The Breast Feeding Support Thread

Thank you very how strange and kandr... Yes I used to express but haven't expressed for couple of weeks. Good idea about storing. 9 week old start to sleep longer?

Soooky wrote: »

Well LO has just turned 4 months and is exclusively bf. Woke up today to find my periods had returned (sorry if tmi:o). Delighted - not :rolleyes:!! Anyway I always thought they wouldn't return until bf finished or reduced or babs started solids - just wondering if any of the rest of you have had them return yet? Is it something I should be concerned about (ie hormone levels, supply etc) LO has been suffering with silent reflux the last number of weeks and feeding a bit erratically - just wondering if that may be the cause?

I got mine around the 4 month mark too. I think it coincided with her sleeping for longer at night so I put it down to that. I wouldn't worry about supply etc unless your baby isn't getting as many wet and dirty nappies as normal. Delighted is right though - not!!

I was shocked to see it I have to say! Got used to not having to think about it!

She's 4 and a half weeks she has an ear infection I swear to god constipation reflux and ear infection some of the things that are much less common in breastfed babies got her to take calpol and antibiotic there so I'll try gaviscon and lactolose again soon.

With C I introduced water with every meal from the start. It was awhile before she started drinking it but it was there if she wanted it. She cut feeds with solids but reintroduced them after!! She's 21 months now and loves her water so I'd definitely introduce it now even to let her get used to it.

Hi soooky, cyning, I understand your little ones have silent reflex, could you please let me know what are the symptoms you spotted? The more I read the more I am convinced my LO has silent reflux.

Lilmissprincess it sounds like a growth spurt and they are really tough. Just keep feeding feeding feeding. It's her way of increasing milk supply so don't give formula: she might be unsettled etc but that's regardless of how they're fed during a growth spurt. Hang in there it passes trite as that sounds.

Kknitter with my first little girl she used arch her back after feeds and we could here her swallowing back when burping her or if we laid her flat. She also roared if we lay her flat!

Kknitter, with my LO it was always very hard to get her wind up, she would cry because she had wind pains but nothing would come up! She used to hiccup several times a day and was quite fidgety too. I spoke to my PHN on numerous occasions and my GP and was told she would grow out of it etc (1st time mama but I still felt something wasn't right) It all came to a head St Patricks week. She was drooling loads, blowing bubbles with her drool, irritable all day but nights were worse! She would spend most of the night thrashing about in bed in her sleep, tossing and turning her head from side to side, arching her back and whimpering. We had her in a cocoonababy bed which is supposed to prevent reflux - if that's the case I would hate to see how she would have been in a cot!) I would have to take her out of her bed and sit up with her upright on my chest all night rubbing her back trying to soothe her - she was literally half asleep with exhaustion and still arching and thrashing and jerking! Then she had 3/4 episodes where she would be sitting on my lap happy enough & quiet and all of a sudden she would start screaming in pain - she could not even catch her breath:( I can only describe the cry like someone had poured a kettle of boiling water over her! The stress of it was unreal - I was in tears myself to hear her in pain.

She is now on zantac and infant gaviscon and hugely improved! We also went to a chiropractor which really helped I really hope your LO doesn't have silent reflux - you can PM me if I can help in any way

Thank you very much Soooky for the details. Appreciate it. My LO doesn't cry that much, he does burp most of the time. He feeds every 1 to 1 and a half hour. He is 10 and a half week old. He does gets hiccups, when he cries most of the time he seems hungry and when latched he is fine. Not sure If he is comfort feeding, but he is happy as larry other times. I might be overthinking I guess he does have hiccups and few times cough and twice he was drooling and bubbles.
I will get an appointment with phn and then may be gp just to ease my worries.
My husband is tired of me being worried for every little thing like if the nappy is a bit lighter I start worrying :rolleyes:

Unless it was sitting in direct sunlight I'd say absolutely yes.

Hello ladies, this question has probably being asked before, so I hope I won’t annoy people by repeating it! I am due my first baby in 6 weeks and am hoping to breast feed. I have been given a steriliser and bought a bottle starter kit in Aldi when it was on offer and was planning to buy some cartons of formula ‘just in case’. But I had my ante natal class the other night with a midwife from CUMH and she discouraged having the formula there as back up as she thinks it leaves it very tempting to give the baby a bottle if you’re tired and stressed. She wasn’t a real breast feeding fundamentalist, but she was very pro breast feeding. I just wonder what peoples thoughts are on having the back up there? I can see her point that it might be tempting if it’s there whereas if I have to go and buy it, it might encourage me to power through.

How Strange wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree with her based on my own experienced of breastfeeding in the early days. You're exhausted, the baby has wind or is fussy or is having a growth spurt. Whatever the reason once that starts you'll doubt yourself or your milk supply or the quality of the milk (it's not enough for him/her) and that bottle of formula will look very tempting.

I know I'd have grabbed a bottle with both hands especially with my son who used to be starving during growth spurts. He fed off me for 5 hours straight one night. He was hysterical, so was I and I even fell asleep feeding him. But it only lasted a couple of days and then it was over. My daughter was more chilled in that sense. I never remember upset because I couldn't fill her. She just fed a lot!

Breastfeeding and establishing it at the start requires a huge leap of faith. You're biologically designed to feed your baby and your milk is perfect for him/her otherwise the human race would've been extinct a long time ago but it's unquantifiable. You can't talk in terms of ounces or mls. So when the fussiness starts you'll automatically doubt yourself. The last thing you want at those times is a bottle of formula sitting in the cupboard.

The best advice was to wait until the next day before making any decisions such as buying formula. For me, the next day was always better than the day before and we just kept on feeding.

Thanks How Strange, that's pretty much what the midwife giving the class, she does follow ups with people and is always available for a phone call or text and she says when she gets a frazzled call or text, she advises them to try and wait until the next day before making any decisions.

She made a good point which I hadn't considered, she showed us a chart and it showed how small a babies stomach actually is. She said when people combine feed, they invariabley give too much which stretches the stomach and makes the baby harder to fill with breast milk alone, so it can be a catch 22 situation.

I really want to make the breast feeding work, I'm just worried about the first difficult weeks.