The Breast Feeding Support Thread

wmpdd3

Change of plan, not being let home unless baby feeds, so i asked if they would do a cup feed, but when they came back, they had bottlefed him. Now they want me to give him 45mls of bottle before they let him home. I gave him 25ml but wish i hadnt. He's only lost 2percent of his birthweight so i dont think he's that hungary. getting really peed off now.

How Strange

wmpdd3 that is truly disgraceful. I'm sorry that you've got such bad support in your hospital. Could you phone a la Leche consultant and talk over the phone? In your position part of me would want to give the botttle just to get out of there but the other part would be adamant that I'm exclusively breastfeeding. Can they refuse to let you out?

liliq

Is there a lactation consultant in the hospital?
That's horrible that they blantantly ignored what you want. It's hard to have to stand up for yourself so early? Is there anyone there that can back you up?
They can't refuse to let you out, but I'm not sure about baby.

If you don't want to give him a bottle, please don't do it (unless obviously there is a real need for it).

Try latch him on as often as possible, tickle under his chin to keep him sucklingif you really need to.
Don't let anyone do anything you're not comfortable with, and don't be afraid to say no.

Hope you escape soon!

Lola92

AFAIK you can discharge yourself (and I presume baby as you are their legal guardian) at any time but you will have to sign to say that you are aware it is against medical advice and they aren't responsible if your choice leads to any problems. They could potentially try to get an injunction to prevent this but I think that would only be in very extreme cases.

That is really tough on you wmpdd3! I would be disgusted that they gave him a bottle when you specifically said you wanted to try the cup feeding instead. Filling him up with formula will only make him less hungry and likely to latch anyway! They allow for bf babies to lose up to 15% of birth weight in the first 10 days if I'm remembering correctly, so 2% is hardly anything! Ella lost 10/12% in the 3 days before I left hospital so your man isn't too bad at all!

How Strange

Yes you're so vulnerable just after giving birth and even the most assertive woman would find it difficult to argue and fight her case.

wmpdd3 you should tell them that they gave formula without your consent and you're going to inform Siobhan Hourigan, the HSE coordinator.

I think the best thing for both of you is to get home ASAP because the hospital seem to be totally unsupportive of breastfeeding and clueless for that matter.

How Strange

whitelightrider you can give gripe water which you buy up the north although I've heard some places down here sell it. Perhaps do a google search and see. You can also cooled fennel tea but just 5-10ml at a time.

You can do some baby massage. Look up you tube and you'll find some excellent video clips showing different massages. You can do what I call the rugby hold where you hold your little one lengthways across your body facing away from you so her back rests against your tummy. Your left arm should go down her body with your arm on her thigh. Then rock her from left to right with a little bounce at the end. This used to really calm my son down when everything else failed.

Just remember its a phase and it will pass although it's hard to appreciate that when you're trying to calm down an upset baby.

Cat Melodeon

wmpdd3
If it's any use to you, here are the contact details of LLL in Waterford:
http://www.lalecheleagueireland.com/co_waterford.htm
Hope you get out of there soon. I signed myself out of hospital last November as I didn't feel the environment was conducive to my recovery or the baby's well-being. Her weight hadn't even stopped falling at that point - she ended up losing nearly 10% - but I knew I'd never get enough rest to get a good supply going if I'd stayed on the ward. By the following week, she had regained and exceeded her birth rate and I was properly rested and well on the way to becoming a main supplier for Avonmore.

The help you need isn't always available in the hospital. Try your GP or a different midwife if the one you have is giving bad advice.

wmpdd3

We finally got home. The nurse asked for him to take another 30 ml from the bottle, making 55ml in total. I said no way, its way too much in the space of an hour. So she said, she felt he would not be able to go home, so I said fine we'll stay and I got back into bed!

They must have been stuck for beds because after 40 mins, she came back again and said, you can go home.

I was told a baby cant be discharged if they are only cup feeding, so me asking for this probably set them off. I admit I wouldnt be so confident bringing him home, but my daughter was the same, she wouldnt open her mouth wide and suck and swallow, but we got over that once and we can do this again. The main difference is this time I have a good supply, no issues so far and I extend on having him permanently attached to me to retain this supply.

I'm working my way through each of those videos hoping that something will jump out at me.

I will call for help first thing in the morning, but I am confident that he is getting enough for the little bursts of proper latching he gets and if all else fails I will express and get it in to him somehow. He is still very alert and his head is in no way sunken and only slightly jaundiced.

Cant remember who said it, but all I kept saying to myself today is 'You can't quit on a bad day'.

Thanks for all the help, its been invaluable!!!

lynski

well done you!
isn't it sad to be congratulating a mom on getting home on her terms with her baby?
Anyway, look at the baby not the scales - happy baby, wet and dirty nappies = getting fed. don't forget to block feed - one side for a few hours until you are sure they have gotten to the hind milk.
All babies are different, midwives and phns were all horrified at the 10 minute max feeds of my children, all 3 of them only fed for 10 mins per feed, first 2 bf for 6 mths and current one is heading for a year.
congrats on the new babs.

corrr

I don't mean to get in the way of the discussions that are going on here, but I though I should bring your attention to this: (mods, apologies if this is considered off topic, it's a matter of urgency that people hear about this)

We're attempting to normalise breastfeeding because it should NOT be seen as "sexually explicit" or obscene. Here is the bumph from the Facebookpage relating to the Dublin nurse-in, and the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/359931310688554. If you're in another country, there may be a nurse-in near you, check out this page: http://www.facebook.com/notes/fb-stop-harassing-emma-kwasnica-over-her-breastfeeding-pics/locations-for-facebook-nurse-in/324817760874621


"You may have heard that Facebook has been deleting photos of nursing mothers, from the mums own private accounts. Many mothers have even had their accounts suspended or deleted for repeated “breaches” of Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, because they supposedly contain “nudity, pornography or graphic sexual content”. This is despite the fact that Facebook's own FAQ's state that photos of nursing mothers are permitted.

In response to this, mothers (and fathers, grandparents and people who aren't parents!) around the globe are coming together to tell Facebook that this practice is unacceptable, because photos of mothers breastfeeding are not pornographic or sexually graphic. If it is legal to nurse in public then how can it be “illegal” to show photos of this activity on a site like Facebook?

Friends of Breastfeeding have been approached about organising the Dublin leg of the worldwide protest at Facebook headquarters on Monday 6th February. In other countries, these are being called “nurse-ins”; however, we do not like this term for several reasons. Therefore, we have decided to facilitate the organisation of a protest, that all are welcome to attend (regardless of their nursing status, age or gender), to send the message to Facebook that the practice of trying to hide nursing mothers away from public view is no more acceptable on a social networking site than it is in restaurants, hospitals, government buildings or any other public place.

Please let us know if you are interested in helping us organise this protest or even if you'd just like to attend (reply here or email membership@friendsofbreastfeeding.ie).

Feel free to bring your children, partners, friends, co-workers and the man next door – and feel free to feed your children while attending the protest if they are hungry!"

How Strange

wmpdd3 congrats and well done. It certainly wasn't easy to stand up for yourself in those circumstances so you should be very very proud. You've been there before so you know what to do and now that you're at home the two of you can concentrate on snuggling and feeding

wmpdd3

Much better day today, he's feeding well, but we just need to work on the latch, good news is I have a great supply of colostrum! My friend came over and spent a few hours helping me get him on.

lynski

here is a great vid on biological nurturing or laid back breastfeeding

http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/video/bn3clip.html

the voice over is annoying, but the ideas are clear.
and the key thing to remember is that after a few days you can feed anywhere, just a day or two until you are comfortable laidback and then the confidence grows and away with you both ;-)

wmpdd3

The clip above looks like heaven. It would be so comfy.

At the moment, if I use one finger to open his mouth and the other hand to direct his head forward,after 20 attempts I can latch him on. He just couldn't be bothered opening his mouth wide enough to feed, and now I do it for him so he probably never will.

No hope of managing this lying down yet....

liliq

the laid back feeding might be worth a shot, it's great for getting a deeper latch.
Correcting his latch will help him figure it out for himself! Much better put the effort in now than suffer pain from a bad latch, and him having to relearn later on
When we had a tongue tie here (and a bad latch as a result) a lactation consultant advised me to have his chin pressed well into the breast before latching, to help him open his mouth a bit wider. He nearly lunged on in that position, but it did help!

wmpdd3

I even asked the nurse to check if he was tongue tied, fair play to you for getting over that. Still at it today but really starting to lose my mind so going out for a mind-clearing walk at some point.

LilMrsDahamsta

Folks, does anyone have any tips for getting a previously bf baby to restart? He's been exclusively bf for nearly 6 months til last week. Milk going down an NG tube since then (long story!). Now he's improved enough the nurses want him to feed, but he'll only put the nipple into mouth, no attempt to suck/feed.
And before anyone suggests it, he has never ever taken a bottle successfully, so I don't have that to fall back on. He has to be going well on the boobs to be safely discharged.

Thanks a million!

liliq

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I even asked the nurse to check if he was tongue tied, fair play to you for getting over that. Still at it today but really starting to lose my mind so going out for a mind-clearing walk at some point.

As far as I know you're covered to visit a lactation consultant (if there's one available) in the hospital for a while after birth. The nurses are great, but not always able to spot a tongue tie. No-one saw ours until a visit to a lactation consultant.
I hope it gets easier soon

LilMrsDahamsta- kellymom.com is a great resource for breastfeeding. They have a section on relactating, so though that might not be the issue for you, there might be hints on how to encourage baby to re-lach! All I can suggest is persistance! Keep putting baby to breast, maybe with a little bit of milk expressed out and left on the nipple so he gets the smell of the milk.

NextSteps

LilMrsDahamsta, Maybe look up 'nursing strike' too on Kellymom

red fraggle

ok so i know we are all different but i was wondering in general how many ounces of breastmilk can you express from one breast. i expressed 2 ounces this morning and thought that was it but wasnt sure. anyway, emily just got that from her daddy and it was gone in seconds. no problem taking the bottle and now here i am taking ouit my boob for her!!

any tips on expressing or anything? she loved the bottle. id like to give her one a day so dad can feed her.

Also can you give the breast milk cold.

How Strange

red fraggle the amount a woman can express is very individual and can even vary from day to day. I think your little one is only a few weeks old so your supply isn't fully established. That normally happens at 12 weeks.

I remember leaving my son for a night when he was 5 months old and I e pressed 10oz at midnight and another 10 at 8am!! That was my personal best! My usual was 4-6oz but some days I'd only get 2oz.

Apparently you have more milk in the morning so perhaps express then. I was really into expressing at first but then it became a bit of a nuisance to have to sterilize everything before and after so I only did it a few times per week to build up a stash in the freezer so I could go shopping on a Saturday etc or go to yoga once a week.

As for the temperature , we used to take it out of the fridge about 20 mins beforehand so it'd warmed up a bit.

red fraggle

How Strange wrote: »

red fraggle the amount a woman can express is very individual and can even vary from day to day. I think your little one is only a few weeks old so your supply isn't fully established. That normally happens at 12 weeks.

I remember leaving my son for a night when he was 5 months old and I e pressed 10oz at midnight and another 10 at 8am!! That was my personal best! My usual was 4-6oz but some days I'd only get 2oz.

Apparently you have more milk in the morning so perhaps express then. I was really into expressing at first but then it became a bit of a nuisance to have to sterilize everything before and after so I only did it a few times per week to build up a stash in the freezer so I could go shopping on a Saturday etc or go to yoga once a week.

As for the temperature , we used to take it out of the fridge about 20 mins beforehand so it'd warmed up a bit.

oh right. those few bits are helpful. thanks. emily is only a month. i do agree with all the effort of sterilising. and then sitting while expressing takes a bit of time too. im thinking of doin one bottle a day. also thinkin of freezing it so i can have some free time whether its just for a break for myself or to do shopping or go out. my husband says we are goin out in 2 weeks time so might express some for this! when would u take it out of the freezer? how long to thaw and where would u thaw it? thanks!!!

How Strange

It thaws very quickly. I used to put the bag in a bowl of hot tap water and it'd defrost in minutes. I found some days I just needed a break so it was great yo leave my husband to feed our son and I'd go for a walk or whatever.

wmpdd3

For the first time ever i got baby to llatch on and feed for an hour with the help of a lactation consultant. I feel like i've won the lotto!! was really starting to loose faith. Wahay!

liliq

wmpdd3 wrote: »

For the first time ever i got baby to llatch on and feed for an hour with the help of a lactation consultant. I feel like i've won the lotto!! was really starting to loose faith. Wahay!

Oh I'm delighted for ya wmpdd3! That's brilliant! I hope he keeps up latching on well for you!

red fraggle

yesterday afternoon emily fed nearly every hour up until bedtime. i didnt know what was up with her. thinkin maybe it was a growth spurt. shes officially a month.

on the otherhand she slept for nearly 7 hours last night!!! id easily feed her every hour for a sleep like that!!!

Cat Melodeon

I'm a bit sore the past few days. Not a blocked duct, no sign of thrush, just a non specific soreness in one breast in the tissue behind the nipple. It feels a bit like bruising. It's not affecting feeding although it is unpleasant. GP was unhelpful, going to Phn Tuesday. Nothing else has changed. Herself is 11 wks now, thought we had avoided trouble! I can only feed her lying down at the moment so the breast remains supported. Im taking paracetamol (docs only advice) and keeping warm, have a dose of flu too. Any tips to tide me over til tue, or any suggestions to put to phn (she's not v up to date)?

How Strange

red fraggle it could be a growth spurt or a developmental leap which start around 4 weeks. Look up the wonder weeks website or download the app if you have an iPhone.

Cat Melodeon it could be a blocked duct. Regular feeding should help ease it if it is a blocked duct. Is the milk flowing freely if you hand massage?You can also take ibuprofen which is safe while breastfeeding and is actually better than paracetamol if there's inflammation. If your phn has no info or advice get in touch with a la Leche league or ciudiu counsellor as they've probably come across it before.

caprilicious

Hi, bit of a weird ? but I'm curious.
Did all of ye that are breastfeeding have milk leaking from your breasts during pregnancy, or did some only get it after birth?

The reason I ask is on my last pregnancy, I never had any milk at all leaking from my breasts pre-birth.

I tried to breastfeed my daughter but had excruciating pain; I have a high pain threshold, but this pain I couldn't work through & ultimately had to give up after I think it was 2 weeks.

I'm really determined to breastfeed this time, and I suppose I'm really hoping that the fact I'm leaking now and wasn't last time might be a good sign that my milk might come in that bit easier?

Should I express a little in the shower to encourage/increase the milk or is it a bit early/pointless at the moment? (I'm currently 29 weeks).

The only thing I've done differently this time versus last time is converted from an underwired bra to nursing/maternity one earlier.
From what I remember, I only changed to a maternity bra in the last 4-5 weeks of my pregnancy last time, wearing an underwired one prior to that.

I would have continued to wear underwired bra's this time (v comfy!), I caught a glimpse of my breasts in the mirror after taking my bra off and there were large purple veins visible stretching from my nipples down that were tender to touch.
Once I got out of the shower they had disappeared.
Worried that I might have been inadvertently compressing my breasts in the bra, I put on a maternity bra (same size as underwired, but not wired) and within a few days I have started to leak milk.
I did google previously if it was safe to wear an underwired bra during pregnancy & found plenty of sites confirming it was.
Now I'm wondering if that is so in my case, as my breasts were definitely being constricted in that bra.

Sorry for the big rambling post, I really want the breastfeeding to work this time, so I want to make sure I'm doing all I can this side of baby arriving to make sure that happens any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated

lynski

as long as your bra fits properly it should not matter if it is underwired or not. I wore underwired bras all through my 3 pregnancies after i spent 2 months in pain on the first one trying to go with soft cups. I am a large cup size though so it may be that.
As to your initial difficulties they were probably due to latch difficulties; spend as much time as you can reading about laid back nursing and the breast crawl as they will really help get you established. if you have difficulties get on here or other support websites, get on to your phn and a lactation consultant.