Lo is 3 weeks this coming Saturday. I feel like we just went through a growth spurt-maybe early. Bfing was really difficult for me to get used to at first but now I am enjoying it. My favorite thing is the bond I feel with baby girl while doing it. I feel like she has been stuffing herself lately and then spitting up some. Especially in the morning when my boobs are really full. I hope that the spitting up isn't a sign of being over full and hurting her tummy. I've been trying to burp her more during her feedings to give her a break for her tummy to catch up and for her to recognize she is full but she always shows signs that she still needs more. Short term I'd like to get to a point where I can pump and let someone else feed her so DH and I can go out together and so he can get in on feedings (especially motn ones would be great!). Long term I'd like to breastfeed until at least 6 months.
I feel like she has been stuffing herself lately and then spitting up some. Especially in the morning when my boobs are really full. I hope that the spitting up isn't a sign of being over full and hurting her tummy. I've been trying to burp her more during her feedings to give her a break for her tummy to catch up and for her to recognize she is full but she always shows signs that she still needs more.
Z does that more in the morning too. Leaning back seems to help some, but he still does it.
Post by billyhorrible on Jul 16, 2015 19:46:07 GMT -5
mathistm - I think it might be an immature digestive system thing. BH spit up about 30% of the time I fed him, until about 3 days ago. He hasn't spit up since Sunday night/Monday morning around 2:15am.
Of course, now that I typed that, I'm sure I will be covered in spitup from hair to boob at some point in the next 12 hours.
How old is LO? 4 weeks exactly. Do you feel like you're dealing with a growth spurt right now? Not really... I think it was a couple of days ago. Although LO is still rooting roughly every hour, I can sometimes distract her for a while... Sometimes I think she is just comfort nursing... She falls asleep at the boob a lot. What's going well/ what's your favorite thing about BFing? When she just stares at me like I am her whole world. Any questions or concerns? Just the constant rooting... She's gaining weight, so I don't think it is a supply issue... Also just recently she has started almost fighting the boob, pulling and thrashing while still attached... I don't know what that is about. Do you have any short-term or long-term BF goals? I would love to make it one year.
Post by Girlymama79 on Jul 16, 2015 20:13:46 GMT -5
How old is LO? 4 weeks
Do you feel like you're dealing with a growth spurt right now? no
What's going well/ what's your favorite thing about BFing? it's easy for me. The foods always ready. Snuggles.
Do you have any short-term or long-term BF goals? I don't want to set a bf goal. With dd1 my goal was a year and I lost my milk when she was 3 months. I felt like I failed. With dd2 I made no goals and she self weaned at 10 months so I felt like we did awesome.
budders so sorry about the sore nipples. FX the LC helps a lot. bookninja my little guy has been doing the pulling and thrashing while latched as well. I might ask the LC we worked with the other day about that because it's frustrating. pghtruelove if you want to start a stash, what your doing now isn't such a bad idea. Morning is typically when supply is highest and LO is already fed at that time. I didn't realize you wanted to keep pumping at that time, but if so that should work fine.
Do you feel like you're dealing with a growth spurt right now? No, and I'm nervous every day of when the 3 week spurt is coming because it hasn't yet. I can't fathom that it has happened and I just didn't realize.
What's going well/ what's your favorite thing about BFing? Oh, it is a MILLION times better than with DS1. I had every issue with him and this time am just battling oversupply. I'm so relieved. The ease of BFing is great, especially being out and about all the time with DS1 having the food supply ready anytime is a major convenience.
Any questions or concerns? Not really. I'm not sure if I'm going to have high lipase issues again and that will be a major PITA if I do, scalding everything I pump is a ton of work when I might not even use it. But I am managing the oversupply better, too, so I might not have as much to deal with that way.
Do you have any short-term or long-term BF goals? I nursed DS1 for two years. Part of me wants to do that again, a selfish part of me wants to be done earlier because it is such a commitment. I definitely want to have a third and I feel guilty about wanting to be done BFing earlier than 2 years so that we can get pregnant again (my supply dried up as soon as I got pregnant with DS2) and not have quite the age gap as we do with these two. We'll see, I might not be able to keep it up that long. A year would be great though.
I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a growth spurt. She's been extra fussy since Sunday and wants to nurse every hour or less, especially in the evening.
We've taken to breastfeeding pretty well. I love how quickly I can get her to calm down. No need to wait to prepare a bottle.
We just started one 2 oz bottle per day to get her used to it before I return to work. I noticed today I must have high lipase, because the milk tasted soapy after I tested some that dropped on my hand from the bottle. Baby girl didn't seem to mind, so hopefully it doesn't become a problem. Scalding will be a real pain.
Short term goals are to make it through this growth spurt.
Long term goal is at least a year to avoid buying formula.
Hey ladies - I'm having serious tooth issues and even went to the dr yesterday thinking it might be a sinus infection. She didn't think it was and a very uncomfortable and restless night with my face/tooth throbbing leads me to believe it's actually my tooth. My Dr yesterday seemed unsure/uncomfortable with giving me antibiotics since she didn't think it was a sinus infection. I'm not planning to demand medications so please don't tell me about creating immunity to meds from using them when you don't need them I just wanted to know what antibiotics you all have been on for mastitis so I know for future reference? The only one she saw was the z-pack which does terrible things to my digestive system :/ TIA. Hopefully off to the dentist soon.
Oh! And I was even able to successfully pump my first bottle so I can leave Owen at home.
Does anyone else feel a flicking motion while LO nurses? I can't really tell what he's doing - maybe rubbing his gums back and forth over the nipple. If he's just flicking his tongue, it's very aggressively. He's also been thrashing his head around a ton while latched and latching and unlatching. Are either of these a sign of a problem? My nipples aren't sore in general, but it's irritating while he's doing it.
Does anyone else feel a flicking motion while LO nurses? I can't really tell what he's doing - maybe rubbing his gums back and forth over the nipple. If he's just flicking his tongue, it's very aggressively. He's also been thrashing his head around a ton while latched and latching and unlatching. Are either of these a sign of a problem? My nipples aren't sore in general, but it's irritating while he's doing it.
dogmama22 baby girl does the same thing-the tongue flicking it seems like-sometimes it almost tickles me-which makes me feel like a creep haha. She is also doing the head thrashing. I haven't had any issues with soreness or her not getting enough but it can be frustrating-especially at night. I chalked the head thrashing up to over excitement. I feel like I also have very soft/plyable? Nipples so I sometimes feel like she doesn't recognize that it is in her mouth if that makes sense.
wormgerm that was my original thought, but he does it more at night than in the morning and I would think if that were the case, he would do it more when my supply is highest. mathistm sometimes it's that light tickly feeling (and I kinda feel like a creep too,) but this is a different, uncomfortable feeling.
Does anyone else feel a flicking motion while LO nurses? I can't really tell what he's doing - maybe rubbing his gums back and forth over the nipple. If he's just flicking his tongue, it's very aggressively. He's also been thrashing his head around a ton while latched and latching and unlatching. Are either of these a sign of a problem? My nipples aren't sore in general, but it's irritating while he's doing it.
It sounds like he's instigating another letdown of your milk. It's a faster flickering feeling followed by the typical suck once he gets the letdown. The whole breastfeeding process and communication between babe and breast is really kind of magical.
LO is 4 weeks old tomorrow. We were at the pediatrician Tay because he has got some reflux issues, and he weighed in at 10lbs. He was 8lbs 4oz at birth, so we're pretty pleased with his growth!
I am enjoying bonding with LO- we have recently switched to pumping and feeding bottles during the day at our pediatricians suggestion. This is allowing us to add a very small amount of rice cereal to my breast milk to help combat the reflux. I feel like I've been able to bond with him even more while bottle feeding (as weird as that sounds) because I am not stressing about latching/position as much and we get lots of great eye contact.
My question is this: will my breast milk supply increase as LOs need increases? I've been reading the guidelines that my pediatricians office puts out, and the oz he is supposed to consume in a day rapidly increase over the next few weeks. I am concerned that I'm only able to pump about 2oz every few hours. Is this better suited for SQS? Haha! Also, are guidelines for formula intake the same guidelines for breast milk? It's so hard to know how much he is getting when we're pumping and BFing...
wormgerm that was my original thought, but he does it more at night than in the morning and I would think if that were the case, he would do it more when my supply is highest. mathistm sometimes it's that light tickly feeling (and I kinda feel like a creep too,) but this is a different, uncomfortable feeling.
Is it almost a clicking sensation? My LO does that and it's really uncomfortable. Their mouths are damn strong!
And I know mine is not trying to instigate another let down, because my milk always flows like crazy.
wormgerm that was my original thought, but he does it more at night than in the morning and I would think if that were the case, he would do it more when my supply is highest. mathistm sometimes it's that light tickly feeling (and I kinda feel like a creep too,) but this is a different, uncomfortable feeling.
Is it almost a clicking sensation? My LO does that and it's really uncomfortable. Their mouths are damn strong!
And I know mine is not trying to instigate another let down, because my milk always flows like crazy.
Post by ravinraven216 on Jul 17, 2015 20:47:13 GMT -5
LO is 5 weeks 4 days.
J ate every hour between 6pm and 1am, so I'm suspecting there's a growth spurt going on. If I was growing at the same rate he is, I'd be ravenous, too.
We've had a lot of ups and downs and more downs than ups. The LC I saw on Tuesday helped me get him in a cross cradle on the right, which I haven't been able to do on my own, leading to agonizing nursing sessions and a rather heated argument between me and DH. New plan is to pump that side at night and practice with it during the day when I'm more alert and coordinated until we get it down better. LO loves the left boob and knows how to be a gentleman on that side. He can even rematch himself properly most of the time.
I'm taking breastfeeding one week at a time, but I'd like to make it through at least the first 6 months.
ETA: pumped the first block feeding session on the right and managed a mostly successful feeding on the problem boob at 4:30. Hooray for small victories!
My question is this: will my breast milk supply increase as LOs need increases? I've been reading the guidelines that my pediatricians office puts out, and the oz he is supposed to consume in a day rapidly increase over the next few weeks. I am concerned that I'm only able to pump about 2oz every few hours. Is this better suited for SQS? Haha! Also, are guidelines for formula intake the same guidelines for breast milk? It's so hard to know how much he is getting when we're pumping and BFing...
This is actually a really good question for the Exclusive Pumping forum (a sub-group of the breastfeeding forum). Pumping on a set schedule won't increase your supply as his needs increase, but they can give you a better read/advice on how to keep up with his needs.
I'm a little concerned about the info your pediatrician is giving you. #1 the use of rice cereal for reflux is pretty controversial. There are studies showing that it stops the spitting up, but doesn't actually stop the reflux, and it can lead to food allergies and an increase in respiratory infections. One of my friend's son had reflux, I'll email her tomorrow and ask what they did about it.
Also, whatever "guidelines" the office is giving you regarding consumption of ounces is really really bad. Consumption of ounces in a day doesn't change. It remains the same, around 24-25oz. in a day basically forever. What changes is how often they feed, which in turn changes how many ounces they take at a time. In general, a baby first does 10-12 feedings a day (2oz) and maxes out around 6 feedings a day (4oz).
You don't really need to know "how much he's getting" as long as he has wet diapers during the day, he's getting enough. In terms of pumping, it should take AT LEAST 20 minutes to give him a bottle. So however much he eats in that time period is a good estimate, although it's likely to be more than he gets at the breast.
Clicking is a sign that baby is losing suction at the breast.
They are moving their tongue because there is a tongue tie, lip tie, side or posterior tie that is pulling their tongue out of position on the breast.
Or because supply is high, so they move their tongue to try to stem the fast flow of milk and keep from drowning.
That makes sense! Poor DB sometimes pulls off and milk is covering his face, neck, and dripping down my breast and torso. I'm so ready for my supply to decrease! Once in a while I pump a tiny bit to release the pressure before I nurse, but I'm trying not to do that very much because I feel like any pumping keeps my supply too high...
LO is 4 weeks old tomorrow. We were at the pediatrician Tay because he has got some reflux issues, and he weighed in at 10lbs. He was 8lbs 4oz at birth, so we're pretty pleased with his growth!
I am enjoying bonding with LO- we have recently switched to pumping and feeding bottles during the day at our pediatricians suggestion. This is allowing us to add a very small amount of rice cereal to my breast milk to help combat the reflux. I feel like I've been able to bond with him even more while bottle feeding (as weird as that sounds) because I am not stressing about latching/position as much and we get lots of great eye contact.
My question is this: will my breast milk supply increase as LOs need increases? I've been reading the guidelines that my pediatricians office puts out, and the oz he is supposed to consume in a day rapidly increase over the next few weeks. I am concerned that I'm only able to pump about 2oz every few hours. Is this better suited for SQS? Haha! Also, are guidelines for formula intake the same guidelines for breast milk? It's so hard to know how much he is getting when we're pumping and BFing...
Oh that's not really very breastfeeding friendly advice you have there from your dr.
Rice cereal just makes the milk weigh more, which makes spitting up milk more difficult. but it doesn't take care of the reflux or the excess stomach acid that may occur with reflux.
The AAP does not recommend adding rice cereal to a bottle because it's a choking hazard, so that is also a concern.
At 4 weeks of age baby should be taking in about 1 oz per hour, about 25 oz a day total. That is average intake for a breastfed baby from about 3 weeks of age til way past 6 mos of age. The amount doesn't increase like it does for formula. Formula is stuck at 22 calories per oz, so the amt of oz needs to increase exponentially as baby gets larger. Breastmilk varies from 15-40+ calories per oz, changing based on baby's age and how often they nurse and other factors so that baby stays at about the same milk intake the whole time they nurse, well way past 6 mos when solids become more predominant, the amt of oz actually decreases as they get older, not going up.
The amount of milk you pump won't likely increase without either pumping longer amt of time, or pumping more often, or doing other things to increase supply when just pumping. Many moms struggle to let down for the pump, so the amt they get tends to decrease. Some things to help with pumping, if you are doing it for half the day you should rent a hospital pump, pump more often, pump 5 minutes after the milk stops flowing to signal a higher milk supply, make sure the flanged/horns are the correct size too small or too large will keep you from emptying the breast so supply will decrease, as well as playing with the suction, too high of suction will temporarily collapse the milk ducts so milk can't come out easily.
Can you go see an LC for some breastfeeding friendly advice on your supply and dealing with nursing a baby with reflux?
Clicking is a sign that baby is losing suction at the breast.
They are moving their tongue because there is a tongue tie, lip tie, side or posterior tie that is pulling their tongue out of position on the breast.
Or because supply is high, so they move their tongue to try to stem the fast flow of milk and keep from drowning.
That makes sense! Poor DB sometimes pulls off and milk is covering his face, neck, and dripping down my breast and torso. I'm so ready for my supply to decrease! Once in a while I pump a tiny bit to release the pressure before I nurse, but I'm trying not to do that very much because I feel like any pumping keeps my supply too high...
When they move their tongue, you hear them gulping, etc, unlatch with pinky in the corner of their mouth, and let the extra hard fast flow go into a towel or cup and then relatch when the spray slows. also nursing with baby's head higher than the breast will help to keep ravity from speeding the flow of milk and keep them from drowning.
LO is 4 weeks old tomorrow. We were at the pediatrician Tay because he has got some reflux issues, and he weighed in at 10lbs. He was 8lbs 4oz at birth, so we're pretty pleased with his growth!
I am enjoying bonding with LO- we have recently switched to pumping and feeding bottles during the day at our pediatricians suggestion. This is allowing us to add a very small amount of rice cereal to my breast milk to help combat the reflux. I feel like I've been able to bond with him even more while bottle feeding (as weird as that sounds) because I am not stressing about latching/position as much and we get lots of great eye contact.
My question is this: will my breast milk supply increase as LOs need increases? I've been reading the guidelines that my pediatricians office puts out, and the oz he is supposed to consume in a day rapidly increase over the next few weeks. I am concerned that I'm only able to pump about 2oz every few hours. Is this better suited for SQS? Haha! Also, are guidelines for formula intake the same guidelines for breast milk? It's so hard to know how much he is getting when we're pumping and BFing...
Oh that's not really very breastfeeding friendly advice you have there from your dr.
Rice cereal just makes the milk weigh more, which makes spitting up milk more difficult. but it doesn't take care of the reflux or the excess stomach acid that may occur with reflux.
The AAP does not recommend adding rice cereal to a bottle because it's a choking hazard, so that is also a concern.
At 4 weeks of age baby should be taking in about 1 oz per hour, about 25 oz a day total. That is average intake for a breastfed baby from about 3 weeks of age til way past 6 mos of age. The amount doesn't increase like it does for formula. Formula is stuck at 22 calories per oz, so the amt of oz needs to increase exponentially as baby gets larger. Breastmilk varies from 15-40+ calories per oz, changing based on baby's age and how often they nurse and other factors so that baby stays at about the same milk intake the whole time they nurse, well way past 6 mos when solids become more predominant, the amt of oz actually decreases as they get older, not going up.
The amount of milk you pump won't likely increase without either pumping longer amt of time, or pumping more often, or doing other things to increase supply when just pumping. Many moms struggle to let down for the pump, so the amt they get tends to decrease. Some things to help with pumping, if you are doing it for half the day you should rent a hospital pump, pump more often, pump 5 minutes after the milk stops flowing to signal a higher milk supply, make sure the flanged/horns are the correct size too small or too large will keep you from emptying the breast so supply will decrease, as well as playing with the suction, too high of suction will temporarily collapse the milk ducts so milk can't come out easily.
Can you go see an LC for some breastfeeding friendly advice on your supply and dealing with nursing a baby with reflux?
billyhorrible thanks for your thoughts ladies. I guess I wasn't clear in my post, he has suggested the rice cereal for the very short term to allow LO to heal. We were also prescribed a reflux medication, instructed to keep him upright for atleast 30 minutes after feeding (we were already doing this) etc. while I hear what you're both saying about concerns, I think our ped. was trying to give us some quick help as we're really struggling. LO literally screams 90% of the time if he is not sleeping or eating. He's got horrible hiccups and wicked gas. I've also modified my diet (at my ped. suggestion) to exclude dairy and cruciferous veggies to help the gas situation.
Thank you for the BF/pumping info @amyg I think I knew all of this in the back of my head, but in my gaze, freaked out when I read the FF suggestions that were given to us on our peds. Suggestion sheet. For BF, they just suggest a number of feedings per day which decrease over time, as you've explained.
Sorry for sounding like an idiot. I think the sleep deprivation is getting to me. I can see why they use it as a form of torture
Do you feel like you're dealing with a growth spurt right now? No, but I bet the three month one is looming...
What's going well/ what's your favorite thing about BFing? Everything is going well! Still dealing with a little reflux and major gassiness issues, but little love is gaining weight and growing well! I also love the bonding and how portable it is. I love when she looks at me while she nurses and puts her little hands on me. So sweet. I usually take a bottle or two of pumped milk with me when I go places so my husband can help feed her, but if we are out longer than expected, I can just nurse to feed her.
Any questions or concerns? Not at this time
Do you have any short-term or long-term BF goals? I'd like to make it to a year. I go back to school in August, so I'm nervous to see how pumping goes at work. I'm hoping to get at least two sessions while I'm there.
Growth spurt? I think she had one last week. She was walking frequently at night and sleeping all day. So relieved things are back to normal this week.
Fave thing about breastfeeding? +1 to it being portable. I can go anywhere and not have to worry about bringing extra. I've been able to go out to breakfast and dinner multiple time and just nurse her at the table w no worries.
Goals. Breastfeeding to 1yr and then go from there. Probably end up closer to 14 months same as DS if things go as well as they are going now.
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.