Love this thread! I had just mentioned in another thread how hard this has been. Knowing others are going through the same helps me see it's all normal.
Also, hearing others say how it gets easier helps keep me stay focused on continuing on.
Nursing in the beginning is so stressful. I promise it gets better. I nursed DS1 until he self weaned at 19 months and I think it was around 2 months that I actually started enjoying it and stopped stressing so much.
Me: 28, all tests normal DH: 34, very low count, motility, morphology DX - MFI 11/14/09 - Married 01/01/14 - TTC #1 01/06/15 - Started working with RE 04/06/15 - Recommendation - straight to IVF w/ICSI 09/04/15 - Started working with new RE Nov/Dec 15 - IVF w/ ICSI #1 - 11R/8F - 1 transferred, 3 frozen
Anyone have advice on how to deal with engorgment?
I was engorged on one side but no milk was coming out the other day. The LC at my peds office suggested a warm compress for 5 minutes would help get the milk flowing. Worked great for me.
Post by annapunkalunka on Sept 20, 2016 0:49:12 GMT -5
For me, the first time, nursing got much more enjoyable around the 2 month mark. It's so stressful, but I think at the 2 month mark it finally becomes more natural for both mom and baby. I'm hoping this time it happens sooner. We're in the heat of cluster feeding right now and that makes it hard to enjoy it.
Anyone have advice on how to deal with engorgment?
+1 to warm compress. I had gotten a warm damp washcloth before feeding C and it felt amazing and got the milk flowing so he could drain me better. In between feedings ice helps with the pain too as well as some advil.
If you are having issues with latching from being engorged you could pump a little first to pull out the nipple.
Anyone have advice on how to deal with engorgment?
You can hand express or pump just enough so you're not uncomfortable anymore.
Look up reverse pressure softening too. Basically you pull backwards to your body for a couple inches to soften the area by the nipple and help latch when engorged. My LC taught me that in the hospital this time around and I thought it worked so much easier for me.
BFing has been a trial for us. K latches well, but things just aren't clicking between her and I. She lost a lot of weight at first and only gained back an ounce between Friday morning and Monday afternoon. So, things are just very frustrating. I had a major meltdown in the Pedi's office after her weigh in.
We're supplementing with formula for a while to get her weight up, and I have an appointment with an LC this morning. Meanwhile, I'm trying to feed her every 2 hours, alternating between nursing and a bottle of formula, but also pumping when I can to increase my supply. H and MIL are semi-glad about this new development, because now they get to feed her on occasion as well.
BFing has been a trial for us. K latches well, but things just aren't clicking between her and I. She lost a lot of weight at first and only gained back an ounce between Friday morning and Monday afternoon. So, things are just very frustrating. I had a major meltdown in the Pedi's office after her weigh in.
We're supplementing with formula for a while to get her weight up, and I have an appointment with an LC this morning. Meanwhile, I'm trying to feed her every 2 hours, alternating between nursing and a bottle of formula, but also pumping when I can to increase my supply. H and MIL are semi-glad about this new development, because now they get to feed her on occasion as well.
If you aren't and can I would pump a little after every feed, nursing every 2 hours. My first LO wasn't a good nurser in the beginning and that's what my LC had me do. Then just offer the pumped milk after the next nursing session (and you can keep doing formula too if needed. I quickly got to the point where the pumped milk was enough because the issue was he just wasn't transferring much). I ended up using a nipple shield which helped his transfer and I didn't have to keep pumping. BUT then I had to stress about weaning off the nipple shield. It's always something.
I think it might a supply problem on my end. After doing 2 formula feedings with minimal nursing afterwards I was able to pump 2oz. Usually I can get at most half an ounce if I pump between feedings. But I'll try adding a pumping session in after feedings, too.
Remember that pumping is not a good indicator of supply. With my first, I was only ever able to pump 1-1.5 oz at a time and yet she was gaining weight and diaper output was good.
I think pumping right after nursing to stimulate lactation is a great idea and you can just top that off with some formula as needed. Eventually you may not need to.
Me: 28, all tests normal DH: 34, very low count, motility, morphology DX - MFI 11/14/09 - Married 01/01/14 - TTC #1 01/06/15 - Started working with RE 04/06/15 - Recommendation - straight to IVF w/ICSI 09/04/15 - Started working with new RE Nov/Dec 15 - IVF w/ ICSI #1 - 11R/8F - 1 transferred, 3 frozen
Also I wouldn't pump between feedings unless they are really spaced apart. The pumping after nursing is to make sure you are drained and signal your body to produce more. But you only want to do that with supply issues (you know baby isn't getting enough. Either hungry or not gaining well) otherwise you'd be telling your body to produce an oversupply.
Yea, I didn't mean to go that long without nursing or pumping, but I fell asleep. When I woke up it had been a little over 3 hours and I got distracted feeding and changing K, so it was a little less than 4 hours before I got around to pumping.
Thanks for all the advice ladies. I met with an LC today and got some more insight. The good news is that K gained 3oz from yesterday's weigh in, so the formula is doing her a lot of good.
The LC says her latch is pretty good, but made some suggestions about getting her a more efficient suck to reduce feeding time and thus get the most calories for the least effort. We're working on those still. The LC did confirm K has no issues with mouth shape or movement, though she does have a tendency for a shallow suck sometimes.
She did confirm that I have a supply issue. We did a weighed feed and K only got a couple of teaspoons of milk. Now, it hadn't been quite 2 hours since I last fed her, but the LC thought that I should have had more even by that time. So she has me nursing K every 2 hours, with an option to extend to 3 hours at night if she and I are both too tired to keep up on the 2 hour schedule. After I nurse her for a bit, she wants me to go ahead and give her some formula or pumped breast milk until she's full and refuses the bottle.
Then, during the day I'm to pump once she's done nursing. I'll probably end up having MIL or H feed her the bottle during that time so that I can pump and still have some time to shower, eat, and sleep during those 2 hour intervals.
And she recommended a supplement to help as well, so I'm trying that as well.
DS seems to be an efficient nurser. He is done in about 10-15min, which is great. My problem is that he's not fully draining the breast, so 10 min later I seem to be engorged again. I don't want to end up with an oversupply by pumping a ton, but I also don't want blocked ducts or mastitis. I tried to hand express but that didn't work at all. Apparently I don't know how to do it.
How long does it take my supply to regulate and should I pump or not? I'm incredibly uncomfortable
DS seems to be an efficient nurser. He is done in about 10-15min, which is great. My problem is that he's not fully draining the breast, so 10 min later I seem to be engorged again. I don't want to end up with an oversupply by pumping a ton, but I also don't want blocked ducts or mastitis. I tried to hand express but that didn't work at all. Apparently I don't know how to do it.
How long does it take my supply to regulate and should I pump or not? I'm incredibly uncomfortable
I bet it's not draining your breast all the way because you have so much milk right now. I have the same thing going on but I feel like my supply is starting to regulate. We are 10 days old. I can't remember how long it took with DS. I am trying to avoid pumping. I had a crazy over supply with DS and it was crazy. Trying to avoid that this time around!
DS seems to be an efficient nurser. He is done in about 10-15min, which is great. My problem is that he's not fully draining the breast, so 10 min later I seem to be engorged again. I don't want to end up with an oversupply by pumping a ton, but I also don't want blocked ducts or mastitis. I tried to hand express but that didn't work at all. Apparently I don't know how to do it.
How long does it take my supply to regulate and should I pump or not? I'm incredibly uncomfortable
I bet it's not draining your breast all the way because you have so much milk right now. I have the same thing going on but I feel like my supply is starting to regulate. We are 10 days old. I can't remember how long it took with DS. I am trying to avoid pumping. I had a crazy over supply with DS and it was crazy. Trying to avoid that this time around!
I'm trying to avoid it too for the first couple weeks. I know I waited 3 weeks to pump last time but I can't remember how long it took everything to regulate. I just REALLY don't want a blocked duct. Not fun.
Luckily DH just brought him up to me to top him off. I go to bed earlier to get a couple hours in while he's watched so that I can fully relax and sleep a couple straight hours. So I've had relief in the one side, but it still isn't empty. I soaked 3 breast pads per side today...it's insane!
DS seems to be an efficient nurser. He is done in about 10-15min, which is great. My problem is that he's not fully draining the breast, so 10 min later I seem to be engorged again. I don't want to end up with an oversupply by pumping a ton, but I also don't want blocked ducts or mastitis. I tried to hand express but that didn't work at all. Apparently I don't know how to do it.
How long does it take my supply to regulate and should I pump or not? I'm incredibly uncomfortable
I felt the same way as my milk came in. It is starting to regulate but I think it's okay to pump just enough to relieve yourself. A bit of hand expression here and there seemed to make a difference as well. Don't get too frustrated! Your supply will calm down soon!
There are some great YouTube videos on hand expressing. I never did it much, but it's an invaluable talent. I took a seminar on pumping at work and they demonstrated how to do it
Post by LadyNymeria on Sept 24, 2016 18:13:50 GMT -5
In the past 3 hours R has been actively nursing for over an hour and a half and I just had to let him go to the other breast again.
He starts fussing as soon as he unlatches but it seems like there's not much coming out at this point. I've been burping him between sides too so I don't think it's gas.
I'm assuming this is normal potential growth spurt type behavior, but someone please make me feel better. My supply has been great so far, and his diaper counts are good, but this is making me feel like he's not getting enough.
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