More OAL questions

[Alphawave]

I may need information, or I may only need kindly reassurance :-) but I
hope someone here will be willing to take a moment to consider my OAL
situation at this point.

I'm doing the recommended thing of offering only one breast at a feeding
and sticking with that breast for feedings that come within the subsequent
2-4 hours. I'm also having him suck until letdown, then letting the spray
go into a cloth, then relatching. DS is feeding frequently, like 10 times
a day (and 12 times today!). This has been the case for just over a week.
The feedings are short -- about 4 minutes during the day; longer when he's
drowsy; and sometimes only 2 minutes, when he's highly distractible. I
don't have a baby scale, so I don't know whether he's been gaining since
our last pediatrician visit (at 3 mos., and his weight gain up to that
point was fabulous), but his body has a good, solid feel. He's wetting
plenty of diapers. His poops vary -- sometimes greenish, sometimes more
yellow than green, and they are usually mucousy, and not very curdy. But
I'm a little confused because I've read that the poops can be this way
when they're teething, and he does appear to be teething -- lots of drool,
chews on the burp cloth, even chews on my arm when I'm changing his
diaper.

I guess what I'm looking for answers to are: could the poops be the
result of teething more than OAL at this point? If he's having enough wet
diapers and poops, how much should I be concerned about the green poop?
If there is still a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, is he nonetheless still
getting the nutrition he needs? How long are a ~4 mo. old's feedings,
typically?

-- Alpha
alphawave at earthlink dot net

[Laurie]

Alphawave wrote in message ...
>>I guess what I'm looking for answers to are: could the poops be the
>result of teething more than OAL at this point? If he's having enough wet
>diapers and poops, how much should I be concerned about the green poop?
>If there is still a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, is he nonetheless still
>getting the nutrition he needs? How long are a ~4 mo. old's feedings,
>typically?
>
>-- Alpha
>alphawave at earthlink dot net

I think it could still be the OAL, Alpha. When mine was really bad,
Christopher fed exactly as you describe; only for a few minutes, but all the
time. I know it's a pain in the ass, but you may want to try to pump until
letdown and then another 1.5 ounces or so instead of spraying into a cloth,
and see if it helps any better.

My doc did tell me she didn't get concerned with green poops, and
Christopher was always gaining weight, so it wasn't a worry. As long as you
think he looks like he's gaining, he's probably ok. But I won't tell you not
to worry about it, because that would be silly. ;)

As for how long the feedings are-Christopher will be 14 weeks on Wednesday.
He typically has several shorter feeds a day (often around 5 minutes or so)
and then a couple of longer ones (10 minutes or so). His new thing is to
have a 20-30 minutes session at bedtime. That's a really long time for him!

laurie
mommy to Jessica, 27 months
and Christopher, 13 weeks

*This email address is now valid*

[Larry McMahan]

Alphawave > writes:

: I guess what I'm looking for answers to are: could the poops be the
: result of teething more than OAL at this point? If he's having enough wet
: diapers and poops, how much should I be concerned about the green poop?

Monika never had OAL and about half of Clara's poops were green. We think
ti may have been foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, but it was never serious,
and we never "did anything" about it. She grew out of it.

Larry

[Alphawave]

Larry says:

> Monika never had OAL and about half of Clara's poops were green. We
> think ti may have been foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, but it was never
> serious, and we never "did anything" about it. She grew out of it.

Oh! Okay, that puts things in perspective. Thanks, Larry!

-- Alpha
alphawave at earthlink dot net