I had a cold on top of allergies and after 5 days of suffering was looking for relief. Kellymom.com told me that Sudafed would not harm my baby and I'd taken it while pregnant, so I went ahead and took it. Every 4-6 hours.
We left for vacation on day 6 of this "cold" and the Sudafed didn't even seem to be helping anymore, but I took it anyway hoping to breathe. We drove through the night on a 14 hour trip to North Carolina to stay with family for a week. Lukas and I sat in the back seat together. I brought along my pump and a bottle of milk. I bottle-fed him the first bottle and then pumped the next one when he was finished so I'd have it ready for the next feeding.
While we were there, I kept up with my usual stash-building pumping. In the morning after his first feeding and before bed after his last. I had the nipple shield along "just in case", but he was really nursing without it at this point. We went to the beach and I nursed him on the beach. We went on banana boats and I nursed him while we signed the consent forms to go. I wore him around as we visited art galleries and I nursed him there, too. We supplemented a couple of times, but for the most part, we just nursed. I had my trusty Boppy and my bottles of Fenugreek and Goat's Rue--we were good to go.
I visited a clinic on our second day there for my week-long "cold" to learn that I had a sinus infection. The doctor there seemed perfectly knowledgeable and understanding when I told him I was a nursing mom with a 3-month-old. He put me on a 10-day cycle of antibiotics that were safe to take while breastfeeding. Perfect!
On our last days there, Lukas seemed less willing to take the breast. I tried the nipple shield, but it didn't seem to help at all. I went ahead and fed him as best I could, then topped him off with pumped milk as usual. We were going home soon and I could visit J and straighten him back out.
Then came our fateful drive home. I still wasn't feeling 100%. Lukas was being extra fussy. I begged my husband to stop and make it a two-day trip, but he and his step-dad chose to keep driving. I was in the back seat with Lukas again. I pumped...almost nothing came out. I pumped every 1-2 hours the entire trip home and was barely making enough to fill his bottles. We made it home around 3am on my very first Mother's Day.
I'd taken Sudafed for a week. My milk was nearly gone. I was literally pumping drops. Lukas was refusing to nurse. We went in to see J and weigh Lukas. I told her what was going on. She told me that anti-histamines can decrease milk supply. Lukas was on a nursing strike. He'd only gained an ounce in the week we'd been gone. Dr. F wanted us to come in immediately.
I explained to him that I'd been sick and my milk supply was down. I told him that Lukas was on a nursing strike. He told me to pump and bottle-feed exclusively. He told me to log all of Lukas's feedings so we could see what he was taking in. He told me that he wanted to have Lukas's blood drawn to make sure there wasn't something wrong with his liver or something. I talked to J about it. I saw Dr. Fe again. They couldn't give me an answer--this was something I had to come up with on my own. I decided that I didn't want to give up on the breast knowing that we were in the middle of a nursing strike. I would log his feeds at the breast and log how much I was supplementing, but I wouldn't give up breastfeeding completely. I was NOT having blood drawn on my healthy baby. I wanted to wait another week to see how he did before we decided to get blood drawn. I called Dr. F to let him know. It was a Tuesday and he wasn't in. I diligently kept my log and awaited a call back. Surely, he'd be pleased with this reasonable decision I'd made. We could all be happy and my baby could be fed.
Lukas was refusing the breast and I was pumping nothing but drops. My stash was dipping painfully low. I went to J's for more some More Milk Plus--I'd run out of Goat's Rue. I couldn't wait to talk to her (forgetting she was only in on Thursdays). As I pulled in, I got the call from Dr. F. He was clearly angry, but composed. He told me that he didn't agree with my decision and that we'd waited long enough. He told me that if I didn't do what he said, he'd have to file a report saying that we were endangering Lukas. I held back tears as I explained yet again that Lukas was on a nursing strike and I was trying to rebuild my supply and get him back to the breast. I told him again that I didn't want to put him through a blood draw. He told me that my only other option was to see a pediatrician and get a second opinion. I told him that I'd already been seeing Dr. Fe. He told me that she was a family doctor and that didn't count. I told him I didn't know any pediatricians. He said he'd refer me to one. There was only one in our area--Dr. M. HE made the appointment for me. I hung up and burst into tears. The doctor that I'd trusted wasn't listening to me and, worse, was threatening to take my baby from me. I was powerless to stop it.
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