Growing like a Weed!

Ian and I went to mommy group again today. This time, we actually prepared to go and so I showered, dried my hair, put on some makeup and put just a little bit of thought into my clothing. I also put Ian in one of his cuter outfits. The nurse at the group brings a scale every week and so I was very curious to see how much weight this little boy gained in 1 week. Well, at 5 weeks old, he came in at a whopping 11 pounds, 5 ounces, which means he gained 9 ounces in 1 week. I'm really thankful and happy that he is thriving on my breast milk, but man, he is HUGE! He is one of the youngest babies in the group and despite that, he outweighs almost all of them! And the one baby that he doesn't outweigh has a mother who is 5'8" and a father who is 6'3"! I'm really not sure how me and my hubby produced this guy! I'm 5'5" and my husband is almost 5'10". I weighed only 5 pounds, 12 ounces at birth and my husband, while bigger, was 7.5 pounds at birth. People keep telling me that weight/height can change dramatically, but for now, I'm considering Ian a very big baby!

I decided to try feeding Ian from a bottle when we all went out to lunch today. I had planned ahead and brought a Dr. Brown's bottle full of 4+ ounces of breast milk. Ian took it like a champ! He took 2 ounces pretty quickly, slept for 30 minutes, and then finished off the bottle. Although Ian had taken bottles from my husband before, this was my first time feeding with a bottle. It was nice! I was actually able to hold him with my left arm and hold the bottle with my left hand and still eat my own lunch with my right hand. But I plan on only using bottles when I'm out and about with Ian. I'd still rather him go to my breast when we're at home. I'm also very proud that I'm still exclusively breastfeeding Ian. He has never had formula. All the other mothers have switched to pure formula or a mix of breast milk and formula. Some of them do it out of convenience. Others do it because their milk supply is drying up. As someone who already has 100 ounces of breast milk frozen (I just counted twenty 5 oz bags in my freezer), I will continue to breast feed him. And for all the luxury that I had using a bottle to feed Ian at lunch, I came home just as my left breast started soaking the shirt that I was wearing. Luckily, Ian woke up from his nap and fed..otherwise it would have been another pumping session!