Breastfeeding Check In 9/7-9/13

[runningmommy519]

Age of LO:

How is it going:

Any advice or questions:

[packmomma]

Age of LO: 16 days old

How is it going: ok. Some trouble with bad latch and constant feeding/marathon feeds (60 -130min).

Any advice or questions:is there a way I can pump (to give my nipples a break) that doesn't cause me to have an oversupply (an issue we just resolved with block feeding).

[carabassa]

Age of LO: 3.5 weeks

How is it going: rough, but slightly improving.

It's been incredibly painful from the beginning. She had a posterior tongue tie, and a very arched roof of her mouth, which made her chomp instead of suck. Cracked and bleeding nipples, mastitis and thrush are all part of our repertoire. Got frenulectomy last Tuesday, and I think it's slowly getting less painful. Still can't have anything touching my nipples though.

Any advice or questions: guh. I don't know. I guess I just wanted to whine for the moment.

[oopsiedaisies]

Sept 7, 2015 7:52:46 GMT -5 packmomma said:

Age of LO: 16 days old

How is it going: ok. Some trouble with bad latch and constant feeding/marathon feeds (60 -130min).

Any advice or questions:is there a way I can pump (to give my nipples a break) that doesn't cause me to have an oversupply (an issue we just resolved with block feeding).

Are you wanting to pump to replace a feeding or to build a stash?

[packmomma]

Sept 7, 2015 7:57:15 GMT -5 oopsiedaisies said:

Sept 7, 2015 7:52:46 GMT -5 packmomma said:

Age of LO: 16 days old

How is it going: ok. Some trouble with bad latch and constant feeding/marathon feeds (60 -130min).

Any advice or questions:is there a way I can pump (to give my nipples a break) that doesn't cause me to have an oversupply (an issue we just resolved with block feeding).

Are you wanting to pump to replace a feeding or to build a stash?

Replace feedings right now. I plan on building a stash once our latch is established.

[pmcd886]

Sept 7, 2015 8:04:59 GMT -5 packmomma said:

Sept 7, 2015 7:57:15 GMT -5 oopsiedaisies said:

Are you wanting to pump to replace a feeding or to build a stash?

Replace feedings right now. I plan on building a stash once our latch is established.

You can just pump the side your LO would be eating from to just replace the feeding.

[2dumbdogs]

Age of LO: just over 2 weeks
How is it going: it was actually going great. She had a great latch, sessions we're down to 10 or 15 minutes, gaining weight, etc. Kate young would have approved.
Any advice or questions: now, as of last night's bedtime feeding, she has seemed to have forgotten everything. Doesn't open mouth wide, doesn't latch on worth a shit. When she finally does feed it's painful and doesn't last long. How do I get my champion nurser back again!!

[kaeguri]

5 weeks today!

It's going pretty well now, after a few issues with painful latch, mastitis, and thrush we seem to have found our happy place.

If we go 7-8 or more hours without nursing more and more, will that affect my supply? I fed her at 9:30pm, she fell asleep around 11, and didn't wake up to eat til 7 am this morning. That's almost 10 hours. My boobs almost exploded, but mainly I'm worried it'll decrease supply if it starts happening more.

[oopsiedaisies]

Sept 7, 2015 8:04:59 GMT -5 packmomma said:

Sept 7, 2015 7:57:15 GMT -5 oopsiedaisies said:

Are you wanting to pump to replace a feeding or to build a stash?

Replace feedings right now. I plan on building a stash once our latch is established.

To start does baby take both sides? Pump the side baby doesn't take. But then when baby is eating you need to make sure you are pumping at the same time otherwise you run the risk of messing with your supply.

[oopsiedaisies]

Sept 7, 2015 8:15:39 GMT -5 kaeguri said:

5 weeks today!

It's going pretty well now, after a few issues with painful latch, mastitis, and thrush we seem to have found our happy place.

If we go 7-8 or more hours without nursing more and more, will that affect my supply? I fed her at 9:30pm, she fell asleep around 11, and didn't wake up to eat til 7 am this morning. That's almost 10 hours. My boobs almost exploded, but mainly I'm worried it'll decrease supply if it starts happening more.

At this age it could hurt your supply. Your body will start to make less milk. What about pumping before you go to bed to decrease the time between milk removal?

[kaeguri]

Sept 7, 2015 8:21:01 GMT -5 oopsiedaisies said:

Sept 7, 2015 8:15:39 GMT -5 kaeguri said:

5 weeks today!

It's going pretty well now, after a few issues with painful latch, mastitis, and thrush we seem to have found our happy place.

If we go 7-8 or more hours without nursing more and more, will that affect my supply? I fed her at 9:30pm, she fell asleep around 11, and didn't wake up to eat til 7 am this morning. That's almost 10 hours. My boobs almost exploded, but mainly I'm worried it'll decrease supply if it starts happening more.

At this age it could hurt your supply. Your body will start to make less milk. What about pumping before you go to bed to decrease the time between milk removal?

Hmm. I always wake up at least once if she sleeps over 4 hours just to check she's still breathing, so I could pump then too. I thought about I last night, but I was just lazy. Boo for me.

[tmclawchick]

Age of LO: 3 weeks tomorrow

How is it going: Eh...good I guess... I think DD has a shallow latch and I'm still using a nipple shield because they're so large/flat. I never had to use a shield with DS so I'm in unfamiliar territory. I'm calling a LC to come this week; my right nipple is ridiculously tender/sore/cracked and BFing on that side is killing me.

Any advice or questions:
Is there some point where I should wean from the shield? Or is this something I need to use the entire time I'm BFing? I thought I read somewhere that it should only be used in the beginning...if so, what the heck do I do now?

[Deleted]

Age of LO: 5 weeks 5 days

How is it going: Pretty good. No pain, unless she latches lazily. Most feedings have been under 20 minutes now (yay)!

Any advice or questions: I want to start building a small stash this week (mostly to replace a few feedings on the weekends and for day 1 of daycare). Not really sure where to start. Just pump the side she doesn't nurse from immediately after she nurses or try to pump while nursing (if I can remember how to get the pump to work properly when not pumping both sides) or pump both as soon as she is done.

[RandomName]

Age of LO: 1 month tomorrow

How is it going: Good. I'm happy we have settled into BFing so early. It took until 11 weeks with DD for me to say BFing was going well and pain free. Although I think we have symptoms for thrush that I'll have looked at tomorrow.

[htuzzi324]

6 weeks tomorrow

We're doing pretty good. My milk supply seems pretty established.

I can't get rid of the cracked nipples. Everything with his latch is ok. No ties that would bother anything. Is there something more magical than Lansinoh for this issue?

[kaeguri]

Sept 7, 2015 8:43:12 GMT -5 htuzzi324 said:

6 weeks tomorrow

We're doing pretty good. My milk supply seems pretty established.

I can't get rid of the cracked nipples. Everything with his latch is ok. No ties that would bother anything. Is there something more magical than Lansinoh for this issue?

I use Earth Mama Nipple Butter. Amazon link The consistency is softer than lanolin and helped repair my cracked nipples, plus it's all natural so you don't have to wipe it off before nursing. Smells like chocolate.

[melohdy]

Age of LO: 3.5 weeks

How is it going: it's going moderately well. I'm pretty confident that I am keeping up with her demand. My left nipple hurts so badly when she latches and through most of the feeding. I think I/we might have thrush.

Questions: she still feeds on demand throughout the day. Sometimes she's nursing 10x or more. She'll often nurse every hour to hour and a half. I wouldn't qualify it as cluster feeding because she is giving me time in between. Is this normal? When does she go longer in between daytime feedings? Is it a matter of me finding better ways to entertain her?

[kaeguri]

Sept 7, 2015 8:58:25 GMT -5 melohdy said:

Age of LO: 3.5 weeks

How is it going: it's going moderately well. I'm pretty confident that I am keeping up with her demand. My left nipple hurts so badly when she latches and through most of the feeding. I think I/we might have thrush.

Questions: she still feeds on demand throughout the day. Sometimes she's nursing 10x or more. She'll often nurse every hour to hour and a half. I wouldn't qualify it as cluster feeding because she is giving me time in between. Is this normal? When does she go longer in between daytime feedings? Is it a matter of me finding better ways to entertain her?

Mine is 5 weeks and still often nurses every hour to hour and half during the day. She's been eating like that for several weeks now. Recently, like past 3 days, she's finally going 2-3 hours between daytime feedings. I'm not sure what you can do to entertain a newborn. Mine only likes staring at the ceiling fan so far.

[motownthrowdown]

Age of LO: 4 months/1month adjusted
How it's going: lurking for now, but I'm hoping to be able to start BFing after our ped appt next week. So afraid to screw with her weight gain.
Questions: any good written resources on where to start? Internet sites, books, etc? Gave up on this in the nicu in order to get her out, so I'm behind.

[melohdy]

Sept 7, 2015 10:08:15 GMT -5 motownthrowdown said:

Age of LO: 4 months/1month adjusted
How it's going: lurking for now, but I'm hoping to be able to start BFing after our ped appt next week. So afraid to screw with her weight gain.
Questions: any good written resources on where to start? Internet sites, books, etc? Gave up on this in the nicu in order to get her out, so I'm behind.

Kellymom.com is the Mecca of breastfeeding resources

[2dumbdogs]

Sept 7, 2015 10:08:15 GMT -5 motownthrowdown said:

Age of LO: 4 months/1month adjusted
How it's going: lurking for now, but I'm hoping to be able to start BFing after our ped appt next week. So afraid to screw with her weight gain.
Questions: any good written resources on where to start? Internet sites, books, etc? Gave up on this in the nicu in order to get her out, so I'm behind.

I took a class at my hospital that really set us up for a great start. It was taught by a l&d nurse/doula/LC. she was great. Anything like that available for you?

[abvintage]

6 weeks

Breastfeeding is going so much better. It's really much easier. My nipples start to hurt only every couple of days now. B is super regimented and tends to get hungry right as feeding times approach.

Advice: Stick with it. It really does get better! I would cry at every breastfeeding and cringe before it would start. Now I can NIP. It's amazing because it felt like the end was not in sight.

[abvintage]

Sept 7, 2015 10:08:15 GMT -5 motownthrowdown said:

Age of LO: 4 months/1month adjusted
How it's going: lurking for now, but I'm hoping to be able to start BFing after our ped appt next week. So afraid to screw with her weight gain.
Questions: any good written resources on where to start? Internet sites, books, etc? Gave up on this in the nicu in order to get her out, so I'm behind.

Ask the ped about doing a weighted feeding while you are there. It will help you both understand how much she is getting during a feeding and if you should be supplementing her while you get started. Good luck!

[cupcakecutiern]

Age of LO: 11 days old

How is it going: it's going ok-- Alexis isn't transferring enough and so I'm pumping and supplementing too with pumped milk.

Any advice or questions: I'm having a hard time in the evenings. I feel like she will latch around 8 and not unlatch for a couple hours. She needs to start gaining weigh so I can stop feeling like I'm starving her.

[tmclawchick]

Sept 7, 2015 10:08:15 GMT -5 motownthrowdown said:

Age of LO: 4 months/1month adjusted
How it's going: lurking for now, but I'm hoping to be able to start BFing after our ped appt next week. So afraid to screw with her weight gain.
Questions: any good written resources on where to start? Internet sites, books, etc? Gave up on this in the nicu in order to get her out, so I'm behind.

When I was nursing DS my mom bought me the "Nursing Mother's Companion"... It was ridiculously helpful and I loaned it to a few friends who also thought it was a good resource too

[esgrunner]

LO is 3.5 weeks.

It's going fine. Some days are better than others. Latch is good but his weight gain has been slooooow. Although I have little faith in the scale at the doc's office. One day when we went for a weigh in, the nurse weighed him at 6 lb 11 oz. But that was the same as the week before and I, DH and the ped were shocked it hadn't gone up, so he brought in the scale again and checked. He was really 6 lb 15 oz that day. Or something like that, I can't remember the exact numbers at this point. So, last week he only had gained a couple more ounces, but I checked with my parents' bathroom scale and I think it was off again. Basically, at this point I have a weekly date with the doctor until his weight gain picks up. Again, according to my parents' scale (which I know is not super accurate), he was 7 lbs 14 oz when I checked yesterday. If they weigh him as less than that, I'll request a re-check while we are there, I should have done that last week but I didn't.
But in the meantime, I've been pumping a few extra ounces each day to give him, so maybe that is helping. Since I started pumping, I think my flow has picked up but I don't know for sure.
Breastfeeding has been way harder than I thought. It has brought me to tears at least a couple of times and I had to really coach DH on what I needed from him in the way of support. That has helped a lot, now that he's doing things that help me handle it. I just had to come to terms with the baby needing me so much. I didn't realize how stressful his weight gain (or lack thereof) could be.

Advice/questions: If you sense a problem, jump on fixing it right away! I had a blister the other morning and took care of it and had instant relief. It was hurting a bit (not really bad, but enough) and once I treated it, I felt better right away. Get help from a LC or go to a support group if it is available. Talk to other moms.
Why are pump parts such a pain? Washing/assembling/etc. OK, not a serious question, more of a complaint. You'd like they'd have that figured out by now. 
I know I have questions, but I'll come back when I think of them.

[runningmommy519]

2dumbdogs when Ethan was first learning to Bf the nurses would pull his chin down as I was bringing him to the breast. This reminds me that I could try this also. Ethan gets a lazy latch sometimes too.

tmclawchick We are still working on weaning from the shield at almost 8 weeks

[tmclawchick]

Sept 7, 2015 11:45:17 GMT -5 runningmommy519 said:

2dumbdogs when Ethan was first learning to Bf the nurses would pull his chin down as I was bringing him to the breast. This reminds me that I could try this also. Ethan gets a lazy latch sometimes too.

tmclawchick We are still working on weaning from the shield at almost 8 weeks

Ok good to know... Thanks for starting this weekly check in. The other thread was getting so long!

[runningmommy519]

motownthrowdown I suggest seeing if you can see a lactation consultant if you struggle getting her to latch.

abvintage your post made me tear up. This is why we need threads like this to "whine" or vent. Because bfing is hard. No one tells you that. I feel when people hear about other people's struggles and success stories it encourages them

[runningmommy519]

8 weeks on Wednesday

It's going pretty good. Trying to wean from the shield but sometimes it seems like all Ethan wants to do is play with my nipple in his mouth. I put the shield on and he eats.