He generally didn't protest about anything - a meal every 3 hours or so, and in between sleeping wrapped inside his favorite baby carrier, on our bodies, was all he was wishing for. Well, at least that's what we thought...
However, today we found out that Shahar hasn't been gaining weight as expected, and he's actually about 350 grams below his birth weight.
We were advised that this, combined with lack of bowel movement in the last 5-6 days, implies that he should be breast fed more, and more often.
So, starting earlier today, Anat has been breast feeding him pretty much continuously, including waking him up every 2 hours if he was still asleep.
Our immediate goal is seeing a bowel movement. Honestly - I never thought I'd ever wait so anxiously to see a diaper full of poop! :-)
We had raised 3 babies, and never had to do anything special in order for them to gain weight as newborns. Certainly a new challenge for us.
Clearly, so little sleep for Anat, with very limited ability of mine to make it easy on her, would make our lives a lot more difficult.
Combine this with circumcision (planned this Friday, after a lot of debate and deliberations we decided the social reality in Israel makes it the right choice for us), a start of a new school year for the girls tomorrow, and the constant stream of envious feelings expressed by Maayan - and we're probably facing a bumpy couple of weeks.
Hopefully sooner rather than later things will get on track again, and we'll end up stronger, knowing we've beaten all the difficulties...
Cheers,
Giora
1 comment:
Hi Unger Family,
I am an American doula and I wanted to commend you guys for doing your research before making an informed decision re: circumcision. I notice also that you have waited, and I want to commend you for that too. I can only imagine how much pressure you must feel to circumcise, living in Israel. However, I'd like to offer you some resources you may not have found, that might be helpful for you to consider:
"Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision"
by Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon
http://cutthefilm.com/Cut_Website/The_Film.html
Groups of Israelis who are leaving their sons intact:
kahal.org
A news article about the growing number of Israelis choosing not to cut their sons
"A Cut Above the Rest"
http://jewishcircumcision.org/israel_news.htm
Ron Goldman, Ph.D., a Jewish psychologist, and author of "Circumcision: the Hidden Trauma" and "Questioning Circumcision: a Jewish Perspective" writes:
"Of all the myths that Jews believe about circumcision, the one that is paramount is the belief that all Jews circumcise. With this belief, we put ourselves under tremendous pressure to conform."
http://jewishcircumcision.org/
As a doula, I also just want to point out that if your goal is to get your son to keep breastfeeding, you really want to avoid any unnecessary surgery on him.
Here is some info regarding circumcision and breastfeeding, that I hope will be helpful to you:
http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/effects-of-circumcision-on.html
I realize this is a blog, but I use it because it is well-referenced.
Once again, I hope reading this information takes a weight OFF your shoulders, and I wish your family the best, whatever you decide.
Sincerely,
Caroline Warren,
ALACE doula
tolabor.org
Post a Comment