Breastfeeding/Pumping Check-in 1/31

[bluefairy5]

Welcome to the breastfeeding and pumping check-in. Please tag bluefairy5 to join the check-in, change your info, and for general updates. If you don't update for 4 weeks in a row I'll assume you're done with the check-in and remove you, but you're always welcome to join in again.

IF YOU'RE NEW PLEASE TELL US:
- Are you EBF, EPing, combo feeding?
- Birthday of your child(ren)?
- If this is your second, etc. go around, let us know!

And for everyone...
- Successes?
- Challenges?
- New goals? Tips? Questions?

QOTW: Do you decorate for different seasons/holiday?  If so, what do you put up?  What's your favorite?  (This question brought to you by the a weirdo across the way who still has their Christmas tree up.) (Side question: What is the latest you'll leave up your Christmas tree, if you do one?) 


sewfie2
DD born 10 days early, 9/23
Bedtime nursing
Goal: For weaning to be NBD

lilyharper
Little Man born early October
BF 2-3 times/day
Goal: Start figuring out this weaning thing.

bostongirl617
Baby BostonBoy born 10/17
BFing several times a day.
Goal: KOKO

aves0708
DD born 10-20-15
BF
Goal: Make it to two.

bluefairy5
Wee Fairy born 10/26/15
NOD at home
Goal: KOKO through cold/flu season, then reevaluate

rainbowbridge14
M born 12/2/15
NOD
Goal: KOKO

kaf7
Ds2 born December 2015.
BF 3 times/day
Goal: KOKO for now

nikiswimr
Little E was born 1/26/16.
NOD at home, pumping at work.
Goal: Wean work pump, milk in sippy, two years if FET cooperates

Dominican Dreamer
L born 2/13
NOD/pumping/supplementing when necessary
Goal: a year, prep for WCM transition

meggo
N born February 20th
Offering NOD, pumping work & home, formula to supplement.
Goal: KOKO pumping for less than a month, then wean pump and dom

megrae12
Superman was born at 35 weeks on Feb 24th
Goal: Drop a feed

daydreamsam
Baby born Mar 21
BF
Goal: KOKO

westiemom
Baby O born 4/20/16
BF, occasional pumped bottle
Goal: March

Stringy
P born 6/13
BF, pumping at work
Goal: a year

mugster
Roar was born 6/30/16
NOD at home, pumping at work for DC, starting solids
Goal: KOKO

@oceanhut
LO born 7/4
Combo feeding with combo bottles and BF
Goal: Springtime, then a year
Welcome back and congrats on 6 months!!

tikoberry99
Baby boy was born July 11!
EBF, occasional pumping, starting BLW
Goal: a year

disneykate
Emma was born 7/19
NOD at home, pumping at work, just starting solids
Goal: a year, keep working on solids

bocaburger
Twins were born 8/10
EBF with pumped bottles for MOTN
Goal: 6 months.

remylove1011
DD born 8/25
BF, pumping at work
Goal: 6 months

karabear4409
DS2 born 9/12
NOD, pumping/bottles at night
Goal: 6 months; short-term get through illness

mg0202
DS born 10/6
BF, pumping at work
Goal: KOKO - yay!

peaseblossom55
E born 10/25
Combo feeding, BF, pumping
Goal: KOKO

calindi
DD born 11/14
EBF, NOD
Goals: 6 months EBF, then combo
Welcome!

mrswillie
Baby born born 12/1
Combo feeding right now
Goals: 3 months

emilie
DD born 12/19
BF, pumping for supply, supplementing

[mg0202]

We are doing well. He doesn't seem to mind having bottles at daycare and still BF at home.

I am not able to produce enough pumping at work to cover what he needs at daycare. My freezer stash is gone. I told myself I wouldn't be upset with supplementing, but I am a bit. I am happy he doesn't seem to mind having some formula. He gets about 4 oz mixed into the BM.

QOTW: we decorate for Christmas and Halloween (which DH loves). A few decorations for valentines, Easter, and thanksgiving.

We leave Christmas up until just after new years. Some of the neighbors had decorations until the end of January, but I think they were waiting for a warm weekend to take everything down.

[kaf7]

Hugs mg0202, I'd feel that way too about going through the freezer stash sooner than desired.


We continue at three times a day here as we approach 14m but I am on week 2 of awful nights. I am in a less joyful phase of bf and I think I am going to drop the lunch feed starting tomorrow. (Hold me!)

Qotw: I only decorate for Christmas and outside for Halloween. Christmas decor goes up in December - preferably after s2's birthday - and comes down around New Years. I'd definitely side eye still having a tree up unless there was some personal tragedy such as a death in the family or prolonged hospitalization that was leading to an inability to take it down.

[kaf7]

I should note that it will be cold here until April. Leaving lights up and not turning them on is acceptable for that reason.

[bluefairy5]

kaf7 Oh no Still awful nights? I'm sorry. GL dropping the lunch feed! (And no, these weirdos leave their tree up forever every year. And it's across the way in a really expensive building, so it's not a question of "I can't be bothered to take this out," as the building staff would do it for them.)

mg0202 That's great that he takes the formula without issue, but I can understand feeling upset, even when you know logically there's no reason to be. When we supplemented I definitely felt that way. If you're thinking of trying to increase your pumping output, the biggest things that made a difference for me were water intake (they say "drink to thirst" but I found it was more like, "drink until you float away") and calorie intake. If you have time at work to add on anywhere from 2-5 minutes per pumping session, that can help as well. YMMV, but I always found I had a hugely different output when I did massage/compressions (though this may have been due to the fact that I am inconveniently between flange sizes). Tangential question is whether you feel his daytime care provider is feeding him when he isn't actually hungry. (It doesn't sound like you do, but figured I'd ask just in case.)

disneykate The past week has been so nuts I didn't get a chance to reply to your update in the last checkin. I wanted to send some virtual hugs for the weight percentile drop at Emma's 6-month, and the pedi saying you need to give her more solids. If it sets your mind at ease, know that WF's weight %'ile dropped around the same amount at 6 months, and has stayed there... and no one's worried. And I also think it can be a pretty normal thing to feel a little... deflated? when your milk is no longer the only source of nourishment.

karabear4409 High five from last week; it was such a hard week for you guys, I'm glad one of the silver linings was hearing that BF helped his illness.

[disneykate]

bluefairy5, Thank you for the virtual hugs. It does help to hear that WF also dropped down in percentile around 6 months.
mg0202, Sending hugs. I totally get feeling disappointed about needing to supplement. Just remember that any breast milk you can give him is great.
kaf7, GL with dropping the midday feed. I hope your nights get better soon too.

Emma seems less stuffy this week but we did have a not so fun Sunday night when she puked 3 times. The first time I was breastfeeding her on the couch downstairs and halfway through she started puking out of the blue. It was her first "real" puking that actually smelled bad since she had solid foods earlier that day and her entire onesie was soaked with it. She puked a little again when I tried to feed her from the other side before bed and then puked again the next morning. So we kept her home from daycare on Monday and then she was fine. DH said she just wanted to play hooky from daycare lol. At least she was still a happy smiling baby despite throwing up.

She has been fine breastfeeding again today and we resumed solids today. So hopefully it was just some weird fluke. She needs to keep her weight up or her new baby cousin born today will catch up to her. He was 11 lbs 1 oz at birth and Emma is only ~15 lbs!!

QOTW: We have lots of decorations for Christmas and Halloween but we also have decorations for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. For each holiday, we have decals and lights for the front window and little figurines for my hutch in the living room. A lot of the holiday figurines are Disney-themed (no surprise there).
I try to take my Christmas tree down shortly after New Year's. I wanted to take it down the weekend of January 7th this year but my BIL and his girlfriend came to visit us, so I had to wait until the weekend of the 14th and I hated having the tree up that late.

[bluefairy5]

- Successes
Boob juice is magic because she's basically avoided 2 nasty, long-lasting colds I've had since Christmas, the newest one for the past week. She has a touch of the current one, but nowhere near as bad as the adults got it.

And once my supply rebounded from sickness the past 2 weeks, she stopped biting! Yay!

- Challenges
Why do I bother thawing the normal amount of milk when grandparents sub in for the babysitter? Why do I do it? It only ever results in wasted milk that isn't getting replaced anymore.

QOTW: I've carved small jack-o-lanterns the past 3 years, and we put up Christmas stuff, but that's about it. I usually like to keep the tree up at least through New Year's Day, but this year's tree was a dried husk by the 28th, and the year before that by the 1st. The weirdo across the way has gone to bed for the night, so their tree is off. Weirdo. (Okay, maybe I'm a little jealous since my trees in this apartment always dry up really quickly. It's so dry here.)

[daydreamsam]

Hi all!
Successes: We are still going strong at 10 months, in fact we've added back in a nursing session because C signs begging for it all of the sudden. It doesn't bother me since we probably won't jump straight to weaning at the one year mark since we don't plan on returning to the RE until May.

Challenges: Sometimes, it feels like she is chewing on my nipple. Not biting hard but grazing her teeth over it while she's eating and it is EFFING awful. It makes my toes curl. Me no likey.

QOTW: I love to decorate for seasons and holidays. LOVE IT! At the beginning of fall I do a fall wreath on the door and decorate our driveway gate with autumn leaves, halloween brings jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows, ghosts, tombstones and pumpkin light strands, Christmas: we do the works, a star shower, blow up Santa and Olaf, tons of lights on the house and our fences and gates and a tree we cut down on our own property (I take everything down the weekend after New Year's). I decorate for spring, and in summer, my 4th of July decor stays up most of the summer (flags on every fence post and red, white and blue pom poms everywhere). Our neighbors love it and many have donated decorations to our stash. We live on a private road and we are the only ones who live close enough to the road to make decorating worth while so it's nice for everyone

[karabear4409]

Thanks bluefairy5! The doctor telling me that BF is likely the reason he wasn't a lot sicker was all of the affirmation I needed. I'm so glad we stuck it out through the 100 setbacks.

Success: we haven't had to supplement with formula in 11 days! The almost constant comfort sucking from my sick baby really helped my supply. We've also stopped doing bottles in the MOTN, and I nurse. He's still getting one bottle right before bed to fill up his stomach and give him probiotics.

Challenges: his weight is down about six ounces. They aren't concerned, bc he's been so sick. He's also a pretty big baby anyways (62% for weight). But of course it freaks me out.

Goals: a year. There. I said it. I've been scared to make such a long term goal, but I think we can do it.

Qotw: I only decorate for Christmas. I have a few valentines, fall and Halloween decorations...but it's so much work to get to where they are stored. I usually skip it. Christmas typically comes down on January 1, although I think I didn't get it down until the 7th this year.

[karabear4409]

mg0202 supplementing with formula was really hard for me at first too. Just remember that giving him formula does not negate any of the great benefits that he is getting from BF. You aren't doing anything wrong, but I know it feels that way.

[Stringy]

thanks bluefairy5, for the checkin -

daydreamsam, I have similar slightly chewing sensations, especially at latch and unlatch and it makes me shiver. She's only bitten once and I pray never again. But we don't have top teeth yet.

Successes: KOKO most of the time

Challenges: Well I discovered that pumping just my right boob by itself makes me much more able to multitask at work. Except it doesn't help my lefty keep producing so its probably a bad idea.

We had some croup last week and sleep went to shit. Now P is nursing every 2 hours again at night even though she's mostly better - I'm not ready to re-sleep train until she's 100%. Probably more teeth too. And a bottle strike when I'm working. She had like 2 oz all day yesterday. I'm sure thats not helping me sleep.

QOTW: decorate lightly for xmas and general fall decorations. I'd like to do more - we've only owned a home for a year or so so maybe i'll start accumulating stuff!

[karabear4409]

Stringy I'm sorry about the croup. It's really the worst. I'm glad she's doing a little better, but that all sounds rough. Hugs!

[Stringy]

Feb 1, 2017 10:33:23 GMT -5 karabear4409 said:

Stringy I'm sorry about the croup. It's really the worst. I'm glad she's doing a little better, but that all sounds rough. Hugs!

It sounds like nothing compared to everything you've been through lately. I'm glad you are coming out the other side and he's doing better.

[megrae12]

disneykate FWIW, Superman is almost 90% in height and barely 30% in weight. At 6 months, he was barely 16 pounds. Now, he is almost 1 and barely 19 pounds.

Success: We have survived the mysterious sickness that popped up while he was on antibiotics.

Challenges: He nurses all the time. Sigh. He only EBFs when he gets sick, which is fine, but then we have to struggle to get him back on solids, etc. Bleh.

Goals: Get back to where we were before he for sick. Drop a morning session and solids 3x/day.

QOTW: We only decorate for Christmas and leave our tree up till after New year's.

[sewfie2]

mg0202, hugs regarding supplementing. At the end of the day, baby is fed, and that's all that matters. But I hear you-we had to supplement too, and even though logically I knew it was fine, it was still hard emotionally at times.

kaf7, I hope your nights start getting better!

disneykate, I hope your LO is better today!


Stringy, I hope the croup passes quickly.

megrae12, maybe probiotics will help? My LO got sick the last time she was on antibiotics (diarrhea and a yeast infection), so we upped her yogurt intake and that seemed to help (along with antifungul cream).


bluefairy5, boo that you're sick, but I'm glad your LO has avoided the worst of it.

As for me, I can be removed from the list bluefairy5. I weaned her completely Saturday night.

- Successes?
We made it to just over 16 months! I'm pretty sure towards the end she really wasn't getting much during her bedtime nursing, but she was happy. We could have kept going, but I am looking forward to leaving bedtime duties totally up to mh at times.

- Challenges?
It was hard to finally decide to wean completely. We've been down to bedtime nursing for a few months now, so it wasn't physically hard at least. But I miss the cuddles already.

[westiemom]

Thanks bluefairy5!

-She handled the move really well! No breastfeeding issues. I was worried she would be super distracted in the new space but she seems to need more BFing than usual, I am assuming the change has made her a little nervous.

-Challenges: whelp, after being great with boob and bottles when needed, she has decided not to take anymore bottles. We have a trip next month without her so I'm panicking. I'm gone Saturday meeting up with a fellow TCFer for a few hours so I'm hoping DH can get her back to doing bottles!

-Goals: I have no idea. KOKO until I decide I'm done!

QOTW: I only do Christmas usually.

[westiemom]

Congrats on weaning sewfie2! I can imagine it's a little bittersweet. What a big accomplishment!

[peaseblossom55]

Successes- nothing in particular. Just doing the same pumping, nursing and doing mostly formula

Challenges- Just debating if the possible side effects of domperidone or reglan are worth seeing if they work or not.

Goals- the same

GTKY- I only decorate for Christmas

[karabear4409]

Feb 1, 2017 10:52:39 GMT -5 Stringy said:

Feb 1, 2017 10:33:23 GMT -5 karabear4409 said:

Stringy I'm sorry about the croup. It's really the worst. I'm glad she's doing a little better, but that all sounds rough. Hugs!

It sounds like nothing compared to everything you've been through lately. I'm glad you are coming out the other side and he's doing better.

Thank you! Sick babies are always hard!

[karabear4409]

Congrats sewfie2! 16 months is awesome!

[karabear4409]

peaseblossom55 just a heads up...if you chose to order Dom online, it can take 3-4 weeks to come in

[kaf7]

Hugs and congrats sewfie2.
Yay for the biting resolution bluefairy5.

Last night was even worse here. When he fed at 4am I only let him have one side and then fed him the other at 7am. I then didn't feed at lunch and he was fine, but napped a long time after so much screaming overnight. I am hoping to feed him bedtime and then not feed overnight tonight at all. I feel like I am at the point that he is just confused why I won't feed him between 1-3am....so I am going to aim for just on wake up and bedtime and will drop lunch altogether. What we are currently doing isn't working for either of us.

[bluefairy5]

sewfie2 Congratulations! 16 months is a BFD!

karabear4409 Whoa, cool about the supply increase! I hope he keeps feeling better. Poor little guy's really been through the wringer the past couple weeks.

Stringy Sorry about the sleep woes I hope the bottle strike ends quickly and that it helps.

westiemom That's awesome that the move didn't keep her from nursing. Sorry about the bottle strike, though. A trip next month will be plenty of time for her to get used to them again, though. And on Saturday if she's hungry enough, she'll take a bottle. Plus if it's only a few hours, she'd be fine anyway. Not that that makes it feel mentally much easier on you!

kaf7 Oh man, I'm sorry last night was so bad. The confusion part of "why am I not getting boob?!" is really hard to take.

[nikiswimr]

Successes: we made it a year! And now we're just KOKO. Since she figured out how to ask for it frequency of BF has greatly increased (when I'm home). I'm taking a week off to hang out with her next week (woohoo!) so she'll be able to have ALL the milk for a week. Now that we're night weaned I cannot believe I was up (at least) 2 times a night for 11 months. She had a cold and was up the other night and I felt like death.

Challenges: weaning the work pump. I'm done with it on normal (8-9) hour days but can't quite make it on my 12-14 hour days.

QOTW: I decorate for fall and Christmas. I have different pillow covers (summer, fall, Christmas, winter) and summer/winter bedding. We go all out for Christmas with real trees, garlands, lights on the house, etc. It usually comes down after New Years. Fall is more pumpkins, mums.

[rainbowbridge14]

I'll try and come back and respond soon. Things have been crazy around here the past few days and if I don't check in now who knows when I'll do it.

Succeses: I dropped my last pump and no clogs or mastitis. Yay for not dragging around pump parts!

Challenges: the dropped pump plus a natural drop in nursing has led to some hormonal mood shifts and anxiety that have been very hard to deal with lately.

No new goals at the moment.

QOTW: I already partially forgot tge question...um holiday decorating stuff I think...I have no opinions. It's not really my thing.

[bluefairy5]

nikiswimr, Congrats on a year! And that's awesome about being totally night weaned.

[mg0202]

bluefairy5. I do think daycare is feeding him adequately. I know this is from my end. I work with patients so I can't always pump when I need to or for as long. I do need to try and drink more water, just chug it when I can.

kaf7, @disneyland, karabear4409, sewfie2, thanks for all the support. I know I am over reacting. Its a combo of working so hard for this and not having it completely work and I am cheap so I hate to buy formula. He is great, growing, and healthy and as long as he is fed I know that is what matters. I just have to remind myself of it sometimes!

[meggo]

Thanks for the check in @blufairy5!
Stringy Have you tried a hands free bra? Life changer.

Successes: Supply is maintaining while pumping 3x/day when I'm home and 4x/day when I work.

Challenges: We are officially done nursing 😢😢😢 I've stopped offering because he just refuses. I'll maintain EP'ing for a few more weeks, then start to wean off the pump.

QOTW: bluefairy5, are you certain your neighbors tree is real? That seems like a giant fire hazard waiting to happen!

I decorate for fall (pumpkins, mums, etc) and Christmas. Christmas comes down by New Year day, if possible. We do still have some "wintery" things up (wreath, pinecones), but not "Christmasy".

[meggo]

Congrats on weaning sewfie2 and congrats on making it to a year nikiswimr!!

[rainbowbridge14]

mg0202 It's okay to feel however you feel about supplementing. I know many of my nursing feels are not rational. No matter what though you are doing a great job feeding your baby!

kaf7 sending luck for dropping sessions and the one night feed.

disneykate the first pukes are awful 😞

bluefairy5 yay for nipple safety!

daydreamsam and Stringy we have had that grating/chewing thing here too and it's awful! Luckily though I find that now that he nurses less her latch is better when she does.

karabear4409 yay for being done with sipplementing! Congrats on making the new goal!

megrae12 good luck with getting the solids back on track.

sewfie2 congrats on being done!

westiemom bottle refusal is tough but luckily with her eing on solids you have some wiggle room. Once M started eating lots of solids she really stopped liking bottles and would rarely take them. Like she could drink one 3 bottle over 8 hours at DC. But she ate real food and drank water so it wasn't a huge issue.

peaseblossom55 I didn't take it for BF but I was on reglan during my pregnancy and didn't notice ny signicant symptoms FWIW.

@nickiswimr good uck dropping the work pump!