The biggest priority for Megan right now is making sure she is getting enough to eat and is growing. Of course this is important for every new baby, but with the the cleft lip and palate, it makes it more of a challenge to eat and it is really important that she is at a healthy weight (with surplus) in time for surgery. Although I have felt she has been nursing well, the nurse at the clinic suggested we bottle-feed Megan. At birth she weighed 7 lb 10 oz. Yesterday she weighed in at 6 lb 14 oz. It is normal for babies to lose weight after birth but they were a little concerned that it wasn't up higher than that. And although she may have been getting enough milk volume-wise, she may have been working off more calories than she was getting. Basically we were told that babies with cleft palate can not successfully exclusively breastfeed. SO we decided it was more important for her to be getting what she needs to grow to be a healthy, chubby baby.
Today on our way home from Indy we bought an infant scale so we can keep track of Megan's growth. I think this will help us to feel more comfortable in knowing she is getting enough to eat and is growing like she should be.
The biggest priority for Megan right now is making sure she is getting enough to eat and is growing. Of course this is important for every new baby, but with the the cleft lip and palate, it makes it more of a challenge to eat and it is really important that she is at a healthy weight (with surplus) in time for surgery. Although I have felt she has been nursing well, the nurse at the clinic suggested we bottle-feed Megan. At birth she weighed 7 lb 10 oz. Yesterday she weighed in at 6 lb 14 oz. It is normal for babies to lose weight after birth but they were a little concerned that it wasn't up higher than that. And although she may have been getting enough milk volume-wise, she may have been working off more calories than she was getting. Basically we were told that babies with cleft palate can not successfully exclusively breastfeed. SO we decided it was more important for her to be getting what she needs to grow to be a healthy, chubby baby.
Today on our way home from Indy we bought an infant scale so we can keep track of Megan's growth. I think this will help us to feel more comfortable in knowing she is getting enough to eat and is growing like she should be.
2 comments:
Thanks for the updates! I'm glad that the initial consultation went well and that Megan is already started on that retainer. It sounds like she's not picky about eating, so I'm glad that she'll take the bottle with no problems. She's so cute!! She has quite a bit of hair compared to her sisters, doesn't she? Or maybe it's darker? Or both?
Hey Matt and Julie! This is Kiersten from Ricks/BYUI. It's fun to find your blog. Congratulations on your cute little family! We have one little girl who's almost 3. She was actually born with a cleft palate as well. Just the palate, not the lip at all. I was never able to nurse her (so I pumped for a long time). I didn't even know they could make those devices for their palate to help. That's great for you! And I totally understand how great it is to see her actually growing, with all the feeding issues you go through. If you ever need to talk to someone who's gone through it, drop me a line. kiersten@musicalsmiths.com
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