VICTORY!

So last night we implemented our night feeding plan with the new nipples (4th kind of nipples we purchased fyi) and he took the bottle!!!

We started with only 1.5 oz of breastmilk because it kills me to dump that stuff down the drain because I have a hard time pumping it. But he took it! Unfortunately when we heated up another 2 oz (the rest that I had managed to pump) and had to switch bottles on him he fell asleep and didn't want any more. Oh well - he drank from the bottle. I got slightly concerned about him seeming satisfied with so little and went back to worrying about how he isn't gaining weight, but I'm sure I was just being paranoid.

He was up another 1.5 hours later (I was forgiving short sleeps last night for bottle feeding) and after slight fighting from eric he took the other 2oz in no time flat. He was still hungry after that so I fed him a bit more (which made me feel a bit better about how much he eats... but he didn't eat long so I'm still a bit paranoid ;)

One of the problems with Eric and I taking turns with getting up in the night is we both start assuming the other person is taking care of it and neither one of us is waking up. That being said, if Kiernan REALLY screamed we would wake up right away so I think it's ok if we don't jump up the instant he wakes up... maybe it'll give him a chance to try to fall back to sleep on his own.

So we're going to keep giving him bottles during the whole xmas break. Oh, and the other thing was that I was in the room the entire time he got the second bottle, chatting with Eric, and that didn't seem to make a difference (probably because he was half asleep) which means *I* could probably give him a bottle in the night.

I have to say that this thing with Kiernan not gaining weight has really thrown me for a loop for several reasons. One, now I understand how all those women who worry they don't have enough milk feel. Before I knew I was giving him enough because he was growing by leaps and bounds. Now I get nervous because not only is he not growing by leaps and bounds but I don't feel as full as I used to. Not that I miss accidentally squirting things and people, but where the heck did that milk go?? Is Kiernan really THAT efficient an eater than he's getting 5-7 oz everytime he eats in under 10 minutes? It doesn't help that when I pump I can't get more than 2 ozs out of both breasts when he's not feeding at the same time (which is really hard) or that I only got 2 ozs when I WAS also feeding him as opposed to the 4+ I'd gotten in the past.

Anyhow, in the new year I'm taking him to get weighed again and I'm going to try not to worry too much until then :)