As we’ve mentioned in a couple of previous blog entries, we’ve been keeping copious notes on who is fed how much and when. Without these notes, we would soon lose track of what had happened during the day. Each time one of the girls cries, we refer to our clipboard to see how long it’s been since their last feeding and their last diaper change. That gives us an idea of why she’s crying. We also take note of when their last bowel movement was to make sure that it hasn’t been too long between one and the next. Here is what August 21st looked like.
| Name | Feeding | Diaper | Notes | ||||
| Start Time | Duration | Side | mL of formula | Urine | Stool | ||
| Eleanor | 01:25 | – | – | 30 mL | N | Y | |
| Miranda | 02:15 | 25 min | R | – | N | Y | |
| Miranda | 04:05 | 10 min | L | 30 mL | N | N | |
| Eleanor | 05:00 | 20 min | R | – | N | N | |
| Eleanor | 06:50 | 20 min | L | 40 mL | Y | N | |
| Miranda | 07:10 | 22 min | R | 70 mL | Y | N | Bottle at 8:10 |
| Eleanor | 09:10 | 17 min | L | – | N | N | |
| Miranda | 09:55 | 2 min | R | – | Y | N | Went back to sleep |
| Eleanor | 10:05 | 20 min | R | – | N | N | |
| Eleanor | 11:20 | 17 min | L | 30 mL | Y | N | |
| Miranda | 11:37 | 20 min | R | 75 mL | Y | N | |
| Eleanor | 14:20 | 20 min | R/L | 30 mL | N | N | |
| Miranda | 16:30 | – | – | 35 mL | Y | N | |
| Miranda | 17:30 | 17 min | R | – | N | N | |
| Eleanor | 18:00 | 20 min | L | – | N | N | |
| Miranda | 19:45 | 30 min | L | – | Y | N | |
| Eleanor | 19:55 | 30 min | R | – | Y | N | |
| Eleanor | 21:00 | 15 min | L | 65 mL | N | N | |
| Miranda | 21:15 | – | – | 70 mL | N | Y | |
| Miranda | 22:00 | – | – | 50 mL | N | N | |
| Eleanor | 22:50 | – | – | 50 mL | N | Y | |
As you can see, Agnes led practically every feeding with some breastfeeding. If you add up all of the minutes, it’s over five hours of breastfeeding! At 7:55 PM, she even had to try breastfeeding both Eleanor and Miranda at the same time. Each of these log entries starts with one of the girls waking up crying. They’re definitely not sleeping a consistent three hours between feedings, and sometimes they’ll even fake us out by appearing full, falling asleep, and then getting up an hour later crying and hungry again (e.g., Eleanor at 9:10 AM and 10:05 AM or Miranda at 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM). It’s no wonder that we’ve had to make sure that Agnes has a window of several hours each night where she can get a solid block of sleep.
You can also add up the numbers for how much formula each girl takes. Over the course of this day, Eleanor took in 245 mL of formula and Miranda took in 330 mL. Is that a lot? Well, there is a rule of thumb that babies under six months of age should consume at least 180 mL of breastmilk or formula every day for every kilogram they weigh. That means that a 3 kg baby (about 6.6 lbs) needs 540 mL of breastmilk or formula every day. We don’t know how much breastmilk Eleanor and Miranda are consuming during the time they nurse, but given that they’re gaining weight at a healthy pace, we can assume they’re at least getting the minimum they need. If we use that minimum of 540 mL, Eleanor is consuming 245/540 or about 45% formula and the rest is breastmilk. Miranda is consuming 330/540 or 61% formula and the rest is breastmilk. The numbers only grow in favor of breastmilk if you assume they’re actually consuming more than 540 mL. So in short, we can safely guess that they’re getting around half of their nutrition from breastmilk, which is great.
I was talking with Eric last night and he gave me your website. Very cute babies. Give me a call. [edit by bernard: telephone numbers removed for privacy]