The Breast Feeding Support Thread

Help please I am finding breastfeeding very tough. My daughter is almost 9 weeks. I also have a 22 month old who I breastfed for over eight months. When I was feeding her sister I was more driven by routine - id feed her every two hours regardless of whether she was looking for it or not. This generally meant she would wake every two to three hours for a feed at night. With my newborn I decided to just go by her and for a long time this was working for me. She basically fed all day. This was tough to manage with my older daughter but the payoff was I got a five hour or so stretch at night....until around a week ago. She now won't sleep unless there is a boob in her mouth. She falls asleep on me which means she hasn't brought wind up. She wakes up soon afterwards and is fussy - because of the wind - she either farts or burps which upsets her allot, then i feed her which calms her down, then she conks on the boob again. I can't sleep like this, I'm not comfortable co sleeping, but in any case she doesn't want to sleep beside me but literally on me she got her two month injections two days ago which has made things worse. I gave her calpol as she has had a temp, this brings down her temp but doesn't help with the sleep. I don't want to give a bottle at night because when I started weaning her sister by giving formula she soon had zero interest in breastfeeding. I think my feeding on demand has resulted in feeding being the only source of comfort for her. She won't take a soother. She is just coming out of a leap. Anyone have any advice? I'm soo tired which just means I'm not giving her or her sister my best

bovril wrote: »

@detoxkid My little girl was like your baby for the first few months too. She'd fall asleep on me. Sometimes we'd successfully transfer her to her crib and sometimes she'd wake. This phase passed though and she got better at handling the wind at around 12 weeks. You're doing a great job and it must be tough with your 22m old. Can you read books to the toddler while you're feeding or get them to show you things while sitting beside you? No two babies are the same and it probably was just luck you had a first baby who slept initially. I'm not sure there is anything you can do to help your new baby sleep for longer at the moment. You could try transferring the baby to the crib/cot that has been heated by a hot water bottle or even trying to have your scent on a muslin cloth and have the baby transferred with this. I hope this phase passes for you soon and keep up the good work. I'll be in the same boat as you with two later on this year. There'll be similar age gap too so hoping I'll be able to cope at the beginning.

Thanks for the reply Bovril. I've tried heating the mattress and the blanket and she is not fooled. She screama the house down and wakes everyone invluding the neighbours (probably ) I'm heartened to hear that your los started sleeping and winding a bit better at 12 weeks. Sleep makes all the difference. Congrats on your own news. It is tough at the beginning managing two but gets way way easier as time goes on. In the beginning it was all about managing how my toddler was dealing with things and so apart from the constant feeding baby rarely got a look in! Reading does work well, also feeding her on the ground beside my toddler so she felt more part of things. I grab baby and my water, she grabs her baby doll and beaker of water i anyway best of luck And thanks x

ja1986 wrote: »

Thanks for reading,looking forward to the replies!

there's a breasfeeding support thread in newborn and toddlers section they're very helpful over there and you'll get all experienced Mothers and not just pregnant ladies there!

ja1986 wrote:

Should I buy a breast pump?

I'd personally hold off for the first while. It's not recommend to express in the first 6 weeks as it can affect supply and it's probably better to research types of pumps when you know how often you are going to express.

How long will my milk last for bottle feeding at night?

Expressed milk in the fridge can last for a few days. You can freeze it too and it will last longer. It can be defrosted easily.

Should I not bottle feed at night?

I only breastfed day and night. If you start bottle feeding at night your body will stop producing milk to meet those feeds. There are people who successfully combine feed so they can advise better.

Can I swap between formula and breast milk easy enough?

Milk is produced by your body on a demand basis. If you replace certain feeds with formula your body will stop producing milk at those times. You can't say for example use formula for 3-4 feeds some days and next day breastfeed at those times. As I said I never combined formula and breastfeeding so I can't give examples of how it actually works. You'll also need to use both boobs for feeding. It would be rare you'd only use one. Definitely post your questions on the bf support thread mentioned above. Also try and get to a pre natal class on breastfeeding if your hospital runs one.

Thanks for the info that's interesting about the night feed and supply. What if I fall asleep doing it!! Is there any mod online here that can tell me how to move this thread? Thank you x

I found the pump really handy, even if to relieve fullness if the baby has overslept, or if you want to nip out for more than a few hours without the baby.
Everyone is different, and I expressed from quite early on, and it had no adverse affect on my supply. And himself took the boob/bottle... whatever was going with no problems switching in between the two. A decent pump is expensive though, you can rent pumps at the start to see how you get on.

Definitely get yourself to an antenatal breastfeeding class! And try to read up as much as you can before the arrival of the baby. You will be doing a lot of trial & error/learning on the job as you go! And sometimes a lot of the advice you hear only really makes sense when you're actually feeding.
Your PHN will have a breastfeeding support group that meets every few weeks, it's nice to meet other breastfeeding mamas in the same area.

Regarding sleeping, you probably won't fall asleep - esp in the early days when you need to burp the critters after (though breastfed babies generally need less burping) Great info on co-sleeping here: http://cosleeping.nd.edu/

My boobs still look pretty good through their two years of breastfeeding! The only thing that has changed, my nipples are more or less permanently erect.
Age, pregnancy, weight, size and other genetic factors are probably more of a concern.

Two websites which are great are:
http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/
www.kellymom.com

Best of luck!

Hi all,
I am still going with the BF'ing 5 months on, which is a great personal achievement for me, but unfortunately I got an infection (mastitis) in one boob over Easter and am still on penicillin for it. I think it's more or less gone now, but my milk production seems to be down - I have noticed that it takes longer for baby to get the milk to flow - sometimes I don't feel the 'let-down' at all, like I used to - and also my boobs aren't leaking at all - something that they did constantly before the infection.

The thing is, I am not sure if it's because of the mastitis or because she may not need as much now and it's naturally reducing?

When I had the mastitis, I continued to feed from that boob as much as possible, as advised by the doc, so I don't know why my supply seems less...

- have any of you had experience with mastitis and did it affect your supply?

thanks

Still feeding here! We're over the 1.5 year mark now, total boob monster! It's a godsend when my toddler is feeling unwell and doesn't want to eat solid food. At least I know there's plenty of nutrition in boob milk

Congrats Ivy. Could it be a fast letdown? I found on my first that my letdown was very fast and he used to spit up a lot. I'm not sure what I did about it. Probably by the time I realised he'd grown out of it but look up kellymom for tips

I think hand expressing the first little bit before latching helps and feeding on demand which you're probably doing anyway. On my son I was trying to establish a 3 hour routine (yah right!) so by the time he latched he was ravenous and it definitely made it worse

It's not possible to overfeed if you are feeding on demand. My first was an exorcist style puker, after every feed until she was 6 months. No issues with wind etc she just spit up a lot

There's a growth spurt around this time and perhaps baby took in more than needed but I wouldn't worry about it

I know people say if the latch is correct it shouldn't be painful but with both of mine it was for the first few weeks, with my second I had fed my first for 16 months prior so even that didn't help.

Definitely get the latch checked if you're still in hospital, I wouldn't hand express, I found it made the problem worse. It's also day 2 when baby will feed non stop and your nipples will feel it. I'd continue as you're doing, congrats