12/5 Newborn Check In

[lilyelayne]

Welcome! Please join us!


How old is LO?

How's everything going?

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share?

Is this your first experience with BF?

GTKY: do you send holiday/Christmas/New Years cards?

[peaseblossom55]

Hi, I hope it's ok I just joined in on the check in.

How old is LO? 6 weeks tomorrow (35 weeks 2 days adjusted)

How's everything going? My daughter is in the NICU right now, since I'm back at work H & I only go to see her for long weekends since the NICU is more than an hour away. She has a feeding tube still in her nose, she is now working on the BF/bottle feeding. She latched for the first time we tried on Saturday, it went well. I was surprised how strong her sucking was it almost hurt but didn't. I guess I didn't know what to expect. The second time she latched she just had my nipple in her mouth and fell asleep. Although she was already being fed my breast milk by the tube through her nose at that point.

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share? Since she is just learning to suck/swallow/breathe I don't know if there is anything else I can go given the limited time I am around her right now to foster her continue learning to feed and preferring breast over bottle.

Is this your first experience with BF? Yes

GTKY: do you send holiday/Christmas/New Years cards? Normally yes, but I am too tired and too busy to right now.

[littlelion]

How old is LO? DS#2 is 6 days old

How's everything going? Good. He latched without any issues. My supply looks like it's good too. I'm still a bit awkward positioning him.

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share? Burping is hit or miss. So spit up happens.

Is this your first experience with BF? No. DS#1 was bf too except I pumped for about 4 wks (he was preemie). Getting ds#2 straight to the boob it's like I'm a newbie.

GTKY: I try. I really want to do christmas cards this year as a birth announcement too.

[lilyelayne]

peaseblossom55 welcome! So excited your daughter is strong enough to try latching; that's an amazing step for her. Likely the best thing you can do right now is keep your supply up by pumping. Sending you so much admiration and strength for pumping & starting to nurse & being at work & all of your preemie parenting ups and downs, feeding related or not. (My niece was born at 27 weeks so I have some small familiarity and so so much admiration for preemie parents.)
For most parents supplementing with a bottle in the newborn weeks, my advice is
-make sure baby is fed with paced feeding techniques
-consider alternate methods such as cup feeding, finger feeding, or supplemental nursing system -- bottle feeding uses different muscles and a different sucking technique than nursing.
But there are different considerations with your little, so these are things to discuss with your nicu team if interested.

[lilyelayne]

Congrats & welcome littlelion!

[peaseblossom55]

Dec 6, 2016 8:45:55 GMT -5 lilyelayne said:

peaseblossom55 welcome! So excited your daughter is strong enough to try latching; that's an amazing step for her. Likely the best thing you can do right now is keep your supply up by pumping. Sending you so much admiration and strength for pumping & starting to nurse & being at work & all of your preemie parenting ups and downs, feeding related or not. (My niece was born at 27 weeks so I have some small familiarity and so so much admiration for preemie parents.)
For most parents supplementing with a bottle in the newborn weeks, my advice is
-make sure baby is fed with paced feeding techniques
-consider alternate methods such as cup feeding, finger feeding, or supplemental nursing system -- bottle feeding uses different muscles and a different sucking technique than nursing.
But there are different considerations with your little, so these are things to discuss with your nicu team if interested.

Thank you so much!!!

ETA: My supply is like crap but I'm keeping up with the regular pumping still.

[cheshie6]

I'm excited for this check in and board!

How old is LO? He is 4 days old!

How's everything going? I'm feeling inadequate and I feel like everything's wrong! He fusses before eating and while eating. I have flat nipples and am currently using a nipple guard.

Q/C/cute stories? See above! He does hum/make noise to himself when he's contently nursing! It just takes 20-30 minutes to get there.

Is this your first experience with BF? Yes!!

GTKY: do you send holiday/Christmas/New Years cards? I do and love them! We're getting Christmas themed newborn photos done today for this specific purpose!

[melody330]

cheshie6 congrats on your LO! I'm sorry you're feeling that way. Is it just because he fussed so much during his feedings?

FWIW both my boys were/are noisy nursers. EVERYONE comments on it. DS2 grunts, gulps, squeaks and flails until I get a letdown.

I see your only 4 days PP. Your milk is likely transitioning in, moving from heavy thick colostrum
To awesome milk. Both my boys spit and sputtered and had a difficult time until my milk regulated in a few weeks.

Keep doing what you're doing- it all sound perfectly normal for 4 days old!

If you want, try some different nursing positions. Sometimes laid back nursing helped with my over active letdown and DS2's gulping.

[lilyelayne]

cheshie6 welcome! Diaper output is the best at home indicator that baby is getting enough milk. Your mature milk (as opposed to colostrum) should be coming in soon if it hasn't already, then you want to see 6+ wet diapers and 3-4+ dirty diapers in 24 hours. That means baby is getting enough! Remember the world is new and big and overwhelming so fussing is normal. Offer to nurse at early signs of hunger, such as rooting, bringing hands to mouth to see if that helps. Or like melody you may have a noisy baby ;-)

kellymom.com/hot-topics/newborn-nursing/

[buckyb]

Hi! Jumping in with a question.

How old is LO? 14 days old

How's everything going? Overall, things are going well. We had a rocky start with latching but we've figured it out.

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share? DS doesn't always nurse from both breasts. I usually offer one, burp, change diaper, and offer second. I've tried to wake him but he doesn't seem to always want to second side. So, do I try harder to wake him, pump the second side, or just wait it out until his next feeding? He typically eats every 2-2.5 hours.

Is this your first experience with BF? No but I feel like a newbie some days!

GTKY: do you send holiday/Christmas/New Years cards? I usually send them out but I'm slacking this year.

[melody330]

buckyb welcome! Congrats on your LO.

Your current routine sounds fine to me so long as baby doesn't have any health issues (no weight gain, jaundice...).

Both my boys were one side nursers from early on too. The nurse at the pedi always told me they needed to take both sides.....but they never did.

I would not pump for this situation. Just start on the other side next session.