The Breast Feeding Support Thread

Teeley · 03-07-2017 10:41PM

Lucuma wrote: »

I also did Clare Boyle beforehand and she was brilliant. If I had my time again I'd spend the money on a private Lactation Consultant. It's so worth it. Then you don't have to worry about hospital staff being available etc. It's such an important thing it is worth the money for 1 session to get you up and running.

Agree!..worth every penny. I got one at 6 weeks..only regret is that I didn't get her sooner.

ncmc · 20-07-2017 10:41AM

Hi guys, I have a 3 week old and I have to leave him for a few hours this Saturday. I have plenty of milk expressed as he was in neo natal for the first week. I was thinking of leaving him 2 x 4oz bottles. Does this sound like enough? I'll be gone a max of 4 hours. I just don't want to defrost a load and it go to waste. I'll be gone a max of 4 hours and can come home earlier if needed. TIA!

spottybananas · 20-07-2017 10:45AM

Is it frozen in 4oz amounts? Usually people recommend thawing maybe 2ozs or 2 x 2ozs and then more can be thawed if needed, rather than thawing one big batch that may then go to waste.

jlm29 · 20-07-2017 10:50AM

Usually 1- 1.5oz for every hour you're away is recommended. I found my older two only ever drank around 3oz in a sitting!

detoxkid · 20-07-2017 11:13AM

I'd leave 2 x 2 oz bottles to be sure. Worst case scenario more can be defrosted if needs be

IvyTheTerrible · 20-07-2017 11:22AM

My 16 month old doesn't take bottles, and she has never used a soother. She still breastfeeds in the morning, evening and in the middle of the night if she wakes up but I feel like she's just using it for comfort rather than for thirst as she stops quickly, messes around, goes back on and repeat for as long as she feels like.
The problem is, she's getting lots of teeth and feeding her is really starting to hurt (especially my right boob for some reason). I'd love to wean her off but I'm not sure how. Would I be mad to give her a soother?

detoxkid · 20-07-2017 11:35AM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

My 16 month old doesn't take bottles, and she has never used a soother. She still breastfeeds in the morning, evening and in the middle of the night if she wakes up but I feel like she's just using it for comfort rather than for thirst as she stops quickly, messes around, goes back on and repeat for as long as she feels like.
The problem is, she's getting lots of teeth and feeding her is really starting to hurt (especially my right boob for some reason). I'd love to wean her off but I'm not sure how. Would I be mad to give her a soother?[/quote

Personally I say go for it, whatever makes life easier for u. I started giving my daughter a soother when I was weaning her (also at 16 months!). It worked a charm. She only takes it at nighttime and I'd say I'll get her off it handy enough ( unlike my 3 year old who is took a soother from birth and is totally addicted!)

Cakerbaker · 20-07-2017 12:28PM

ncmc wrote: »

Hi guys, I have a 3 week old and I have to leave him for a few hours this Saturday. I have plenty of milk expressed as he was in neo natal for the first week. I was thinking of leaving him 2 x 4oz bottles. Does this sound like enough? I'll be gone a max of 4 hours. I just don't want to defrost a load and it go to waste. I'll be gone a max of 4 hours and can come home earlier if needed. TIA!

My oh used to just defrost milk under warm running water as needed. Maybe be possible to do this instead of leaving too much and wasting some.

jlm29 · 20-07-2017 12:38PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

My 16 month old doesn't take bottles, and she has never used a soother. She still breastfeeds in the morning, evening and in the middle of the night if she wakes up but I feel like she's just using it for comfort rather than for thirst as she stops quickly, messes around, goes back on and repeat for as long as she feels like.
The problem is, she's getting lots of teeth and feeding her is really starting to hurt (especially my right boob for some reason). I'd love to wean her off but I'm not sure how. Would I be mad to give her a soother?

my middle boy, who is 19 mo, never took a soother. My milk dried up around 14 mo because I was pregnant. I tried a soother for comfort then and he was having none of it, so your lg might not take one either. I started giving him a bottle of cows milk then going to bed. He loved it for a while, but a couple of months ago, just stopped taking that. I'm so glad now that there's no soother to be trying to get off him. While he was bottle crazy for a while, I really regretted giving it to him because I thought he'd never give it up!

If I were you, I would probably try to avoid the soother, though I would give it if times were tough! If you could use rocking, singing, anything else to comfort, it would be easier in the long run. My boy is, (at last!!) lying down in his cot at night and going to sleep with minimal fuss!

scarepanda · 20-07-2017 02:54PM

I don't know how your freezing your expressed milk. But when I'm putting some in the freezer I leave the bag on its side so that the milk is not to thick anywhere which means that it's defrosts very quickly. I used never, or at least very rarely leave milk out ahead of time because it was so easy to defrost and therefore I never risked loosing some because it was unused.

catrionanic · 20-07-2017 06:45PM

scarepanda wrote: »

I don't know how your freezing your expressed milk. But when I'm putting some in the freezer I leave the bag on its side so that the milk is not to thick anywhere which means that it's defrosts very quickly. I used never, or at least very rarely leave milk out ahead of time because it was so easy to defrost and therefore I never risked loosing some because it was unused.

Exactly this. I freeze mine in 2oz bags laid on their side. Hubby pops it in warm water and it's defrosted in minutes. He says it's quicker to both defrost and warm the frozen milk than it is to warm up a bottle of milk I've left in a bottle in the fridge.

scarepanda · 20-07-2017 06:50PM

catrionanic wrote:

Exactly this. I freeze mine in 2oz bags laid on their side. Hubby pops it in warm water and it's defrosted in minutes. He says it's quicker to both defrost and warm the frozen milk than it is to warm up a bottle of milk I've left in a bottle in the fridge.

I'm the same as you, only to 1/2/3oz to a bag even though I know she will take 6-8oz a feed

catrionanic · 20-07-2017 09:11PM

scarepanda wrote: »

I'm the same as you, only to 1/2/3oz to a bag even though I know she will take 6-8oz a feed

6-8oz?!?! Wow, that's a lot for a breastfed baby! I've heard LCs say they shouldn't really need more than 4? How old is she?

I say this in panic because I'm returning to work part-time next Saturday and am frantically trying to pump enough to do him while I'm away, as he's not even six months yet. I have 93oz in the freezer and by kellymom's estimates, that'll only do me six working days!

scarepanda · 20-07-2017 10:25PM

Aw sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. She's 11 months now and she took 7.5oz the last time she got a bottle. Now she doesn't get them to often and it was at bed time which is normally a big feed for her. Tbh I couldn't tell you what she would take during the day, but I wouldn't say it would be that much going by how much she takes from her beakers during the day. She usually only gets bottles at bedtime.

Btw fair play to you for having so much in the freezer already!!!

rainbow kirby · 24-07-2017 09:10AM

My son never took more than around 5-6oz in a bottle until he was over a year old. The idea with giving 4oz is generally paced bottle feeding and a very slow teat on the bottle.

texas star · 27-07-2017 10:46AM

Hi I went through the exact same with my little girl.She would scrap her teeth off the nipple so much so it actually looked like nipple could fall off agony.I used Multi-mam nipple care and found it brilliant.I also told her to open up wide before putting her on the boob.It really was a phase and she's 2 I'm September and just feeds now before bed.Im letting her self whin.For me I'm away alot from her it's our way of connecting.

Give her some capol before bed she's probably going mad with her gums paining and your boob's are a good comfort and breastmilk has anti-inflamory that helps.

tigger123 · 28-07-2017 10:19AM

Hi there,

Myself and my partner are having two breastfeeding issues which we need some advice on:

1) Our two week year old sometimes needs to be awoken in the night for her feeds. When she is awoken she falls asleep on the boob, not always interested in feeding, but we're wondering is she a bit too comfortable? My wife is doing everything she can to keep her awake, but just can't get her interested, and we're getting concerned about her feeding pattern (and not getting a feed every 3/4 hours)

2) Over the last day when she is being fed from the boob, or from a bottle of expressed milk she's hungry, feeding very enthusiastically, but also stops and arches her back like she's in pain and cries out. Has anyone come across this?

waterfaerie · 28-07-2017 10:43AM

tigger123 wrote: »

Hi there,

Myself and my partner are having two breastfeeding issues which we need some advice on:

1) Our two week year old sometimes needs to be awoken in the night for her feeds. When she is awoken she falls asleep on the boob, not always interested in feeding, but we're wondering is she a bit too comfortable? My wife is doing everything she can to keep her awake, but just can't get her interested, and we're getting concerned about her feeding pattern (and not getting a feed every 3/4 hours)

2) Over the last day when she is being fed from the boob, or from a bottle of expressed milk she's hungry, feeding very enthusiastically, but also stops and arches her back like she's in pain and cries out. Has anyone come across this?

They can be sleepy like that when they're just newborn but it could be something like a tongue tie that's making it tiring for the baby to feed. I would strongly advise you to get a lactation consultant, preferably an IBCLC. They will do a thorough assessment and make an individual plan with you for your baby. Even if there is no tongue tie or anything like that, they will help with things like positioning and latch to help the baby feed more effectively.

If you have to wait for an appointment, some things to try in the meantime to wake her up while she's feeding are blowing gently on her face, tickling her feet, squeezing her shoulders gently, wetting a cloth or cotton wool with cold water and wiping her face, neck, arms or legs. She will probably still keep falling asleep but just keep doing these things every time she drifts off on the breast until you're happy she's had enough.

You should also try burping her frequently during feeds. That will wake her and may help with the back arching if it's wind that's causing that as well. The lactation consultant should be able to diagnose what might be causing that, too.

A poor latch, which may or may not be caused by a tongue tie, can cause both sleepiness and bad wind so an IBCLC is definitely the way to go.

Also, I know it's hard but, if your wife can, try to keep the baby at the breast as much as possible and minimise the expressed milk in a bottle.

jlm29 · 28-07-2017 11:50AM

The arching the back could well be wind, as above, wind her regularly.

Has your baby regained enough weight to be back at their birth weight? Is she having plenty wet and dirty nappies throughout the day? If she's gaining weight, and there's no concerns about milk transfer, I wouldn't worry awfully if she's going longer than 3-4 hours between feeds- she might just be having enough at other times. Enjoy the rest!

Again- at just two weeks, unless it's absolutely necessary- I'd stick to just breastfeeding, and avoid expressing. Pumping early on can contribute to oversupply- the milk coming too hard and fast at the baby can be uncomfortable for them! If you are bottle feeding, look up paced feeding- sometimes the flow from the bottle is a bit much for them too!

Teeley · 28-07-2017 09:56PM

waterfaerie wrote: »

They can be sleepy like that when they're just newborn but it could be something like a tongue tie that's making it tiring for the baby to feed. I would strongly advise you to get a lactation consultant, preferably an IBCLC. They will do a thorough assessment and make an individual plan with you for your baby. Even if there is no tongue tie or anything like that, they will help with things like positioning and latch to help the baby feed more effectively.

If you have to wait for an appointment, some things to try in the meantime to wake her up while she's feeding are blowing gently on her face, tickling her feet, squeezing her shoulders gently, wetting a cloth or cotton wool with cold water and wiping her face, neck, arms or legs. She will probably still keep falling asleep but just keep doing these things every time she drifts off on the breast until you're happy she's had enough.

You should also try burping her frequently during feeds. That will wake her and may help with the back arching if it's wind that's causing that as well. The lactation consultant should be able to diagnose what might be causing that, too.

A poor latch, which may or may not be caused by a tongue tie, can cause both sleepiness and bad wind so an IBCLC is definitely the way to go.

Also, I know it's hard but, if your wife can, try to keep the baby at the breast as much as possible and minimise the expressed milk in a bottle.

From my own experience, this reply is brilliant advice. A lactation consultant is worth her weight in gold!

waterfaerie · 29-07-2017 08:28AM

I paid €90 for a home visit which lasted at least 3 hours and she also provided plenty of follow up by phone and text for no charge.

scarepanda · 29-07-2017 08:39AM

I went to the hospital run class and it was nothing to write home about. The hospital LC was also nothing short of useless when I needed her the most and I came so very close to quitting on day 3 because of her.

Next time around (hopefully) I'll be going to the breastfeeding support classes around here before bubs arrives and I'll have more, better research done about local LC that I will call as soon as I have any issues. Tbh as long as the cost isn't a stupid price, it's worth spending it at the beginning and getting on the right track early on over trying to struggle through for the sake of a relatively small amount of money - if you end up having to quit before your ready you'll spend it fairly quickly on formula anyways (and I'm not saying that to bottle bash)

spottybananas · 29-07-2017 08:54AM

There's also great online fb breastfeeding support groups, lots of experienced mums and also lc's, midwives and cuidiu members on them. There's a "Breastfeeding Mammies in..." for each county, and another huge Irish group which is always busy and helpful be it 1am or 5am! There's always someone else up feeding on it

The lc in the hospital I went to is useless, I got better help from Cuidiu group, but I was "lucky" in that my son was in scbu so I got some good 1-1 advice there. I also got crap advice there, babies feeding longer than 20 minutes are making a fool of you apparently (cant do roll eyes on phone).

scarepanda · 29-07-2017 08:54AM

Ya, tbh there's only so much you can prep for before baby arrives. You won't know till then what they're latch is likely, how well they feed, how well your body will take to feeding (I was very sore and I think part of it is just gene's as my mam was the same apparently). There's so many unknowns untill they arrive.

If money is tight, I think I would wait and spend the money after baby arrives, that's if you even have any issues bad enough to see a lc rather than before. Especially if your going to the hospital class (which I presume is free) and a support group. Between both of them you should be able to get enough info to prep. But I wouldn't not spend the money for a session because of money. You'll spend it in different ways further down the line (which are only significant if you really have your heart set on breastfeeding) iykwim.

scarepanda · 29-07-2017 09:06AM

spottybananas wrote:

The lc in the hospital I went to is useless, I got better help from Cuidiu group, but I was "lucky" in that my son was in scbu so I got some good 1-1 advice there. I also got crap advice there, babies feeding longer than 20 minutes are making a fool of you apparently (cant do roll eyes on phone).

Aw jez some of the advice you get off people is shocking! I used to get 'shes awful hungry' and ' shes feeding again? She shouldn't be eating that soon'. The thing was when she was a new born she was a grazer and would eat quick and usually only on one side, but she would eat often. I have to say it made me fairly self conscious that I was doing something wrong, especially as the PHN had her knickers in a twist over her weight gain!

scarepanda · 29-07-2017 09:33AM

Sometimes you can have to much information as well as it can stress you out more than it helps! Tbh in my experience, it's just one of those things that you can't predict anything about till baby arrives.
And when your in the middle of it all, dealing with all the emotion, most of the info you will have gathered will go out the window! Make sure your husband knows the important bits of info as he'll be the one with the clearer head!

I remember, my supply was slow coming in because first baby, section and I lost more blood than normal, so bubs was starving on day 2. I was in agony with nipple pain (worse than contractions or section) and had a dose of the baby blues. My lo was roaring coz she was hungry and I couldn't go near her because it only made her worse. It was awful. But in the middle of it all I took a notion that I didn't want her topped up with formula. I didn't and don't have any issues with formula, but in the midst of everything I took the notion that it was all or nothing for me. She ended up getting donor milk. But when I think back to it, it was ridiculous! Thankfully the hospital didn't put me under too much pressure about formula, but in the bigger scheme of things it wouldn't have made any difference what so ever! She was still being supplemented for 18 hours albeit with donor milk. But the notion came from too much info about allergies etc.

ncmc · 29-07-2017 12:53PM

I definitely wouldn't bother with a LC before the baby arrives. As Scarepanda said, all information will go out the window once the baby arrives. It's no harm knowing the basics in advance, but until the baby arrives, it won't really 'click'. Joining a BF support group now is a great idea, they are a wealth of information and they should be able to help you with issues you may have. You may not need a LC at all.

Plus, bear in mind, you may not have any issues at all! A lot of the posts on here are about people having problems but that's because you're hardly likely to come on here and say 'everything is going great' you only post if there's a problem! So reading too much online may not be a great idea. Maybe I was lucky, but I'm currently BF my second baby and I never had any issues at all. I think my biggest problem with my first was not trusting my own body and doubting myself. I was constantly worrying if she was getting enough, despite the evidence in front of my eyes. I was demented weighing her and even weighing her nappies at one stage! This time I'm much more relaxed and things are going great.

So if I had one piece of advice it would be to relax, and trust your own body. It's designed to do this! Ignore what any body else says. If baby needs feeding, feed it. It doesn't matter if it's only a short time since the last feed, a lot of babies are grazers, especially in the early days. It doesn't mean you're not producing enough. In fact, it's a good thing for bonding and encouraging production.

Lastly, you might be lucky with the hospital LC, there is a woman in CUMH called Susan and she is absolutely fantastic! I'm sure there's some bad ones out there, but my experience with her and indeed the midwives in CUMH was only positive.

kat939 · 30-07-2017 12:58PM

Firstly, since this is my first time posting in this thread I just want to say thanks to everyone who has posted questions and advice up till now - I've read through every page during my now 13 weeks of breastfeeding and it saved my sanity at times! Just knowing that lots of different things could still be 'normal' and not to panic really helped, as well as the fact that so many people mentioned how much easier it gets with time (which I can now absolutely confirm!)

Secondly, in terms of breastfeeding support before vs after you have the baby, I'd agree with what a lot of other posters have said - once you have some general information about what to look out for anything else is really going to be about your individual circumstances and baby when you actually start feeding so I would wait until then to start spending money if you can at all. It might also be worth checking out what supports are available through your hospital - I found the LCs and midwives in hospital (Limerick) very good to help me in the first few days. They were crazy busy so we didn't have that much time, but I just called for help for most of the first feeds and we were off. There's also a local HSE breastfeeding clinic which I found good - we were lucky in that we didn't have any major issues, no tongue tie or anything so I don't know how it would be for that, but when I just needed reassurance that he was gaining weight (he lost over 10% of his birth weight so we were in hospital an extra night and it gave us a bit of a fright - turned out he was just a sleepy baby and once he woke up a bit he was grand) and that it can be normal for a baby to be latched on pretty much permanently in the first few weeks (which it was for us!) it was great to have someone there & because it's part of the maternity care it's free obviously:) so it might be worth investigating whether there's anything similar local to you. Like a lot of things I'm sure it would depend on the situation and who you met, but still worth investigating:)
One more tip - because one of things you'll be looking out for is wet nappies, we found the ones with the line that turns blue quite reassuring, at least we knew it was definitely wet. I'm sure there are other ways to know but when we were just starting out and overwhelmed and sleep deprived I was taking all the short cuts I could;)

Good luck!

Lucuma · 31-07-2017 10:27AM

Someone mentioned Susan the LC from CUMH and I just googled her and found this. http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/healthandlife/yourhealth/working-lifesusan-odriscoll-lactation-consultant-cumh-423353.html I recognise her, I went to the Outpatient public BF clinic on a Wed in CUMH with no.2 and she was who I eventually saw.....after waiting hours, and hours. In hindsight why didn't I just stump for a private LC! She only had time to discuss one of my issues with me as well due to the queue

waterfaerie · 31-07-2017 06:38PM

I'm hoping to get some advice about breastfeeding and going back to work. I'm going to ask at my local Cuidiú group as well but I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience of it.

I'll be going back at the end of August and she'll be a week short of 6 months old. I'll be job sharing but even though it's only part time, I'm totally heartbroken about it! I'll be on a cycle of 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on and then 7 days off.

I'm lucky in that my husband will be a stay at home Dad so at least she'll be with him and the plan is for her to take expressed milk in a cup while I'm gone. We're planning to start trying the cup with her a couple of weeks beforehand. Has anyone used a Doidy cup before and am I crazy to expect her to just take it?

I'll be gone from about 8am until about 3.30pm and I'm only going to be able to express just once in the middle of the day, due to break time restrictions. Is that going to be enough?

Whatever I express one day, my husband will give the next day, although he'll divide it up and spread it between 2 or 3 feeds. I've loads in the freezer as a backup in case of spills etc but the plan is for her to take no more than I'm able to express, as I want my supply to keep up with her. Does that sound right?

I'm worried about two things really. Firstly, I'm worried about her feeling abandoned while I'm gone and secondly, I'm worried about keeping my supply going as I'd like to breastfeed until she's 2 at least. At the moment, we're together all the time and she's feeding on demand so the new routine goes against everything I believe in and everything we're both used to.

Also, once a fortnight I have to do yard duty (I'm a teacher) and I won't have any time to express at all. Does anyone know anything about my rights in this regard? I know there are provisions until 6 months old but do I have any rights at all after that? I plan to express during my own lunch time but that is impossible on the days when I don't get a proper lunch time in the first place! Are the school allowed to impose that on me? I'm not asking for additional breaks but I feel I should be entitled to a normal break like mothers in other professions would have. As a teacher, I've never complained about days with no break at all but now that I'm a mother, I have a different perspective on things!

I know I've asked a lot of different questions there so thanks if you can answer any of them.

The Breast Feeding Support Thread

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