10/31 1-3 month check-in

[hurricanerek]

1) How old is LO?

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house?

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH?

4) Questions/Concerns/AW?

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween?

[pttomato]

1) How old is LO? 11 weeks

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house?

Nights have been getting better. She actually slept for almost 7 hours Saturday night. And she has been feeling much better in the mornings, she's been able to sleep in her crib the whole night instead of needing to be held up at 3-4. Naps are still a little hit or miss and she still eats every 1-2 hours during the day.

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH? I'm SAH.

I tried to feed DD a bottle of expressed milk that had been frozen and she acted like it tasted bad. It did taste a little metallic to me.

4) Questions/Concerns/AW?
We are flying home to visit family/for a meet the baby party on Friday. I'm generally comfortable NIP but my parents are really uncomfortable with it so that may be interesting. My mom has been really pushing me to get a nursing cover. Anyone have tips for breastfeeding on a plane without the person next to me getting kicked?

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween
A chili pepper

[melody330]

Oct 31, 2016 8:46:26 GMT -5 pttomato said:

4) Questions/Concerns/AW?
We are flying home to visit family/for a meet the baby party on Friday. I'm generally comfortable NIP but my parents are really uncomfortable with it so that may be interesting. My mom has been really pushing me to get a nursing cover. Anyone have tips for breastfeeding on a plane without the person next to me getting kicked?

Football hold? Can you nurse in a carrier? I never got the hand of nursing while baby wearing though.

[emmyg65]

pttomato, I sat in the window seat (my usual) and my H sat in the middle, so I had a buffer for any kicking. And it sounds like you might have high lipase for your milk--it makes it taste gross when it's frozen and then thawed. You can scald the milk before freezing.

[pttomato]

Oct 31, 2016 10:46:57 GMT -5 melody330 said:

Oct 31, 2016 8:46:26 GMT -5 pttomato said:

4) Questions/Concerns/AW?
We are flying home to visit family/for a meet the baby party on Friday. I'm generally comfortable NIP but my parents are really uncomfortable with it so that may be interesting. My mom has been really pushing me to get a nursing cover. Anyone have tips for breastfeeding on a plane without the person next to me getting kicked?

Football hold? Can you nurse in a carrier? I never got the hand of nursing while baby wearing though.

I'm kind of awkward nursing in the carrier but I may try that.

[pttomato]

Oct 31, 2016 11:36:04 GMT -5 emmyg65 said:

pttomato, I sat in the window seat (my usual) and my H sat in the middle, so I had a buffer for any kicking. And it sounds like you might have high lipase for your milk--it makes it taste gross when it's frozen and then thawed. You can scald the milk before freezing.

I'll have to try and talk DH into letting me sit by the window. Usually I sit in the middle because I am a lot smaller, but feeding DD in the middle seat with a stranger on one side seem like it could be awkward.

With high lipase, would I have to toss all my already frozen milk? I have about 75 oz in the freezer, I would be ok without it since I SAH but it would be a little sad to toss it all.

[hurricanerek]

Oct 31, 2016 16:07:16 GMT -5 pttomato said:

Oct 31, 2016 11:36:04 GMT -5 emmyg65 said:

pttomato, I sat in the window seat (my usual) and my H sat in the middle, so I had a buffer for any kicking. And it sounds like you might have high lipase for your milk--it makes it taste gross when it's frozen and then thawed. You can scald the milk before freezing.

I'll have to try and talk DH into letting me sit by the window. Usually I sit in the middle because I am a lot smaller, but feeding DD in the middle seat with a stranger on one side seem like it could be awkward.

With high lipase, would I have to toss all my already frozen milk? I have about 75 oz in the freezer, I would be ok without it since I SAH but it would be a little sad to toss it all.

No need to toss! You can try to mix the high lipase milk with some newly expressed milk and then offer. If that doesn't work, you can always donate it!

[hurricanerek]

1) How old is LO?
6 weeks

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house?
We got through the growth spurt. She just slept 9-7 with only one wake up at 4 so I'm feeling really good right now.

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH? I SAH. Pumping with the double electric was terrible. I barely got an ounce from both sides combined. I bought a manual pump the other day and used it while dd2 was nursing on the other side. 3oz!! I don't think I've ever pumped 3oz in my life and I got it from just one side. Manual pumps are magical.

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween?
She was a monster/super girl/caterpillar.

[hummingbird125]

Oops - posted in the NB thread before I saw this one

1) How old is LO? 11 weeks

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house? Breastfeeding is going fine in general - no pain, DS is gaining well enough... but the evenings and nights are killing me. He sleeps for exactly 2 hours at a time, then eats for 30 minutes all. night. long. Before bed he wants to nurse every hour, and it is still such a struggle to get him down to sleep. I consider quitting BFing every single night lately. I am ridiculously jealous of everyone who's LO sleeps longer than mine, and honestly don't know how I'm going to make it through the workday (starting Monday) without falling asleep. Help.

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH? I return to work on Monday, but I will be WFH 3x a week!

4) Questions/Concerns/AW? See question #2. How the hell to get my LO to sleep longer than 2 hour stretches? He's almost 3 mos., shouldn't he be going a liiiitle longer between feedings at night by now?

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween? We didn't get a costume for him as we had zero Halloween plans, but I'll be dressing him up next year for sure!

[LadyNymeria]

How old is LO? 7 weeks

How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house? I think pretty good. Nursing on the right still hurts at first but it's a nipple shape issue so can't really fix that. At least once he's latched it's not too bad.

Still 3-4 hour stretches between 9-10pm and 6-7am usually. A couple nights with longer stretches but they're not the norm yet.

If you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work, or are you SAH? Still only pumping maybe once a day right now. Enough to have some in the fridge or I freeze it if we don't need more in the fridge. 11/30 is my last day of leave so I'd like to find time to start pumping more to have a decent freezer stash when I go back.

Questions/concerns/AW? Do you drink coffee while nursing? Do you limit how much you have? Do you know how much coffee will affect LO? DS isn't napping much during the day no matter what I do and MH suggested maybe it was all the coffee I've been drinking.

GTKY: What is LO dressed up as for Halloween? I failed at Halloweening this year so I grabbed a giraffe costume at Target that ended up being way too big (size was 0-6 months, so big range). I had bought a knit puppy hat and diaper cover for his NB pics so I put the hat on him when we answered the door for Trick or Treaters. He was in a My First Halloween onesie all day at least.

[pttomato]

LadyNymeria DD hates napping and I avoid caffeine (in general not just for breastfeeding). She's gotten better lately so maybe it's an age thing.

[hurricanerek]

hummingbird125 I'm sorry neither of you are sleeping well. My first piece of advice is never quit breastfeeding on a bad day. It needs to be a rational decision, not one based out of sleep deprivation and frustration. At 3 months, his sleep schedule is still completely normal. You can try to feed him more frequently before bed to see if that will fill him up for longer (eat every20-30 minutes or so). Maybe others will have thoughts too. 3 months is still too early for sleep learning. However you can get a book or two now and prepare for when he is between 4 and 6 months. A book may have suggestions too. Is he in a dark room? Are you using white noise? My favorite book on the subject is SleepEasy Solution. Good luck as you start work!

LadyNymeria I'm not a coffee drinker but Diet Coke is my caffeine fix. Some people say limiting caffeine will help and others say it doesn't. Couldn't hurt to try? I limit myself to one can a day but I do that for my own health. Unfortunately he sounds like my dd1 who didn't nap no matter what I did until she was 7-8 months old. I hope he starts sleeping for you soon! Have you tried wearing him in a baby carrier for naps?

[emmyg65]

LadyNymeria, some babies are more sensitive to caffeine than others and some babies are better sleepers than others. Under 3 months, a baby should be taking about 4-5 naps a day, with awake periods of no more than about 2 hours. I normally drink one cup (12-16 oz.) of coffee a day and did that all through pregnancy and nursing.

[WittyLittle]

First check in here She's growing so fast!

1) How old is LO? 7 weeks

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house? it's been a bit tough. She fusses a lot from 5-10pm, then sleeps till 2:30, goes down ok, but then at 4 she wakes up and doesn't go down again until 7, just in time for her older brother to wake up. Growth spurts are going ok, I had a few days where balancing pumping and nursing was hard but it's getting better!

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH? That's been a bit challenging to start up. For some reason my boobs don't seem to refill as quickly as I'd like after I pump. Even 4 hours later I still feel like I'm playing catch up. Z starts fussing like she's still hungry after feeding if I've pumped that day. I have the impression though that it's getting a bit better now. Fingers crossed my body just needed to figure it out!

4) Questions/Concerns/AW? What do you guys do? Pump a few whole sessions per day or pump after each feed? With DS (21 months) running around it's been almost impossible to pump after feeds but I heard it's better for supply. Is that true or more of an old wive's tale?

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween? We live in Holland, Halloween is only just starting to get popular the last 2 or 3 years. I didn't bother because trick or treating is still not done, and DS doesn't like us fiddling with him (and DD is still so young) but next year I want to dress them up as some awesome brother sister duo. Not sure which yet though!

[pttomato]

So I think DD acts hungry when she needs to poop or is gassy or doesn't feel good for whatever reason. Should I be feeding her if I think she's not actually hungry? I'm on my 6th nursing session today and it's only 7 am...

[melody330]

WittyLittle sorry if I missed it, but why are you pumping so much?

Pumping after a nursing session will increase your supply, that's not an old wives tale at all! Your boobs are constantly making milk, and the more demand, the better the supply.

[melody330]

Nov 2, 2016 8:10:02 GMT -5 pttomato said:

So I think DD acts hungry when she needs to poop or is gassy or doesn't feel good for whatever reason. Should I be feeding her if I think she's not actually hungry? I'm on my 6th nursing session today and it's only 7 am...

This is really up to you. Anytime baby fusses i always try boob first. No matter what. DS1 was great with this and would nurse approximately one million times a day. DS2 however, will freak the hell out if he's not hungry just gassy or uncomfortable.

All that to say, if boobs fix it, keep doing it!

[hummingbird125]

Nov 2, 2016 5:39:15 GMT -5 hurricanerek said:

hummingbird125 I'm sorry neither of you are sleeping well. My first piece of advice is never quit breastfeeding on a bad day. It needs to be a rational decision, not one based out of sleep deprivation and frustration. At 3 months, his sleep schedule is still completely normal. You can try to feed him more frequently before bed to see if that will fill him up for longer (eat every20-30 minutes or so). Maybe others will have thoughts too. 3 months is still too early for sleep learning. However you can get a book or two now and prepare for when he is between 4 and 6 months. A book may have suggestions too. Is he in a dark room? Are you using white noise? My favorite book on the subject is SleepEasy Solution. Good luck as you start work!

Thanks for replying! Nah, I'm not reeally close to quitting - BFing was so hard in the beginning that I'd just feel like I wasted all that effort if I quit now! We use white noise and he's swaddled and our room is dark. Last night we tried giving him a 5oz bottle of pumped milk before bed, and he slept for 2 hours and 40 minutes, so, a little better. I like giving him bottles because I feel like he drinks more than when he breastfeeds - with the boob he seems to be happy just snacking and falling asleep before he's really full. The hard part is I can't get enough milk in one pumping session to replace what I give him, so I have to find random times throughout the day to pump. I always replace what I give him via bottle, but it's tough.

[LadyNymeria]

Nov 2, 2016 8:10:02 GMT -5 pttomato said:

So I think DD acts hungry when she needs to poop or is gassy or doesn't feel good for whatever reason. Should I be feeding her if I think she's not actually hungry? I'm on my 6th nursing session today and it's only 7 am...

DS does this too. I offer the boob and he usually takes it but when he takes a break from nursing I try to burp him and cycle his legs to see if I can fix the real problem.

[LadyNymeria]

Nov 2, 2016 7:37:36 GMT -5 emmyg65 said:

LadyNymeria, some babies are more sensitive to caffeine than others and some babies are better sleepers than others. Under 3 months, a baby should be taking about 4-5 naps a day, with awake periods of no more than about 2 hours. I normally drink one cup (12-16 oz.) of coffee a day and did that all through pregnancy and nursing.

He probably naps more than I think he does (he does get some 20-30 minute ones on me after nursing now that I think about it) but he's definitely awake more than 2 hours at a time multiple times a day.

Based on the responses here, I'm starting to lean more towards him just not being a good napper and it not being a caffeine problem.

[LadyNymeria]

Nov 2, 2016 5:39:15 GMT -5 hurricanerek said:

LadyNymeria I'm not a coffee drinker but Diet Coke is my caffeine fix. Some people say limiting caffeine will help and others say it doesn't. Couldn't hurt to try? I limit myself to one can a day but I do that for my own health. Unfortunately he sounds like my dd1 who didn't nap no matter what I did until she was 7-8 months old. I hope he starts sleeping for you soon! Have you tried wearing him in a baby carrier for naps?

The carrier is becoming my go to for when he hasn't napped in a while and I know the only reason he could be fussy is being tired. A couple minutes with him in that and he tends to pass right out.

[bocaburger]

1) How old is LO?

12 week twins

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house?

We are in the midst of a major growths part right now and it is super rough. Lots of screaming, lots of feeding. Fortunately nights are pretty good.

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH?

I SAH. I pump once or twice a day and my supply is great. I have mostly phased out the MOTN pumping session so I am dealing with a lot of engorgement and leaking in the mornings.

4) Questions/Concerns/AW?

G refuses to eat with the cover lately, and I don't feel comfortable NIP uncovered, so it's been very frustrating. Open to suggestions.

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween? Batman

[bocaburger]

hummingbird125 Could YH give some bottles overnight to let you sleep? That's what we do and it's made a huge difference for me.

LadyNymeria I was told one cup of coffee a day is fine.

[hurricanerek]

bocaburger, are comfortable with/familiar with the two short method? That's primarily how I NIP. I also will sometimes get the baby latched and then cover my breast with a blanket or scarf. This way the baby isn't covered but the rest of me is. Does that make sense?

[bocaburger]

Nov 2, 2016 19:21:21 GMT -5 hurricanerek said:

bocaburger, are comfortable with/familiar with the two short method? That's primarily how I NIP. I also will sometimes get the baby latched and then cover my breast with a blanket or scarf. This way the baby isn't covered but the rest of me is. Does that make sense?

I'd be willing to do this somewhere like the park or around female friends... but not around my male friends or around relatives. Usually when I'm NIP it's because my parents or in-laws took us out somewhere and I won't nurse in front of my ILs or dad without a cover.

[NJgirl84]

1) 10 weeks tomorrow

2) going well, I didn't think I would still be here. The combination feeding is working for us now and I'm still taking it day by day. We do mostly bottles during the day and I pump 1-2x and I nurse once or twice overnight with a bottle thrown in if needed. I find nursing goes better when there is a longer time between sessions.

3) I'm pumping just to make up for some of the bottles and to keep my supply. For now it's working, but as I said before I'm taking this day by day.

4) no

5) the toddler was a firefighter and the baby was a Dalmatian.

[WittyLittle]

Nov 2, 2016 8:21:07 GMT -5 melody330 said:

WittyLittle sorry if I missed it, but why are you pumping so much?

Pumping after a nursing session will increase your supply, that's not an old wives tale at all! Your boobs are constantly making milk, and the more demand, the better the supply.

I'm already back at work so having to pump or 2-3 feeds per day  Thanks for the info! I still wonder exactly how the boobs know that they're empty and therefore need to start producing more. It's fascinating, really!

[jennybeans]

1) How old is LO? 9 weeks

2) How's it going? Getting through growth spurts okay? How do nights look at your house?
Going pretty well. Not looking forward to the 12 week growth spurt but hoping I get the same reward as from the 6 week one - a couple really good nights of sleep! She wakes 2 times with ~4-5 hr stretches. Bedtime has been becoming more difficult lately and I think we may be napping too close to bedtime.

3) if you're pumping, how's that going? When are you returning to work or are you SAH?
Pumping occasionally after the morning feed. Maybe 1-2 times per week at this point. Returning to work 1/3 and planning to have her start daycare part time during the last week of December so I'll get more serious in December about pumping for a little stash.

4) Questions/Concerns/AW?
Nothing I can think of

5) GTKY- What is LO dressed up as for Halloween?
Wore a pumpkin pajama outfit for pics with big brother. I'm not huge into Halloween..