Wanted to make a quick note about Stella’s feeding progress. We only fit in four bottles today (in addition to her two pumped feedings at night) because she napped so much that it put us “behind.” The good news is that she took 100+ mls from two bottles. This has been happening more lately, so I thought I’d analyze her intake in a new way, with a new chart. Instead of just looking at the total she takes by pump/gravity and the total she takes by bottle each day, I plotted the average amount she takes each time we offer a bottle to her. It doesn’t account for other indicators of success, like how relaxed or receptive she is, but it helps me see more clearly how much she is taking at each bottle feeding. My previous way of charting the data lumped each day’s intake together and didn’t really account for differences in the number of bottles offered per day.

What I found was encouraging. This number–the average amount she takes per bottle offered–is trending upward. On average, she now takes about 80 mls from the bottle each time we offer it to her. The total amount we need her to take is 115. I have some ideas on how to help her get there.

For instance, once in a while, she really gets on a roll, takes a whole bottle and winds up sucking on an empty nipple. Occasionally she gets to  around 100 mls and stops–and I wonder if it’s because the flow is slower with less in the bottle. So, I’m going to get a bigger bottle to keep the flow going longer and to have more formula available for times when she wants to take more than 115 (the bottles we use only hold about 120). It’s a way of letting her drive her intake to a greater degree. If she takes less than 115 at one feeding, that’s fine so long as she takes more at another. I sure hope that made at least some sense and wasn’t too mindnumbingly boring.

Well, I’ve had enough of blogs and spreadsheets for one day. Good night, Cody. Good night, Stella. Good night, moon. Good night, Excel.