0-1mo: What is something about your newborn(s) that surprised you?
1-3mo: Nursing in public: questions, experiences, anecdotes?
If you're pumping, how is that going? When are you returning to work, or are you SAH?
GTKY: do you have a comfort book/movie/tv show you ready for when you're down? What is it?
LO is 5 days old It seems to be going well, trying to stay on top of water intake and offering feeding every 2 he during the day.
He is pretty laid back so far as long as he gets milk often.
Not a huge TV fan and with a toddler and newborn, I can't read anything more than an article.
Question: I feel new. Do you offer each breast at every feeding or alternate breasts? LO pulls back a lot on my nipple, what could be causing this? Im working on his latch because he likes to pull in bottom lip. My nipples are pretty sore. Any tips for a good latch?
At this age I would offer both breasts, but it's okay if he doesn't take both. Sometimes newborns are so sleepy it's hard to get them to take both. A common strategy is to change diaper between sides to wake him up. That'll help if he actually is still hungry.
I'm assuming your milk is in and LO is having 5-6+ wet diapers and 3-4+ dirty diapers in 24 hours. If not,please correct me :-)
Pulling back at the nipple is likely trying to slow an overwhelmingly fast flow. Nursing uphill, so your milk has to flow against gravity, can help. Football position or laid back positioning is good for this. Side lying sometimes helps because gravity helps the extra milk dribble out the side of LO's mouth instead of straight down his throat. But sometimes side lying is tricky with a little floppy newborn and engorged breasts.
You can also try nursing until let down starts (which is likely when the pulling starts) then unlatching. If milk is spraying everywhere, let it flow into a towel/burp rag or a cup. When the flow slows or stops, relatch baby.
If you've been reading all this and thinking, no Lily, that doesn't sound like my situation at all, the other common culprit of pulling the nipple is acting out to get a letdown (the initial letdown faster or a second or third letdown.) Breast compressions can help speed the flow until letdown happens. If you feel he's gotten a good amount from that breast already, switch to the other breast. It's okay to go back and forth between breasts until he is satisfied. I wouldn't expect this to be the culprit at Day 5 if your milk is in, but I wanted to throw it out there just in case.
Make sure LO has room to tilt head back when accepting breast. Tickle his nose with your nipple until he opens wide. Push your breast into his mouth and roll your nipple in last. He should have a big mouthful of breast, and your nipple should be aimed at the roof of his mouth. It's an offset latch, not directly centered on your nipple/areola. Make sure baby's nose is clear to breathe, which it should be if he tilted his head back to accept breast. Look at lips. They should be flanged outward over your breast, not tucked in. LO will have his tongue out over his gums; you may be able to feel it on the underside of your nipple, especially as he gets things situated in his mouth before settling in to nurse.
I found it helpful to think of pushing on LO's chin with the underside of my breast when he opened wide, to keep his mouth open as I rolled breast & nipple into mouth. This may also hold his lower lip flanged appropriately. Your partner/support person might can help hold chin in open position. It's okay to need 4 hands to latch at first, if 4 hands are available.
Some women find holding boob like a sandwich can help LO get an appropriate mouthful when they are still small. If you have inverted nipples, this may cause your nipple to retreat further into your breast, which isn't ideal. If cradle or cross cradle is giving you issues, try football or laid back.
Make sure LO's body is totally against yours and well supported. So baby's tummy & thighs should be against you as much as possible. This keeps a sleepy baby from relaxing, body weight pulling away from you, thereby pulling to a shallow latch. Baby should relax into you, not away.
Bring the baby to the breast, not the breast to the baby. So don't lean down; instead, put more pillows under baby or your arm to bring baby up. You don't want to get a good latch and then have to sit up or straighten up for your comfort and mess up the latch!
If you need to try again, slip a finger in the corner of LO's mouth between gums to break suction, remove nipple, try again.
If LO is too distracted, flailing, etc you can swaddle to nurse. Provided of course that LO is not too sleepy. Some lactation support people recommend against this, as baby uses hands to find breast, stimulate letdown, increase prolactin, etc but if it's the only way baby will nurse, do what works.
lilyelayne wow!! Thank you so much. It certainly does sound like I have the overactive letdown. I will try those tips for sure. I also appreciate the latch advice, there were a couple things you mentioned I haven't yet tried. I appreciate you providing so much to me!
One more question: his poop is the mustard yellow and seedy. He typically has a bowel movement each feeding. It Stella's very foul though, I don't remember my DD having a smell. Is this normal and baby dependent?
One more question: his poop is the mustard yellow and seedy. He typically has a bowel movement each feeding. It Stella's very foul though, I don't remember my DD having a smell. Is this normal and baby dependent?
As far as I know that's baby dependent. Hard stools or blood in stool are flags at this age but I haven't heard smell. You can always mention the smell at LO's next pedi visit.
One more question: his poop is the mustard yellow and seedy. He typically has a bowel movement each feeding. It Stella's very foul though, I don't remember my DD having a smell. Is this normal and baby dependent?
As far as I know that's baby dependent. Hard stools or blood in stool are flags at this age but I haven't heard smell. You can always mention the smell at LO's next pedi visit.
Perfect. Thanks so much for your help. Did you all move to another forum?
As far as I know that's baby dependent. Hard stools or blood in stool are flags at this age but I haven't heard smell. You can always mention the smell at LO's next pedi visit.
Perfect. Thanks so much for your help. Did you all move to another forum?
Make sure LO has room to tilt head back when accepting breast. Tickle his nose with your nipple until he opens wide. Push your breast into his mouth and roll your nipple in last. He should have a big mouthful of breast, and your nipple should be aimed at the roof of his mouth. It's an offset latch, not directly centered on your nipple/areola. Make sure baby's nose is clear to breathe, which it should be if he tilted his head back to accept breast. Look at lips. They should be flanged outward over your breast, not tucked in. LO will have his tongue out over his gums; you may be able to feel it on the underside of your nipple, especially as he gets things situated in his mouth before settling in to nurse.
I found it helpful to think of pushing on LO's chin with the underside of my breast when he opened wide, to keep his mouth open as I rolled breast & nipple into mouth. This may also hold his lower lip flanged appropriately. Your partner/support person might can help hold chin in open position. It's okay to need 4 hands to latch at first, if 4 hands are available.
Some women find holding boob like a sandwich can help LO get an appropriate mouthful when they are still small. If you have inverted nipples, this may cause your nipple to retreat further into your breast, which isn't ideal. If cradle or cross cradle is giving you issues, try football or laid back.
Make sure LO's body is totally against yours and well supported. So baby's tummy & thighs should be against you as much as possible. This keeps a sleepy baby from relaxing, body weight pulling away from you, thereby pulling to a shallow latch. Baby should relax into you, not away.
Bring the baby to the breast, not the breast to the baby. So don't lean down; instead, put more pillows under baby or your arm to bring baby up. You don't want to get a good latch and then have to sit up or straighten up for your comfort and mess up the latch!
If you need to try again, slip a finger in the corner of LO's mouth between gums to break suction, remove nipple, try again.
If LO is too distracted, flailing, etc you can swaddle to nurse. Provided of course that LO is not too sleepy. Some lactation support people recommend against this, as baby uses hands to find breast, stimulate letdown, increase prolactin, etc but if it's the only way baby will nurse, do what works.
Hope this was helpful.
lindsay sorry to not make a whole new post for latch tips. I'm out of town & phone time is limited. The quoted post may be helpful. Especially tickling nose/upper lip with your nipple until LO tilts his/her head back and opens mouth, hopefully wide.
Then Comes Family, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.