The Breast Feeding Support Thread

hacked · 25-03-2010 2:45pm #1

I'm not sure if this should be in parenting or if it's ok to put it here! I'm exclusively breast feeding, and wondering if anyone else is trying it too? It can be so tough! I understand why some people decide to give up. Thought it might be a nice idea to have a thread to encourage each other through the tough parts!

crazy cat lady · 25-03-2010 2:53pm

I'm not exclusively breastfeeding, although I did for 3 and a half weeks! It was tough! Especially being the only one who could feed the baby.

Megan is now nearly 12 weeks old and the breastfeeding is going better than ever, but its nice to have the freedom to give her to daddy or nanny for the odd feed.

I'm in awe of anyone who exclusively breastfeeds for the whole recommended 6 months!

cynder · 25-03-2010 2:57pm

I did it for 2 and a half years, little madam wouldnt give it up!

hacked · 25-03-2010 3:03pm

Glad to hear it's going so well for you Ccl.

I cheated in hospital a tiny bit. I had a really long labour, and was exhausted, so I let the midwives take Isobel for the night and give her a bottle so I could sleep.

I had no trouble with breastfeeding. She has a really strong sucking reflex, and latches great. The first few days went fantastically, but the milk came in yesterday, and this morning I was having a really tough time with it. One of the breats was very engorged, and she wasn't able to latch as a result...quite painful!
I'm trying to feed her frequently and one breast each feed to get them down a bit. If I can get past this i think i'll be ok!

emmiou · 25-03-2010 3:11pm

Sit in a nice deep hot bath, take in a new nappy and dip it in the hot water - the gel stuff inside pamp3rs takes in all the hot water - stick it on the engorged breast for a few minutes and then try massaging a little. This helped me to clear a blocked duct. I fed my first child until he was 2, he stopped just when when my second child was born - have been feeding him exclusively for 5 months but have just started him with solids - he is huge! Never thought I'd be feeding either of them for so long but it just happened and was easy enough... after the initial few weeks and growth spurts!

Nevyn · 25-03-2010 3:35pm

I am going to see if we can get another subforum for newborn to aged 2.
We have had a got of new borns come along over the last year and I think it will be helpful to have all the threads in the same place.

Das Kitty · 25-03-2010 3:40pm

Fair play hacked, glad it's going well.

I don't know why but my nipples get damaged really easily, maybe it's a fair skin thing. I put him on and after a few minutes he wants to readjust, sometimes he does it without me noticing until the end when it hurts! The lactation consultant told me to hold him in place but he's mad strong, it's impossible, so I keep taking him off and putting him back on. Team that with thrush and it can be pretty owee!

It's not so bad that I'd give up and have to be washing bottles and mixing formula all the time, he had some formula in the hospital and all he did was puke so I'm not too keen on cleaning that up either. He's gaining weight really well too.

My next shortterm goal is 3 months (2 and 6 weeks were the previous ones). Hopefully when the thrush is totally gone he'll feed a bit better and it won't sting as much either.

hacked · 25-03-2010 3:56pm

hey Das Kitty. I'm half italian and half Irish...and fortunately more take after the italian side, so my skin isn't too bad. My mother had a really really hard time breast feeding though.
She is also a red head with fair skin, like yourself! Unfortunately your skin type can make it harder, but if your little man has an interest, stick it out! My mom did great once she got over the hard parts.

Isobel does that too...the repositioning. If at all possible try not to relatch. I find relatching hurts the worst, and makes the feed a lot more painful. One of the things I learned in the last few days is to check the baby's mouth positioning. If it's not great, pull on the middle of the babies bottom lip and drag it back a bit. It doesn't hurt baby, and can correct the positioning rather well. It doesn't really hurt either...so it saves all the pain and chaffing of relatching!

emmiou · 26-03-2010 2:55pm

You could try using the nipple shields for a couple of days just to let the cracks and thrush heal up - I've never used them but got a set of Medela ones for my friends and she found them good. I just got them in the local chemist. Lucky with my second child I didn't have to go through all the sore stages again, but I remember how bad it was so you have my sympathy.
It is worth sticking it out though - its so easy now to just grab a couple of nappies and head out for the day without worrying about bottles and feeds or having big changing bags. My first child was smaller so all I needed was a sling, it made it so easy to just hop on a bus and get out!

emmiou · 29-03-2010 9:34pm

Wow I jinxed myself with my first reply - blocked duct started up this afternoon - can't figure out why but I think I didn't reposition myself back into my bra too well after a feed out and about today- baby has been feeding great, but it just refusing to feed on that side now - have had to hand express (painfully aggh!) just to get him to latch on.
Poor mite is asleep now - guess its time to break out the breast pump and hit the bath!! Forgot what an effect it has on your whole body - makes me feel flu-ey and my arm on that side is sore to move. But I'm sure it will be gone by tomorrow and back to normal then!
I have a Medela Swing electric pump, it is great. I used a Lactina and a Symphony when my DS was in hospital for a bout of bronchiolitis over the New Year- Temple Street had both available and they were fantastic to use, he was being tube fed over 10 days so I needed to pump every few hours.

ebmma · 29-03-2010 10:11pm

i think this thread is a great idea!

i'm exclusively breastfeeding Robin for 4 weeks now....
it's getting easier in some ways, but my god it takes ages. he takes both breasts at each feed now so it's at least 20 min, usually more. no pattern either...

glad things are going well, hacked! i actually called the hospital in the middle of the night when my milk came in - boobs were so sore and hard and I didn't know what to do! midwife was really helpful and a hot shower fixed the problem

hardest thing so far - growth spurt at 3 weeks :eek: he fed literally all the time. He'll come off - scream - back on - feed - come off - scream and so on.
I was trying to recover from the wound infection at the time and felt awful as well...I thought I'd die. Called hospital in the middle of the night (you see the pattern

) and was assured that it's normal...So glad it's over (for now)

emmiou · 29-03-2010 10:31pm

I don't think anything can prepare you for the first growth spurts - everyone is miserable! Much easier on second child though, because we knew what they were and when to expect them...kind of! I had an independent midwife for this pregnancy - she visited every day afterwards for 2 weeks, it was lovely to be looked after like that, checking baby and my tear, and there to give a helping hand (or two, eek felt like a dairy cow) when I started to get a blocked duct when my milk came in. She had a cure for everything and it was really a great experience.
OH is mooing at me as I type this - the Swing pump makes a very bovine sound when going at full throttle!

Das Kitty · 29-03-2010 10:46pm

Ebmma, if it helps James used to take over an hour to feed and take both sides, in the past two weeks he's down to 15 minutes and usually only needs one side. He's also in a bit of a pattern now too of 3 and a half hours between feeds. I express 160 mils a day for his night feed and he has started sleeping from midnight to 5.30am. I feel so lucky.

That said he had his first jabs this morning and is a little grump at the moment so hopefully we'll get some sleep tonight!

cbyrd · 30-03-2010 12:45pm

My little man has more or less weaned himself , he had no patience with it.. i tried everything to keep him interested but yesterday he would just scream if i tried to latch him on..:( poor me i miss it. He's growing so quickly, he has 4 6oz bottles and i used to give hin his first feed in the morning. Now i have to get up and warm a bottle. He's 12 weeks tomorrow.. poor poor me:(

Das Kitty · 30-03-2010 1:36pm

Sorry to hear that cbyrd.

cbyrd · 30-03-2010 1:46pm

thanks kitty, i think it's the man in him..:D the girls were much easier to breastfeed, but he's thriving on apitmil and very settled still sleeping all night so my complaint list is very short

ebmma · 30-03-2010 1:50pm

Das Kitty wrote: »

Ebmma, if it helps James used to take over an hour to feed and take both sides, in the past two weeks he's down to 15 minutes and usually only needs one side. He's also in a bit of a pattern now too of 3 and a half hours between feeds. I express 160 mils a day for his night feed and he has started sleeping from midnight to 5.30am. I feel so lucky.

That said he had his first jabs this morning and is a little grump at the moment so hopefully we'll get some sleep tonight!

that's good to know, hope he settles nto something similar...or just settles into something.
little man didn't let us have any sleep last night at all. he's usually sleepy after feeds but that's gone now

ebmma · 30-03-2010 1:54pm

cbyrd wrote: »

thanks kitty, i think it's the man in him..:D the girls were much easier to breastfeed, but he's thriving on apitmil and very settled still sleeping all night so my complaint list is very short

interesting! my sisters in law say that their boy were way more into the boob than girls

would you consider expressing?

i really need to find out how to do it once magic 6 week mark happens and I can start bottles

cbyrd · 30-03-2010 2:27pm

ebmma wrote: »

interesting! my sisters in law say that their boy were way more into the boob than girls

would you consider expressing?

i really need to find out how to do it once magic 6 week mark happens and I can start bottles

it's the one thing i could never do, and i've tried 4 different pumps..:( I remember trying for about and hour and a half one night when my eldest was about 4 weeks (11now) and all i got was a dribble in the bottom of the bottle!

He's been gradually feeding less and less so i'm not producing enough now.. i tried the quickswitch for a few days last week to increase the supply but he just will not latch. he pulls away and cries.. :eek:

the only difference i notice is he's not pooing as often, suppose his system is getting used to no mammy juice..although the faces he pulls when i give him some water are hilarious...at least he'll drink it which helps him go

you should try a bottle before 6 weeks though just in case baba won't take to it..the younger they get used to a teat the less hassle it is trying to share the feeding. even if it's just a half ounce expressed..;)

Das Kitty · 30-03-2010 3:13pm

It might not be fast enough for him due to a growth spurt maybe (apparently there is a mother of one at 3 months)?

I use the Medela Swing pump and find it great, worth the money, although I did get it second hand.

cbyrd · 30-03-2010 3:26pm

more than likely,the 6 week spurt was 36 hours of nonstop feeding.. he grew a half inch in length since the 22nd too.. i'm struggling to find babygros to fit his length...i know there was one day last week he was having a 6oz bottle and then he feed for half an hour, both sides, then this week he doesn't want to know..:( hes to the bottom of the 3-6 month babygros but they're so baggy they look stupid:D

emmiou · 31-03-2010 4:47pm

I finally managed to get the duct unblocked and back to normal - a lot of feeding on that side, good bit of pumping with the Swing, massage in the bath,and then I remembered my midwife had given me Nelson's Homeopathic Belladonna tablets - one every hour for 3 hours then every 2 hours after - feels great, just a little residual tenderness now.
If you are going to try starting expressing for the first time I recommend trying it in the morning after baby has gone back for a nap - drink plenty of water, eat some porridge and make sure you are comfortable and relaxed. Even take a nice hot shower before hand if you think you'll get the time! I got a cheap sports bra and cut holes in it to hold the breastshield in place so I could have my hands free - had to use a double pump for 10 days while DS was in hospital. I found it much harder to get a couple of ounces in the evening or late at night compared to plenty in the early morning or afternoon. I think the Swing is great though for normal use.

hacked · 02-04-2010 2:56pm

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to my boobs!! They weren't really all that full for a day or two, but baby seemed to get enough food anyway (she's putting on a ton of weight, growing like a weed!) and then this morning, the one side was back to being a bit engorged again, and I was having to express a little before I fed her. Is that normal?

Also, when should you start introducing a bottle? I've exclusively breast fed her so far, but am planning on expressing so I can go out and leave her with people in the future. Some people say don't do it too soon or they get confised, others say don't wait too long or they won't take the bottle....opinions??

crazy cat lady · 02-04-2010 5:42pm

Megan got a bottle after 3 and a half weeks and was fine. She'll happily take the boob or the bottle now.

I did give her 3 top ups in hospital cos I had lost so much blood and needed to sleep as you know youself! She probably had less than 20mls alltogether from the bottle in hospital tho.

My boobs were useless to start with, never got that engorged feeling! My right boob just didn't seem to work at all but thats probably cos I got shingles in my right side straight after having her. Its still not as good as the left but at least it works!

I've tried expressing but I think my breast pump must be useless as I get very little from either boob!

Das Kitty · 02-04-2010 5:54pm

Yep that's normal hacked. It'll even out when she gets into a routine, but it will happen again when she's going through growth spurts or just wants to increase your supply for any reason. I'm upping my supply at the moment to have enough frozen milk for a day away in June so I'm almost engorged at different times during the day.

I think the recommendation for starting to express has gotten earlier now. 3 weeks is what our PHN told me but I started at 2 and have been expressing a bottle a day for the wee fella since then. He has no trouble with changing over and back.

I used the hands-free tip from emmiou on this thread just now whilst feeding James on the other breast and I got way more milk than when I do it afterward, as well as that my breast has the full amount of time to fill up again. Brilliant tip, thanks for that.

ebmma · 03-04-2010 10:45am

I was told to leave bottles and expressing till 6-8 weeks unless I absolutely have to start earlier to let the supply get established and baby used to breastfeeding.
The way I got it is that some babies have no trouble switching back and forth between breast and bottle but some can get confused or too lazy and refuse the breast (because getting milk out of the bottle is easier).

I wonder if Robing will be like me - I never took a bottle

My poor granny had to feed me from the spoon since I was tiny

:D

i might start expressing in a few weeks, I'm really not in a mood to start figuring it out now...

Das Kitty · 09-04-2010 10:59am

Well, since Monday James started to go 5 hours between feeds and was sleeping 7 hours at night.

I had a suspicion that this wasn't because he was satisfied but that I have been delaying feeding him. Even now at nearly 3 months he still hurts me from repositioning and unlatching and relatching himself. I tried everything to retrain him (and sometimes restrain him!) but nothing was working so I gave up even trying a couple of weeks ago.

So anyway he went ballistic on Tuesday night about an hour after a feed and would only be satisfied with more milk, luckily I had a bottle expressed in the fridge for him.

The next morning I rang the PHN to get him weighed. So Wednesday morning his weight showed that he had dropped from 75th to 25th percentile

So it transpires that I am avoiding feeding him and have been pushing out his feeds, meaning I'm not making enough milk for him either.

I have been thinking for the past two weeks is it really worth it to me to continue on hating feeding him, hating the sound of his cries and really only enjoying time with him just after a feed? I didn't want to make a rash decision so I thought long and hard about it.

I'm going to make a pros and cons list today and am going to introduce one bottle of formula a day whilst still expressing at the same time so I can go back to exclusively breastfeeding if it doesn't go well.

I'm not going to start him on it until Monday as I'm moving him into his cot this weekend and only want to make one change at a time.

I'm wondering if those of you who supplement with formula use a particular one that would have a similar consistency to breast milk?

crazy cat lady · 09-04-2010 2:17pm

Das Kitty wrote: »

Well, since Monday James started to go 5 hours between feeds and was sleeping 7 hours at night.

I had a suspicion that this wasn't because he was satisfied but that I have been delaying feeding him. Even now at nearly 3 months he still hurts me from repositioning and unlatching and relatching himself. I tried everything to retrain him (and sometimes restrain him!) but nothing was working so I gave up even trying a couple of weeks ago.

So anyway he went ballistic on Tuesday night about an hour after a feed and would only be satisfied with more milk, luckily I had a bottle expressed in the fridge for him.

The next morning I rang the PHN to get him weighed. So Wednesday morning his weight showed that he had dropped from 75th to 25th percentile So it transpires that I am avoiding feeding him and have been pushing out his feeds, meaning I'm not making enough milk for him either.

I have been thinking for the past two weeks is it really worth it to me to continue on hating feeding him, hating the sound of his cries and really only enjoying time with him just after a feed? I didn't want to make a rash decision so I thought long and hard about it.

I'm going to make a pros and cons list today and am going to introduce one bottle of formula a day whilst still expressing at the same time so I can go back to exclusively breastfeeding if it doesn't go well.

I'm not going to start him on it until Monday as I'm moving him into his cot this weekend and only want to make one change at a time.

I'm wondering if those of you who supplement with formula use a particular one that would have a similar consistency to breast milk?

If you are hating feeding him and dread the sound of his cries, I would definatley be formula feeding! I use Aptamil, its supposed to be the closest to breastmilk but I believe that they are all pretty much the same.

I've been saying for weeks that I'm going to give up breastfeeding, but so far I haven't. Theres something addictive about it for me I think. Megan only gets a boobie feed in the morning and again in the evening, the rest of the time she gets bottles. She's a very happy and content baby, which she wasn't when I was exclusively breastfeeding, and I wasn't happy and content either. I think if I had continued to try and exclusively breastfeed, I'd probably be postnatally depressed!

At the end of the day, you have to do what is best for both you and the baby, and as long as the baby is being fed by whatever method, you'll be doing a great job

As for moving the little fella into the cot, I shouldn't fret too much! I was convinced that Megan would be upset by being moved into the cot. First night in and she slept better than she had in her crib!

Das Kitty · 09-04-2010 4:47pm

Thanks CCL. I was sure that when the thrush cleared up it would all be better but alas no. It's only sore sometimes and uncomfortable all the time. My plan would be to gently ease over to formula so I don't get engorged and keep a little freezer stash of expressed milk to use if he gets a cold.

I think he will sleep better in his cot too. He's jammed in his Moses basket!

cbyrd · 09-04-2010 5:21pm

Well Ben is mostly off the breast now

he sometimes looks for a feed in the morning until he realises he's awake and then looks for the bottle. 1 breastfeed in the last 2 mornings, i miss it so much

He has a snotty nose the last 3 nights which has been great fun, with cotton buds and saline drops and suckers karvol and tissues...the poor child is looking at me as if to day 'step away from the tissues and leave my face ALONE'

it's funny though cos he still didn't wake up at night, just me, listening to him snotter and snort his way through the night...:rolleyes: but it had the effect of making me feel soooo guilty because i didn't perservere with breastfeeding and i go all irish mammy thinking it's my fault he has a cold...:(
when he sneezes he thinks its so funny...until i come at him with a cotton bud!!!:D

Nevyn · 09-04-2010 5:22pm

I used sma gold when doing the change over with mine and for feeds when I was not there and other then being a bit stunned at how much was regurgitated with wind, it went pretty well.

hacked · 09-04-2010 5:41pm

I don't know what;s going on! I don't know if i am producing enough milk, so i've started drinking more as i'm sure i don't drink enough water.

Got Isobel weighed on tuesday...she is thriving...healthy, happy, seems ot be growing...but still hadn't reached her birthweight by 2 1/2 weeks.

She wants to eat every two hours or so now. The PHN said every two or three hours was ok...but every two hours is getting very tiring, and I don't know if I want to keep up like htis. How long should I keep up feeding her like this? It's been two days now, but i'm not sure how many days I should go on for.

I don't entertain her at night. She woke up at 3.30 for a feed last night. I fed her, but she fell asleep and refused to wake up for the other side, so i stuck her back in the moses basket. An hour and a bit later she was roaring for more...so i just ignored her and tried to sleep through it and wait for the next scheduled feed.

cbyrd · 09-04-2010 5:47pm

She's probably increasing your milk supply!! every couple of days they'll feed a little more often to increase your supply, this is different from the growth spurts where they almost feed nonstop, it usually settles down when the milk is established around 4 -6 weeks..:D this is the fun part!

crazy cat lady · 09-04-2010 8:32pm

Its so hard knowing whats the right thing to do isn't it?? We want to do whats best for out little people but they really don't make it easy for us, what with the discomfort and the constant feeding!

I'm so scared that if I stop breastfeeding alltogether that Megan will get constipated! Its a nurse thing, we're obsessed with bowels!

I gave up breastfeeding after 3 and a half weeks as I seemed to be constantly feeding, my right boob didn't work properly, and it was REALLY uncomfortable, especially when she first latched on. I continued to express and then after about a week I put her back to the boob. It didn't hurt at all and both boobs work much better now than they ever seemed to in the first 3 weeks!

cbyrd · 09-04-2010 9:19pm

I do notice the days he doesn't breastfeed in the mornings that he finds it a bit harder to go.. but i solved this with about 4oz of water and it helps him alot...alot...:D if you get my meaning!! he didn't want it at first but i perservered and now he loves it. he has it in the afternoon between bottles.

emmiou · 10-04-2010 1:12am

I started drinking fennel tea when I needed to increase supply and am now addicted to it! Don't drink coffee anymore and only the occasional cup of normal tea, and my usual staple of peppermint is off the menu while breastfeeding, so the fennel tea has filled a niche, I could drink buckets of it! My little baby is 5 months now and 24lbs - its no wonder I'm so thirsty all the time.
I got some really strong fennel teabags in one of the asian foodstores on Parnell Street - they were a polish make, Twinings also do them, and you can get other makes in most of the health food chains.
I founf I couldn't tolerate fenugreek capsules at all, the smell made me retch, but it is recommended to help increase supply.

little me · 10-04-2010 4:33pm

Hi,

My baby girl is 2 weeks old, but i'm finding that she's taking ages to feed. She does suck/swallow but a lot of the time she is just moving her mouth (pretending to be sucking). Is this a bad habit she is starting or somthing that is normal and I shouldn't worry about it???

Also after I feed her, her dad can always settle her off to sleep. If I try to cuddle her and get her to sleep she just wants to be nursed and suck on my boob again. Any advice to stop this, as I loved to be able to cuddle her also rather than just feeding her the entire time. As daddy will be back in work soon.

Finally, I know all the experts say that you should put her to bed awake so she can fall asleep on her own, but she would cry the house down during the night and daddy wouldn't get any sleep either. As she is only 2 wks is it ok to rock her to sleep (again takes about half and hour to do) and then but her into her crib, or let her cry it out??

Any help/advice would be great, (as you can guess i'm a newby mammy!!

)

Thanks,
little me.

aniascor · 10-04-2010 4:57pm

Hi little me. Congrats on the new arrival. I have a 6 month old son who I'm still breastfeeding. When he was very young like your baby all he wanted to do was suck as well. I gave him a soother because the constant feeding was causing me pain. You could try one (unless you would rather the baby doesn't get one). What I would do is feed him and pay attention to when the sucking and swallowing changed to just sucking. Usually that would be after 20 or 30 minutes when he was very young. Then I'd give him a soother if he still wanted to suck. I was feeding him every three hours at that age.

One of the best pieces of advice I got in the early days was not to worry about habits forming while your baby is still a newborn. Instead do what feels right. As I said my son is 6 months old and it's only in the past month or two that I cam see habits forming. Up to three months old they change from week to week!

ebmma · 10-04-2010 6:20pm

Das Kitty,

sorry to hear it's not working out

Did you talk to a lactation consultant about it?

hacked,

2 hrs between is normal, Robin used to last 3 hours and now back to 2-2.5 most times (he's 6 weeks today). from everything I learned bf babies are not so hot on the scheduling - just feed her if she's hungry you'll get more sleep!!
They also don't go long between feeds for a while because breastmilk is easier to digest than formula.

cbyrd,

don't feel guilty about the cold - Robin didn't have a drop of formula in his life and we were all sick for Easter including him! Not too bad though - runny nose rather then blocked, so I just had to wipe it

news from me: breastfed outside the house for the 1st time today! Yay! didn't get kicked out of the coffee shop, so probably wasn't too indecent

ebmma · 10-04-2010 6:31pm

What helped me to stop worrying the baby will get bad habits ---- when they are that small they don't understand that they have hands and feet.
If they can't even understand that those things they are waving around are attached to them what sort of 'bad habits' can they possibly be forming??

about sleeping my little guy slept very well in his basket for 1st couple of weeks. I would feed him, pop him into the basket and he'll fall asleep. Bliss.
Well he changed his mind now and only falls asleep when held.
So good 'habit' didn't stick

little me · 10-04-2010 7:53pm

aniascor wrote: »

Hi little me. Congrats on the new arrival. I have a 6 month old son who I'm still breastfeeding. When he was very young like your baby all he wanted to do was suck as well. I gave him a soother because the constant feeding was causing me pain. You could try one (unless you would rather the baby doesn't get one). What I would do is feed him and pay attention to when the sucking and swallowing changed to just sucking. Usually that would be after 20 or 30 minutes when he was very young. Then I'd give him a soother if he still wanted to suck. I was feeding him every three hours at that age.

One of the best pieces of advice I got in the early days was not to worry about habits forming while your baby is still a newborn. Instead do what feels right. As I said my son is 6 months old and it's only in the past month or two that I cam see habits forming. Up to three months old they change from week to week!

thanks for your reply. Ive tried giving her a soother a few times, but she hates it! So not sure how to settle her off to sleep when daddy's not there! I'll just have to keep trying!!! thanks again.

bogtotty · 10-04-2010 8:10pm

+1 on the soother idea, it's the only reason I'm still nursing my 8 month old.

little me wrote: »

Also after I feed her, her dad can always settle her off to sleep. If I try to cuddle her and get her to sleep she just wants to be nursed and suck on my boob again. Any advice to stop this, as I loved to be able to cuddle her also rather than just feeding her the entire time.

What I did was get comfy on my back on the bed, put a thick blanket over my tummy and tuck it in under my chin [so he couldn't smell the boobies], then place baby face down on my chest and rub/tap his chest. This was great for getting any wind up and really chilled him out. Once he'd gone off to sleep I could roll him on to the bed (for nap time) or into the crib (I used a cosleeper crib attached to the bed to maximise sleep for all of us). He grew out of needing this after the 3-month growth spurt.

I would forget about schedules, routines or habit-forming until your baby is about 6 months old and gets started on solids. I found it much easier to form a routine at that point, although it's still quite a loose routine, probably because I'm not the most disciplined of people. Until then, do what ever works for you and your baby. Trust your instincts as every baby is different and most schedule-based parenting books are based on formula fed babies and simply don't apply to boobiebabies.

I really don't believe you can spoil an infant or give them bad habits. They don't know how to manipulate us until they are at least 9 months old.

Das Kitty · 10-04-2010 8:10pm

Yeah, I've been to the consultant 3 times now and she's seen how willful he is about it. Her most recent advice is to take him off every time he disengages and spend a minute with no eye contact before relatching. He screamed and screamed but I tried it every feed for 2 days with no change at all, of anything it was worse! LOL. He does empty the breast very well and very efficiently so his latch can't be all that bad.

I think I will miss it if I stop completely but that will be outweighed by not being in pain anymore.

Congrats on your public feed ebmma!

hacked · 10-04-2010 8:25pm

i did the same this week to ebmma! people in the cafes were so curious, the chef even came out from the back to stare! i was very discreet about it though, so no one could complain

Das Kitty · 10-04-2010 8:38pm

hacked wrote: »

i did the same this week to ebmma! people in the cafes were so curious, the chef even came out from the back to stare! i was very discreet about it though, so no one could complain

It's illegal for them to complain, even if you weren't discreet. My first time in public I covered up with a scarf. After that I said feckit and just whipped out my jubbly and got to work. The first time I thought everyone was looking, although they probably weren't. I don't even notice other people anymore.

hacked · 10-04-2010 8:54pm

Das Kitty wrote: »

It's illegal for them to complain, even if you weren't discreet. My first time in public I covered up with a scarf. After that I said feckit and just whipped out my jubbly and got to work. The first time I thought everyone was looking, although they probably weren't. I don't even notice other people anymore.

Yeah i covered up with isobels blanket, but have a feeling i'll sday feckit soon too.

i think i need new clothes. going through my pre pregnancy wardrobe i don't have many clothes good for breastfeeding. i found the easiest way is a low cut tank/string top under a button down shirt!

Spinach · 11-04-2010 2:16am

emmiou wrote: »

I started drinking fennel tea when I needed to increase supply and am now addicted to it! Don't drink coffee anymore and only the occasional cup of normal tea, and my usual staple of peppermint is off the menu while breastfeeding, so the fennel tea has filled a niche, I could drink buckets of it!

Hi emmiou, I'm just curious, why is peppermint off the menu? I'm hoping to breastfeed come August so probably have a lot to learn! I do like fennel tea anyway, a lot of people seem to hate it for some reason.

Das Kitty · 11-04-2010 7:17am

Spinach wrote: »

Hi emmiou, I'm just curious, why is peppermint off the menu? I'm hoping to breastfeed come August so probably have a lot to learn! I do like fennel tea anyway, a lot of people seem to hate it for some reason.

Peppermint can affect your supply but really it's only in large quantities so the odd cup is no harm. I drink the fennel for James' painful wind and really like it too.

Oats are good for increasing supply.

Gave the first bottle of formula last night and it went down well, not even any spit up and it's not a huge hassle to make up either. Going to give it a week pumping at the same time before I make a final decision and start dropping feeds.

emmiou · 11-04-2010 8:50am

I was told to drink peppermint tea when you want to dry up your supply. +1 for the oats - lots of porridge and Nairns Oatcakes with butter are lovely. I usually try to just wear a light scarf for feeding out and about - I used to always wear a vest with a shirt/zippy top over and put baby in under the shirt and pull down the vest, but then one day at my breastfeeding groups one of the girls showed up beautifully dressed in a tailored top/skirt/jacket and looked fantastic - she was back at work as a solicitor - and she was able to just whip out her boob over the neckline of her top... so now I wear what I want to and just have a little muslin/bib/light scarf to cover over the bits of me that are too exposed for me to be comfortable with, useful sometimes just while you're getting the latch on or if baby decides something going on behind then is far more interesting.
I'm just starting to get back into clothes I haven't worn for ages after 2 pregnancies and three years breastfeeding, was at a funeral the other day so was dressed fairly smartly, went for dinner afterwards in Andersons in Glasnevin - its quite tight for space and was very busy - so I had to do the boob out and over technique while facing the room - my baby is quite big now and I have long hair, so there was very little for anyone to see, and I got lots of supportive smiles from other tables and no one was embarrassed at all - and we all got to have our dinner in peace! It was a nice experience.

emmiou · 11-04-2010 9:02am

Das Kitty- I started drinking the fennel tea when my son was having very painful wind too. He wasn't really kicking his legs and was holding himself very stiffly at 6 weeks, then started screaming in pain every evening - we didn't think it was colic but I brought him to the osteopath I'd seen for SPD during my pregnancy.
She said as he'd been a big baby with little fluid he'd gotten very stiff around neck/shoulders/ribs/hip on one side and gave me exercises to do with him. There was a huge improvement after a week and we went back for a second session when she worked on his neck in the last five minutes of the session - he screamed the place down but whatever she fixed it was instant, and that was the end of the evening screaming sessions! She had said if she couldn't give him relief in the second session then that it was a problem she couldn't fix and we'd need to see a paediatrician, but he has been fine since.

ebmma · 11-04-2010 11:04am

hacked,

forgot to say - I was told bf babies are allowed 3 weeks to return to birth weight.

that's weird about peppermint - drink buckets of it! should I stop???

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