It's hard to say how my supply is doing. Kai isn't nursing so much during the day now that he's older, so he does most of his breastfeeding overnight. These past few days, he's been waking up and completely draining each breast* without falling asleep, which means I am not getting a full, uninterrupted nights sleep. I have thus begun to describe myself using a mash-up word I saw on FB the other day: irritired. I am extremely irritired lately.
Still, I don't know that the milkathons are because he's not getting enough milk. He's also not had a decent bowel movement in a few days. Some small, dryish poos, but nothing substantial. So he could just be constipated. (He's recently upped his solid food intake considerably, so a little constipation is to be expected.) We've loaded him with prune juice, so we'll see if that helps. If not, I'll go get some coconut water or something to see if I can't kickstart the boob juice without fenugreek. Or maybe power pumping would help. I hope it doesn't come to that, though...I hate pumping.
Anyway. On the topic of breastfeeding, I saw this great article about extended BFing. (Short answer: No. But read the article...it's fascinating.) Now I am more determined to keep nursing Kai, until he's ready to quit. The comfort and security it brings is worth all the pain and inconvenience in the world.
Just forgive me if I'm a bit irritired from time to time. I'm growing a boy here.
*By "drained," I mean he's nursed until the flow slows down, at which point he starts "milking" the nipple with his gums to try stimulating the flow. It bloody hurts, and is impossible to sleep through. It's usually my cue to switch him to the other breast. He used to fall asleep after draining both breasts, but not this week. This week he has just kept milking both breasts until I take them away, at which point he decides it's play time and smacks his sister in the head.
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