And....we supplemented.

Let me preface this post with a jog down memory lane...with Morgan, if you recall, I was terrified of supplementing for a myriad of reasons - I was sure it would decrease my supply, I thought Morgan would like bottles/formula more than breast milk and be "broken," we'd had such a hard go of it with nursing I didn't want to break that, and probably the most important reason - I felt like I would have failed her if I wasn't an exclusive breast feeder. That said, once we got over that hump with Morgan a few weeks (or was it a little longer?) after she started daycare, I was more ok with it. Ok, back to now...

So as I've posted, Hadley's been rather fussy in the evening hours (usually by around 4:30pm) until we get her into bed at some point between 8:30-10pm. She seems like she's in pain, as she arches her back and screams so hard that she occasionally sort of stops breathing/crying, zones out a bit, and then works her way back to being more alert (yes, I'm bringing this up to the nurse tomorrow at her weigh in). The first few times she did this, we were terrified. We chalked it up to belly issues (gas, whatnot, like Morgan) and have been giving gas drops (they temporarily help, but it might be b/c she likes the flavor), burping like crazy (also helps a little but not fully), and trying all sorts of positioning and whatnot. Music helps, oddly enough, once she hears it through her screaming.

SO...last night I took my turn with her while Adam put Morgan to bed. It had been maybe 1.5-1.75 hours since her last feeding and only 2 hours for the feeding before. She was screaming like a crazy person and trying to do the not-breathing-I'm-screaming-so-hard thing when it became painfully apparent that she was STARVING. She was trying her best through her screams to gnaw my arm off so frantic me, I warmed up one of the 1/2oz bottles of breast milk (pumping - not going so well...it's such a meager amount it almost doesn't pay), got it ready for Adam when he came back down (which feels like 10 years when he's not coming for very good reason), and he gave it to her.

This time with the bottle, there wasn't hardly any choking and she worked her way through it in about 3 minutes. I didn't want to wreck the next nursing with formula, so I quick nursed her and we had formula ready to offer in case she was still hungry. She must have had at least another 1/2oz, putting her at 1oz(ish) more than the nursing I was able to provide. Shortly after that, I put on her jammies and then took her into our room (where she's still sleeping in her bassinet) and bam. She was OUT. I laid her down which has been a trick sometimes lately and she didn't even move.

Needless to say, here are my thoughts.

1. She's not getting enough by the end of the day. She routinely goes 3-4 hours b/w feedings during the day and sleeps quite a bit. (I need to go wake her after this post, shocker). Since she's only had ~3 feedings by the time 5pm rolls around, I'm guessing she just needs more. (all based on one night's worth of trying things...which means none of them will work tonight.)
2. I've tried waking her to feed her more often during the day and yesterday she flat out REFUSED to nurse when I woke her at 3 hrs to feed. Refused. I put her back to bed and she woke up on her own 2 minutes after the financial guy got here. Nice. 
3. I have no problem supplementing after nursing if need be. I'm only going to do it if she needs it, such as in the evening when she's apparently starving. 

That said, I just heard a squeak and I'm going to roll with it. Then off to get some deals at HyVee before a neighbor comes to visit and then Grandma Susie is here for several days. Busy busy household! 

Stay tuned for more feeding/screaming/baby woes adventures. :)