working great! Next update on PFB for our nine month appointment. At this point I think the 30% is about where he needs to be, so my goal for 9 months is to keep him at that percentage, which may be a challenge as he begins to crawl and discover the world!
That's one great thing about bed-sharing, though, is that I have confidence that james will make up any calories he misses during the day by nursing more at night . . . so I'm not worried.
So for now I would declare PFB a great success! I honestly don't think it is very easy to make up 10 percentage points in a month, I'm proud of myself and "the ladies", hehe.
Expecting our Little Brother in November!
Showing posts with label Project Fat Baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Fat Baby. Show all posts
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday
So we go back today for our weigh-in, which means it's the official evaluation of Project Fat Baby! I will discuss the results tomorrow, but for today . . .
...hard to tell, his face is so different! We'll see!
...hard to tell, his face is so different! We'll see!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Four Health Updates in One
Okay I've been somewhat slacky. I like the combo feeding post I wrote but I haven't posted videos or even very many pics for ages!
One reason for this was that my sister Kate was visiting me since Sunday night! We attempted to clean and organize while she was here, but instead just took care of james--not sure how that manages to take up SOOOO much time! But it was fun to have a buddy to help!
Anyway, I thought I'd do a few short updates all together. I also have like a million other things to update about but you have to start somewhere, so here we go:
Allergies/Rash--We are making great progress on james food allergy situation. The ATT works AMAZINGLY. Like, if I eat something he has tested sensitive to, he will immediately break out in a red rash after eating. BUT then if I get treated for it, three days later I can eat it, and no rash. It's amazing, and I recommend it for everyone!
So far we've gotten him treated for: histamines, digestive mucus (these two are generally helpful), yeast, caffeine, chocolate, tomatoes, soy, sorghum, graham flour, corn oil, coconut oil, sesame seeds, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds . . . wheat is the last thing on the list to get treated, simply because I am used to avoiding it and he's so allergic to it I prob won't be able to eat much anyway. Meanwhile, I missed peanuts like a MOFO! So that's what we most recently did. ;-) So obviously my diet is widely expanded.
PFB (Project Fat Baby)--My attempt to fatten james is coming along. With the bed-sharing and other things, I definitely think he is eating more now daily than he was a month ago.
And I do actually think his cheeks look fatter! I hope to find that he has gained at least a pound by next week, so I'm hoping he'll be around 17 lbs. Fingers crossed!
My ear infection--As you may recall, I was attempting to use natural cures for my ear infection instead of antibiotics. So I went for a checkup on Tuesday so see how I was progressing! My new doc that I love took one look at my ears and said: "Oh no, this is not what I saw last time!"
And I said: "All better?"
And she said: "Oh yes, this is definitely not what I saw last time! Hahaha.
"Great," I said, "I'm glad!"
"Just shows you the amazing power of the body!" She said, hehe. LOVE HER!!!
Therapy--Started going back to my old therapist about a month ago. Love her, too. It's been hard and good. There are things I shelved dealing with while I was pregnant but it's time now. Last week I talked to her about one of my biggest issues/traumas . . . it was really hard to talk about it and I was in emotional upheaval for days afterward. I told her that this week and she said it is normal to feel like that after moving some big stuff.
I honestly don't know how people deal without therapy. Given, I am a bit of an emotional trainwreck and I'm super sensitive, and have plenty of baggage from my ADHD life and all the big stupid mistakes that have marred my life . . . but I have to think EVERYONE needs support with their mental health, EVERYONE needs to talk about things that hurt them, that shaped them . . . I wish therapy was mandatory--at least once a year--why do we get "physicals" but not "mentals"? Is our mental health less important? I actually think it's more important.
One reason for this was that my sister Kate was visiting me since Sunday night! We attempted to clean and organize while she was here, but instead just took care of james--not sure how that manages to take up SOOOO much time! But it was fun to have a buddy to help!
Anyway, I thought I'd do a few short updates all together. I also have like a million other things to update about but you have to start somewhere, so here we go:
Allergies/Rash--We are making great progress on james food allergy situation. The ATT works AMAZINGLY. Like, if I eat something he has tested sensitive to, he will immediately break out in a red rash after eating. BUT then if I get treated for it, three days later I can eat it, and no rash. It's amazing, and I recommend it for everyone!
So far we've gotten him treated for: histamines, digestive mucus (these two are generally helpful), yeast, caffeine, chocolate, tomatoes, soy, sorghum, graham flour, corn oil, coconut oil, sesame seeds, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds . . . wheat is the last thing on the list to get treated, simply because I am used to avoiding it and he's so allergic to it I prob won't be able to eat much anyway. Meanwhile, I missed peanuts like a MOFO! So that's what we most recently did. ;-) So obviously my diet is widely expanded.
PFB (Project Fat Baby)--My attempt to fatten james is coming along. With the bed-sharing and other things, I definitely think he is eating more now daily than he was a month ago.
And I do actually think his cheeks look fatter! I hope to find that he has gained at least a pound by next week, so I'm hoping he'll be around 17 lbs. Fingers crossed!
My ear infection--As you may recall, I was attempting to use natural cures for my ear infection instead of antibiotics. So I went for a checkup on Tuesday so see how I was progressing! My new doc that I love took one look at my ears and said: "Oh no, this is not what I saw last time!"
And I said: "All better?"
And she said: "Oh yes, this is definitely not what I saw last time! Hahaha.
"Great," I said, "I'm glad!"
"Just shows you the amazing power of the body!" She said, hehe. LOVE HER!!!
Therapy--Started going back to my old therapist about a month ago. Love her, too. It's been hard and good. There are things I shelved dealing with while I was pregnant but it's time now. Last week I talked to her about one of my biggest issues/traumas . . . it was really hard to talk about it and I was in emotional upheaval for days afterward. I told her that this week and she said it is normal to feel like that after moving some big stuff.
I honestly don't know how people deal without therapy. Given, I am a bit of an emotional trainwreck and I'm super sensitive, and have plenty of baggage from my ADHD life and all the big stupid mistakes that have marred my life . . . but I have to think EVERYONE needs support with their mental health, EVERYONE needs to talk about things that hurt them, that shaped them . . . I wish therapy was mandatory--at least once a year--why do we get "physicals" but not "mentals"? Is our mental health less important? I actually think it's more important.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Preventing Early Weaning/Update on PFB
Mare Asks Q: I don't get it - isn't the point of baby led weaning for the baby to go at its own pace? So like if the child is exciting about eating and wants to eat more - why wouldn't you get them naturally do that if that is what they want to do? It seems like you are trying to force him to breastfeed more?
Couldn't he still get the benefits of breast milk through things like breastmilk "yogurt" (if you did that) and cereal with breastmilk, things like that? So he feels like he is "eating" but still with breastmilk involved?
A: The point of baby led weaning is for them to eat food at their own pace. However, like I said, there is a lot of evidence that too much solids too soon (especially with an active and interested in food sort of baby) can lead to early weaning (which to me means before 2 years old). I was, in fact, one such baby who had three meals of pureed food a day from 6 months and loved it, and also was extremely active. It was easy for me to decide not to nurse (I think around 9/10 months old). But I don't want james to wean early, so what interventions can I put into place now?
As he starts eating cereal with milk and more solids I will definitely give him breast milk that way, too, but I would prefer if I could keep him nursing as well until he is at least two--that is the ideal way for him to take at least some of his daily breast milk. If he wasn't still nursing I would feel like I needed to give him some other kind of milk which I don't want to do. If we weren't vegan MAYBE it wouldn't be such a big deal to me, but it still might be.
According to the WHO, 80-90% of a toddler's nutrition at one year should come from breast milk (ideally)--meaning nursing pretty much as often as you had always been, MAYBE dropping ONE feeding by a year; and 25% of their nutrition at TWO should STILL come from breast milk--which is nursing at least once or twice per day. So I'm going to do all I can to keep him nursing until then, including adding night feeds if I have to.
You cannot FORCE a child to breast feed, and just as an overtired child can refuse to sleep even though it's what he needs, an overstimulated and hungry baby can not initially seem interested in nursing, but it might be exactly what he needs. As parents, one responsibility is to anticipate and meet your child's needs even when your child doesn't know that that is what he needs/wants.
I have seen many people wean sooner than they planned (which might end up working out for them, or they might have regrets and wonder what they could have done to keep the child nursing). So part of what I am having this intervention is to see, if you are in the position of seeing your baby begin to nurse less, if there are things you could do to turn them back to nursing more . . .
(Transitioning into an update on Project Fat Baby (PFB) now . . . )
So even though I've only been doing these things for a week or so now, I think it is already making a difference. Here's where I have implemented changes and what the effect has been:
1. I have stopped attempting to do anything else while nursing him. I have resigned myself to the fact that nursing is a two person job requiring both of our 100% focus. I have stopped attempting to (watch TV, read book or kindle, text, take pictures, go online, etc) while nursing. I stare at the baby so he can focus on eating.
Due to this intervention, I can more often get james to have a full feeding in between naps if he gets hungry. Before this intervention, he would only stick around for one letdown max--now I can get 2-4 into him.
2. I have started laying down to nurse him to sleep (or nearly) for every nap. I was doing this sometimes before, but if he's eaten recently I would skip it. Now I do it every time.
Due to this intervention, I have added some feeds to his day, and most importantly, these before nap/falling asleep feeds are usually really long. That's why it helps so much to lay down with him--I'm able to be patient and let him nurse as long as he wants. When I was holding him sitting up, I would cut him off at some point when he slowed down because I was tired, but this way he keeps eating for longer more often. The milk at the very end of the feed (when the breast feels empty) is the fattiest, so it should make a difference to get some WHOLE (fatty) milk into the boy.
3. We have started bed-sharing full time.
This helps a TON, I think. Specifically, it adds one feed when we go to bed (which I would sometimes do before, too), and he nurses sort of non-stop or over and over from like (5? 6? I couldn't even say), maybe every hour or half hour, until I decide to get up, usually like 9 or so. Before we were bed-sharing, we would move him over to his swing a lot for the early morning and he wouldn't nurse as much, though obviously at least still twice in that time (first wake up and again a couple hours later). Overall I would say he could be eating as much as twice during this time, and definitely more high-fat milk.
So, our next appointment is on June 15th--then we'll see if this has worked at all! ;-)
Couldn't he still get the benefits of breast milk through things like breastmilk "yogurt" (if you did that) and cereal with breastmilk, things like that? So he feels like he is "eating" but still with breastmilk involved?
A: The point of baby led weaning is for them to eat food at their own pace. However, like I said, there is a lot of evidence that too much solids too soon (especially with an active and interested in food sort of baby) can lead to early weaning (which to me means before 2 years old). I was, in fact, one such baby who had three meals of pureed food a day from 6 months and loved it, and also was extremely active. It was easy for me to decide not to nurse (I think around 9/10 months old). But I don't want james to wean early, so what interventions can I put into place now?
As he starts eating cereal with milk and more solids I will definitely give him breast milk that way, too, but I would prefer if I could keep him nursing as well until he is at least two--that is the ideal way for him to take at least some of his daily breast milk. If he wasn't still nursing I would feel like I needed to give him some other kind of milk which I don't want to do. If we weren't vegan MAYBE it wouldn't be such a big deal to me, but it still might be.
According to the WHO, 80-90% of a toddler's nutrition at one year should come from breast milk (ideally)--meaning nursing pretty much as often as you had always been, MAYBE dropping ONE feeding by a year; and 25% of their nutrition at TWO should STILL come from breast milk--which is nursing at least once or twice per day. So I'm going to do all I can to keep him nursing until then, including adding night feeds if I have to.
You cannot FORCE a child to breast feed, and just as an overtired child can refuse to sleep even though it's what he needs, an overstimulated and hungry baby can not initially seem interested in nursing, but it might be exactly what he needs. As parents, one responsibility is to anticipate and meet your child's needs even when your child doesn't know that that is what he needs/wants.
I have seen many people wean sooner than they planned (which might end up working out for them, or they might have regrets and wonder what they could have done to keep the child nursing). So part of what I am having this intervention is to see, if you are in the position of seeing your baby begin to nurse less, if there are things you could do to turn them back to nursing more . . .
(Transitioning into an update on Project Fat Baby (PFB) now . . . )
So even though I've only been doing these things for a week or so now, I think it is already making a difference. Here's where I have implemented changes and what the effect has been:
1. I have stopped attempting to do anything else while nursing him. I have resigned myself to the fact that nursing is a two person job requiring both of our 100% focus. I have stopped attempting to (watch TV, read book or kindle, text, take pictures, go online, etc) while nursing. I stare at the baby so he can focus on eating.
Due to this intervention, I can more often get james to have a full feeding in between naps if he gets hungry. Before this intervention, he would only stick around for one letdown max--now I can get 2-4 into him.
2. I have started laying down to nurse him to sleep (or nearly) for every nap. I was doing this sometimes before, but if he's eaten recently I would skip it. Now I do it every time.
Due to this intervention, I have added some feeds to his day, and most importantly, these before nap/falling asleep feeds are usually really long. That's why it helps so much to lay down with him--I'm able to be patient and let him nurse as long as he wants. When I was holding him sitting up, I would cut him off at some point when he slowed down because I was tired, but this way he keeps eating for longer more often. The milk at the very end of the feed (when the breast feels empty) is the fattiest, so it should make a difference to get some WHOLE (fatty) milk into the boy.
3. We have started bed-sharing full time.
This helps a TON, I think. Specifically, it adds one feed when we go to bed (which I would sometimes do before, too), and he nurses sort of non-stop or over and over from like (5? 6? I couldn't even say), maybe every hour or half hour, until I decide to get up, usually like 9 or so. Before we were bed-sharing, we would move him over to his swing a lot for the early morning and he wouldn't nurse as much, though obviously at least still twice in that time (first wake up and again a couple hours later). Overall I would say he could be eating as much as twice during this time, and definitely more high-fat milk.
So, our next appointment is on June 15th--then we'll see if this has worked at all! ;-)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Bedsharing Night Two (and 3-7)
So after james' six month appointment and the commencement of PFB (Project Fat Baby), we decided to give bed-sharing another go.
As you might recall, we tried bed-sharing with the unswaddled baby a few weeks ago with disastrous consequences, after which we decided that he still needed to be swaddled.
So, we tried again a week or so ago, and it went very well! One thing we did was we DID swaddle him to fall asleep, but then we unswaddled him when we joined him in the bed. So he didn't wake up in the evening this way.
It is really nice to get to snuggle up with him at night. AND it definitely benefits PFB, because he is nursing more throughout the night and morning, apparently without me even knowing it.
It is really adorable now to find books and baby toys in our bed, or to wake up to see james playing with one, or touching his Dad's arm, or snuggling up to me and breastfeeding (apparently almost unconsciously on my part).
All the fears I had about rolling on him or him suffocating have basically disappeared "overnight", as I saw within one or two days how absolutely aware of him James and I are, it's really crazy actually. And now he's really old enough (rolling both ways just today!), and strong enough that I know he could flip himself over, turn his head if he needed to, clear away a blanket or something if it got near his face--I'm just a lot more confident in him. I can't believe he's over six months old now . . .
And this weekend we committed, haha, and bought a toddler rail for my side so he can spend the majority of the night between me and the rail and won't be able to fall out of the bed. We'll see what we end up doing when he starts really crawling, though, we might need to put our mattress on the ground of something. Good thing summer is coming!
Anyway, I think we ((HEART)) bedsharing and probably won't use that co-sleeping thing again until we have another one, haha.
As you might recall, we tried bed-sharing with the unswaddled baby a few weeks ago with disastrous consequences, after which we decided that he still needed to be swaddled.
So, we tried again a week or so ago, and it went very well! One thing we did was we DID swaddle him to fall asleep, but then we unswaddled him when we joined him in the bed. So he didn't wake up in the evening this way.
It is really nice to get to snuggle up with him at night. AND it definitely benefits PFB, because he is nursing more throughout the night and morning, apparently without me even knowing it.
It is really adorable now to find books and baby toys in our bed, or to wake up to see james playing with one, or touching his Dad's arm, or snuggling up to me and breastfeeding (apparently almost unconsciously on my part).
All the fears I had about rolling on him or him suffocating have basically disappeared "overnight", as I saw within one or two days how absolutely aware of him James and I are, it's really crazy actually. And now he's really old enough (rolling both ways just today!), and strong enough that I know he could flip himself over, turn his head if he needed to, clear away a blanket or something if it got near his face--I'm just a lot more confident in him. I can't believe he's over six months old now . . .
And this weekend we committed, haha, and bought a toddler rail for my side so he can spend the majority of the night between me and the rail and won't be able to fall out of the bed. We'll see what we end up doing when he starts really crawling, though, we might need to put our mattress on the ground of something. Good thing summer is coming!
Anyway, I think we ((HEART)) bedsharing and probably won't use that co-sleeping thing again until we have another one, haha.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Project Fat Baby
So I never wrote about our six month appointment. It was good! We didn't get any vaccines this time because james was just sick and I didn't want to get them with his immune system compromised--so we go back in four weeks for that . . .
But as inevitably seems to happen a lot of the time with breastfed babies at their 6 month (or 12 month) appt, the doctor was concerned because james has lost percentiles.
Here's his stats, and if you look here on the chart for breastfed babies, you can see what percentage he is (I looked it up for you, hehe):
Born November 19th, 2010; 8 lbs, 7 oz (70%), 23 inches (99%)
One Week Old: 7 lbs, 12 ozs, 23 inches
Two Months Old: 12 lbs, 6 ozs(70%), 25 inches (99%)
Four Months Old: 14 lbs, 9 ozs(50%), 27 inches (99%)
Six Months Old: 15 lbs, 14 ozs(25%), 28 inches (99%) (Not on the same scale, which could make a difference)
But the Doc said he should be eating more solids . . . twice a day!
. . . however, I don't think that's really a good solution. Veggies and fruits have very few calories, and grains (apparently) make him constipated. His gut isn't really ready for that much solids . . . (in my opinion). Furthermore, there is definitely evidence that going too quickly with solids (especially if the baby is excited about them) may lead to early weaning, which I definitely want to avoid for my little vegan baby . . .
And while at first I was quite indignant with the doctor thinking that james wasn't gaining enough, now that I look at the percents I suppose I understand his concern. However, I'm also not surprised. james hasn't really stopped moving since his four month appointment, which means it's harder for him to eat a good meal (nurse), and that he is burning off a lot of calories, too!
I don't REALLY think that he is nutritionally starved or anything, or I doubt he would continue to stay in the 99% for length . . . but I am going to make some changes to help him gain more.
Commencing Project Fat Baby . . .
Our Mission: To help james gain percentiles.
Our Timeline: One Month
The Plan is very simple and consists of one step: Breastfeed james more.
For a baby under one year old, this is the number one way to fatten up a baby. Furthermore, I'm doing this as an experiment, because Doctors don't recommend this strategy--they say: give more food. So we'll see how this works out for us over the next month.
The plan really has a few parts:
1. During the day, make more of an effort to nurse james in a quiet and still environment that helps him focus.
2. Before naps, lay down and nurse him--to sleep if possible.
3. If he doesn't wake up on his own, dreamfeed him when you go to bed.
4. Start bed-sharing to allow him more opportunities to nurse during the night.
Of course we ALSO will be giving james food during this time and he ALSO is definitely getting better at eating. I'm not saying food isn't great for him at this stage, too, but it isn't the most important thing in terms of helping him gain weight.
So our next appointment is June 15th--I'll report on the progress of "Project Fat Baby" then.
But as inevitably seems to happen a lot of the time with breastfed babies at their 6 month (or 12 month) appt, the doctor was concerned because james has lost percentiles.
Here's his stats, and if you look here on the chart for breastfed babies, you can see what percentage he is (I looked it up for you, hehe):
Born November 19th, 2010; 8 lbs, 7 oz (70%), 23 inches (99%)
One Week Old: 7 lbs, 12 ozs, 23 inches
Two Months Old: 12 lbs, 6 ozs(70%), 25 inches (99%)
Four Months Old: 14 lbs, 9 ozs(50%), 27 inches (99%)
Six Months Old: 15 lbs, 14 ozs(25%), 28 inches (99%) (Not on the same scale, which could make a difference)
But the Doc said he should be eating more solids . . . twice a day!
. . . however, I don't think that's really a good solution. Veggies and fruits have very few calories, and grains (apparently) make him constipated. His gut isn't really ready for that much solids . . . (in my opinion). Furthermore, there is definitely evidence that going too quickly with solids (especially if the baby is excited about them) may lead to early weaning, which I definitely want to avoid for my little vegan baby . . .
And while at first I was quite indignant with the doctor thinking that james wasn't gaining enough, now that I look at the percents I suppose I understand his concern. However, I'm also not surprised. james hasn't really stopped moving since his four month appointment, which means it's harder for him to eat a good meal (nurse), and that he is burning off a lot of calories, too!
I don't REALLY think that he is nutritionally starved or anything, or I doubt he would continue to stay in the 99% for length . . . but I am going to make some changes to help him gain more.
Commencing Project Fat Baby . . .
Our Mission: To help james gain percentiles.
Our Timeline: One Month
The Plan is very simple and consists of one step: Breastfeed james more.
For a baby under one year old, this is the number one way to fatten up a baby. Furthermore, I'm doing this as an experiment, because Doctors don't recommend this strategy--they say: give more food. So we'll see how this works out for us over the next month.
The plan really has a few parts:
1. During the day, make more of an effort to nurse james in a quiet and still environment that helps him focus.
2. Before naps, lay down and nurse him--to sleep if possible.
3. If he doesn't wake up on his own, dreamfeed him when you go to bed.
4. Start bed-sharing to allow him more opportunities to nurse during the night.
Of course we ALSO will be giving james food during this time and he ALSO is definitely getting better at eating. I'm not saying food isn't great for him at this stage, too, but it isn't the most important thing in terms of helping him gain weight.
So our next appointment is June 15th--I'll report on the progress of "Project Fat Baby" then.
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