Super Sucker

Ellie was born with blisters on her hands - seems she developed quite the sucking habit before she was even born. We had so many nurses comment on the power of her suck - that'd she'd likely been doing it for several months. One even went so far to say that in her 17 years she'd never felt a newborn suck so hard. Thumb, fingers, fist, arm...let her get too close to your neck and you might leave with a hickey! She always has her hands in her face so we've quickly learned she NEEDS her hands free when being swaddled up.

Sucking her thumb



We think this must have been her favorite position for quite some time - fetal position with hand in month.



Hands in face



Long story short, all her pre-birth sucking developed some bad habits that made breastfeeding quite the challenge. While in the hospital we spent hours with the lactation consultant trying to change her latch, but she admitted it was going to be hard as Ellie was very set in her ways. Home from the hospital armed with sugar water, tube-feeding bottles, shields, and prescription ointments it wasn't getting any easier. We've been having to supplement with formula since the day she was born, and have now made the decision to continue with formula completely. Breastfeeding was something I really thought I was going into with an open mind - it may or may not work - but I guess I never really expected that it wouldn't. It's been an emotional 5 days, but I really am happy to be moving forward and I know she'll continue to be just perfect. She had her first pediatrician visit today, and everything looks great so that was wonderful news as well. Here are her stats at 5 days old.

Length - 20" (62nd percentile, the same as at birth)

Weight - 7 lb, 2 oz (29th percentile, 2 oz up from when we left the hospital so that was GOOD with all the feeding problems. Newborns will typically get back to birthweight around 2 weeks)

Head Circumference - 35 cm (47th percentile)

So, all-in-all, she's pretty average in her measurements. The next appointment is in a week and a half. That same week we also have her kidney ultrasound so it'll be a big week!