Breastfeeding/Pumping Check-In 5/2/17

[dancerspose]

Welcome to the breastfeeding and pumping check-in. Please tag dancerspose to join the check-in, change your info, and for general updates.

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: Purely because I'm curious - those of you with older babies, when did you start introducing solids/what did you start with?

lilyharper
Little Man born early October
BF once/day

bostongirl617
Baby BostonBoy born 10/17
BF
Goal: Night wean soon...please!

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

bluefairy5
Wee Fairy born 10/26/15
NOD at home

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

nikiswimr
Little E was born 1/26/16.
NOD
Goal: KOKO as long as she wants

megrae12
Superman was born at 35 weeks on Feb 24th
BF
Goal: Wean down to about 2/day

daydreamsam
Baby born Mar 21
BF
Goal: drop from 5 to 4 sessions during the day this week and cut out 1 night feed

westiemom
Baby O born 4/20/16
BF, occasional pumped bottle
Goal: A year definitely, maybe longer

@wanderlust
LO born 5/31/16
NOD at home, pumping at work
Goal: Breast feed up to a year

katelm
LO born 7/18
BF, pumping at work
Goal: a year, depending on FET

disneykate
Emma was born 7/19
NOD at home, pumping at work
Goal: a year

@tikoberry99
M born July 2016
BF
Goal: wean by 18 months for FET

bocaburger
Twins were born 8/10
Combo feeding

remylove1011
DD born 8/25
BF, pumping at work
Goal: a year

karabear4409
DS2 born 9/12
NOD, bottle before bed
Goal: a year

mg0202
DS born 10/6
BF, pumping at work, a little formula
Goal: 1 year
Congrats on 6 months!!

peaseblossom55
E born 10/25
Combo feeding, pumping
Goal: Made it to 6 months, now month to month

emilie
DD born December 2016
Combo feeding
Goals: Make it to 6 months, and continue to increase the amount from the breast if possible!

dancerspose
Baby girl Z was born 1/20
EP
Goal: KOKO until 6 months

turquoisequeen
DD born on 2/15
EBF and pumping once a day right now to try to also build a small stash
Goal: a year

.
LO born 3/23
Pumping, nursing & supplementing

[peaseblossom55]

Success- Nothing in particular at the moment

Challenges- I am finding myself thinking more and more about stopping. The older she gets the more formula she needs because my supply can't keep up. Although we will be starting some solids after meeting with her pedi on Friday,

Goals- Goal is to get to the end of May

[bocaburger]

Thanks dancerspose! I guess you can stop tagging me, but I'll continue to lurk.

We are officially weaning, although I'm going to try to keep the morning session going as long as possible (although at this point, they nurse very eagerly and then are crying for a bottle 20 minutes later, which is pretty disheartening). I am mostly at peace with it. I'm disappointed we couldn't make it to a year, and I'll miss the closeness and knowing I can give them something that no one else can. But I'm really proud we made it this far. They are healthy and strong and I know they will be fine.

I feel physically terrible (fatigue, headaches, palpitations) which I'm guessing/ hoping is just hormonal and will end once I've weaned. I'm dreading my period SO MUCH and I kind of just want it to arrive so I can get it over with.

Thank you so much to everyone here for your constant support and tips throughout this journey!

QOTW: We started solids around 5 months. I make my own purees and started with sweet potatoes, oatmeal, banana, and avocado.

[westiemom]

Thanks shafwilson!!

-Successes: we dropped another feed so we are down to 2. It is nice to have some freedom during the day and DD is doing well.

-Challenges: I miss the cuddles so much and am struggling to come to terms with weaning my baby. I'm doing a lot better though. I'm proud of us and am trying hard to reflect on the fact that we made it over a year and not focus on the fact that we are ending. I can't decide whether to drop morning or evening next....any suggestions?

-New goals: I'm debating holding on to one session for awhile. I can't decide if I should just bite the bullet and be done or hold on to one.

QOTW: 5.5 months and mashed avocado.

[westiemom]

May 2, 2017 11:04:31 GMT -5 bocaburger said:

Thanks dancerspose! I guess you can stop tagging me, but I'll continue to lurk.

We are officially weaning, although I'm going to try to keep the morning session going as long as possible (although at this point, they nurse very eagerly and then are crying for a bottle 20 minutes later, which is pretty disheartening). I am mostly at peace with it. I'm disappointed we couldn't make it to a year, and I'll miss the closeness and knowing I can give them something that no one else can. But I'm really proud we made it this far. They are healthy and strong and I know they will be fine.

I feel physically terrible (fatigue, headaches, palpitations) which I'm guessing/ hoping is just hormonal and will end once I've weaned. I'm dreading my period SO MUCH and I kind of just want it to arrive so I can get it over with.

Thank you so much to everyone here for your constant support and tips throughout this journey!

QOTW: We started solids around 5 months. I make my own purees and started with sweet potatoes, oatmeal, banana, and avocado.

Hugs girl. The feelings you are having are the same as me if that helps. I blame weaning hormones. Some moments are worse than others. My PP involved a lot of bleeding but it only lasted a few days.

[Martinis&Medicine]

Hello! I'd love to join the check in!

My son was born in October and is 6 months old. We have EBF the whole time.
Unfortunately he does not take a bottle and is such a distracted nurse that if there is anything going on he'd rather starve than eat. But we have made it this far and our goal is to make it to 1 year.

[karabear4409]

We have made it 7.5 months! We both have been sick, so nursing has been a bit difficult. But, we are KOKO.

DH is encouraging me to wean. I need to go on some medications that aren't compatible with BF. I'm not ready to quit though, and DH has a hard time understanding that.

QOTW: we started purees at six months. We mostly did BLW with DS1, but DS2 doesn't have much interest in it. He looooves purees though!

[rainbowbridge14]

peaseblossom55 Good luck starting solids!

bocaburger and westiemom Huge hugs for the hormone changes! They are the worst!

Martinis&Medicine Welcome back!

karabear4409 I am sorry your H doesn't get your desire to keep going. That has to be a tough decision.


Successes: I am back from a 5 day solo trip with M. We nursed a ton, especially on the plane. We hadn't NIP that much in a while and she did really well with it.

Challenges: no major BF related challenges.

I am trying to think of a tip but my brain is fried.

QOTW: We started a 6 months with BLW. First food was avocado, then banana, the cooked sweet potato. My kid refused all purees until much older and preferred to feed herself so it worked for us.

[bocaburger]

Oh I forgot to ask - I would love some sort of "souvenir" from our breastfeeding experience. I know there is breastmilk jewelry but I imagine it is expensive. Is there anything you can do with a picture of you breastfeeding? Any other ideas?

[bluefairy5]

dancerspose Thanks for the checkin!

bocaburger Major congratulations on accomplishing this with twins. Nursing one baby for that long takes enough effort, two is really something. I do hope the hormonal shifts even out for you soon. If you're not sure about the cause, though, can't hurt to call your OB? There's an app called (I think?) PicsArt (it was on my phone, but WF appears to have deleted it...) that has a pretty filter that's popular for BF photos. If it isn't PicsArt, maybe it's PicArt. They were flying around FB for a while.

karabear4409 I'm sorry your H is having a hard time understanding, especially after all the effort you put in to make this BF relationship successful.


Rolling along over here. I'm starting to try limiting the length of her nursing session at bedtime (not that it's ever a particularly consistent duration) but TBH I'm not being very dedicated about it. Almost more like I'm testing the waters. So far going with stuff like warning her we're almost done nursing for the night, then wrapping up. But I guess if I want her to get used to this, I should be doing it every night. (I didn't do it tonight, for instance.)

QOTW: We started at 5.5 months, since she was showing major interest (had been thinking we'd wait until 6 months based on current recommendations). We started with avocado, then sweet potato, then I think banana, all mashed at home. I made her purees for a while, which was fun.

[megrae12]

Hi all! Sorry I've been MIA. It's be tough in my household the last few weeks.

We've made it 14 months!! And we are down to two sessions per day. He is almost dropping his nap session so we may be heading to one.

I feel like he is weaning and I dunno how I feel. Part of me is ready to me done, because it's been so long since I had my body back, but at the same time, baby cuddles. So yeah conundrum city over here.

QOTW: 5.75 months and bananas and advocado

[katelm]

She's 9.5 months and still mostly EBF, getting some solids 3x a day. Feeding (more like chugging) 2x a night.

No challenges at the moment fortunately! A nice relief from having all challenges possible for the first 3 months of bf. I'm currently freezing about 4oz a day so hopefully I can give her bmilk in a cup instead of cows milk once she has eventually weened.

My new goal is to bf to at least 15 months

QOTW: 6 months, avocado, sweet potato & banana

[karabear4409]

DS2 has gotten to where he only nurses 2-3 minutes per side. He takes the first side, pulls of frustrated like he's ready to switch. Eats for 2-3 minutes on the next side and is ready to take off. This is just because he's really efficient now and distracted, right? I am kind of freaking out because he lost 3 oz in five days. He's almost 8 months.

[disneykate]

dancerspose, Thanks for the check-in!
peaseblossom55, I am sorry you are still having issues with your supply. Good luck starting solids.
bocaburger, Good for you for making it this far with twins! You are a rockstar!
westiemom, Maybe drop the bedtime feed next unless she needs that to fall asleep. Then DH or you could do the bedtime routine and get in cuddles with a bedtime story and then you get more cuddles in the morning during the morning feed.
Martinis&Medicine, Welcome to the check-in!
karabear4409, I think he can get a fair amount of milk in the short amount of time he is feeding. My DD often is only on each side for 5-8 minutes. If she is on longer its usually because she has fallen asleep and is using me as a pacifier. Do your boobs feel empty after he eats?
rainbowbridge14, Kudos to you for getting through a solo trip with M in tow.
bluefairy5, Good luck shortening the bedtime session.
megrae12, Sorry for your loss.
katelm, Glad all is going well

Emma is 9.5 months and we are still going strong with 4-5 feeds per day. We were on a cruise last week so I had to NIP more than normal. She didn't fight the cover too much and we didn't get any rude comments, so all went well. I really enjoyed breastfeeding her on our balcony and enjoying the ocean view at the same time.

QOTW: I gave her some rice cereal at 5.5 months but that made her constipated. We started purees at 6 months. Some of the first purees we did were bananas, avocados, sweet potato, peas, pears, and applesauce.

[bocaburger]

May 4, 2017 8:34:12 GMT -5 karabear4409 said:

DS2 has gotten to where he only nurses 2-3 minutes per side. He takes the first side, pulls of frustrated like he's ready to switch. Eats for 2-3 minutes on the next side and is ready to take off. This is just because he's really efficient now and distracted, right? I am kind of freaking out because he lost 3 oz in five days. He's almost 8 months.

Could you do a weighted feed to see how much he's getting? Did he recently get more mobile? How often is he eating? How much solids does he eat?

Losing weight is generally a sign that he needs more food, but there could be a lot of factors.

Have you tried nursing him in a dark quiet room without any distractions? Does he nurse longer that way?

[rainbowbridge14]

May 4, 2017 8:34:12 GMT -5 karabear4409 said:

DS2 has gotten to where he only nurses 2-3 minutes per side. He takes the first side, pulls of frustrated like he's ready to switch. Eats for 2-3 minutes on the next side and is ready to take off. This is just because he's really efficient now and distracted, right? I am kind of freaking out because he lost 3 oz in five days. He's almost 8 months.

That age was full of distracted nursing! Nursing in a dark quiet room helped us but I know that isn't always possible.

I second asking how mobile he is. M has lost weight at various points when she got mobile or learned a new skill.

[karabear4409]

disneykate my boobs do feel empty, so that's a good sign!

bocaburger - I haven't done a weighted feed since he was about 2 months old, but I could schedule an appt if I was concerned enough. He eats every 1.5-2 hours during he day and 1-2 times at night. He currently eats 3-4 oz of purees at lunch time and 6-7 oz of purees at dinner. I actually haven't tired nursing him in a dark room. I guess I need to try that....it seems so obvious, I'm not sure why I didn't think of that.

rainbowbridge14 in the last month, he has started crawling non stop and pulling up on everything. He spends 90% of his awake time moving. So, that would make a lot of sense.