The Breast Feeding Support Thread

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???

Elle13 · 11-04-2010 12:04pm

hi girls, so here i am meeting you all again just in different thread...
Glad to see yous are sticking to breast feeding..
I am exclusively reast feeding Tobiash and would love to continue... just got my nipples cracked.. Am using the breast shealds for last 2 days and cream after each feed.. they seams to be getting a bit better but nowhere close to great yet.. Any of you know how long the healing process of cracked nipples can take? I was told its only a queastion of couple of days just does not seams to be my case..
Do you know if I could use the nipple shealds for as long as I need them or is it only good to use them for couple of days till you recover

Thanks a mill.

ebmma · 11-04-2010 4:37pm

Elle13 wrote: »

hi girls, so here i am meeting you all again just in different thread...
Glad to see yous are sticking to breast feeding..
I am exclusively reast feeding Tobiash and would love to continue... just got my nipples cracked.. Am using the breast shealds for last 2 days and cream after each feed.. they seams to be getting a bit better but nowhere close to great yet.. Any of you know how long the healing process of cracked nipples can take? I was told its only a queastion of couple of days just does not seams to be my case..
Do you know if I could use the nipple shealds for as long as I need them or is it only good to use them for couple of days till you recover
Thanks a mill.

Hi! Don't know about the shields - never used them. But I had cracked nipples and it definitely took longer than a couple of days for them to heal. Although that might be because they kept being damaged as they healed. It was frustrating - nearly healed and then one feed with incorrect latch and they'll be bleeding again!! :eek::eek::( so glad it's over now!

Nevyn · 11-04-2010 6:44pm

I used nipples shields on and off with both kids, first off to heal up the cracked nipples and then when they would go through growth spurts which had them need a lot more.

bogtotty · 11-04-2010 10:14pm

Hi Elle, you could also try using breast shells between feeds. They are a bit like a cup that keeps your clothing off your skin and allows the air in - works best with lashings of lansinoh - don't spare it, you won't need it once you get past this first tricky bit. Better still if you can go topless - I practically spent the first month with my boobs out. It took about 3 weeks for my one nasty crack to heal up completely. Try different positions so that Tobiash has the cracked bit to the side of his mouth rather than having his top or bottom lip directly in contact with it.

Das Kitty · 11-04-2010 10:52pm

Am I the only one who finds Nipple Shields even more painful?

By the way I had a massive fissure on my left nipple that wouldn't heal and was getting worse. That's how I finally got diagnosed with Thrush, it started healing almost as soon as I began treatment.

Elle13 · 12-04-2010 10:33pm

bogtotty wrote: »

Hi Elle, you could also try using breast shells between feeds. They are a bit like a cup that keeps your clothing off your skin and allows the air in - works best with lashings of lansinoh - don't spare it, you won't need it once you get past this first tricky bit. Better still if you can go topless - I practically spent the first month with my boobs out. It took about 3 weeks for my one nasty crack to heal up completely. Try different positions so that Tobiash has the cracked bit to the side of his mouth rather than having his top or bottom lip directly in contact with it.

Hiya Bogtotty, thanks a mill for that.. Tobiash is 8 days old and I have nearly gone through one tube of Lansinoh.. just after buying my secon tube today... Think my right nipple is nearly healed so i tried to one feed without the shield today.. It was ok.. but I know it needs another little bit before it heals 100%.. I dont want to rush it up so it heals properly.. only hope it wont come back again..
THe left one is still quite sore but definately better then it was.. I do a lit of topless thingy around the house too.. wondering how himself puts up with me.. it looks awfull

:o:o
Heard today that apparently Bipanthen is suppose to work on cracked nipples too and even better then lansinoh.. so wondering

if to try it or stick to what I am doing as it works.. slowly but surely

neeb · 13-04-2010 7:56pm

ebmma wrote: »

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.

Brilliant!
DD was a model baby and started waking at 3 months. You are not in control of you child, do what you can to get sleep for everyone.
Slings can be useful t help baby go sleep. A ring sling or stretchy wrap like a moby wrap (look on internet as they are not stocked here) are good for newborns.

TargetWidow · 13-04-2010 9:32pm

OP I am no help to you with the breast feeding questions as I couldn't manage it for more than a few days but the sleep issues I triumphed over! Have you tried swaddling your little one? It can be very soothing for them as a previous poster has said their moro reflex (which makes them thrash their arms and legs and startles them) can be quite strong and swaddling eliminates this. It also makes them feel secure and safe. Another top tip I got and used very effectively was to fit dimmer switches in any bedroom in which they will sleep. About 10 minutes before they go into the cot/moses basket, dim the lights quite low. They learn very quickly that this is the signal for sleepy time now and after another two or three weeks will respond accordingly whenever you dim the lights! It really helps too if you are getting up in the night for feeds/nappies etc that they almost "sleepfeed" if you use the dimmed light, and it's much easier to resettle them again. I never rocked my little one when she was tiny but now that she is two and there is another on the way she gets 10 mins and a story in the rocking chair with one of the two of us every night but still with the dimmer switch on low. It works a treat. We turn the lights on low and she says "oh look, sleepy time now." Worth the effort. Good luck and be sure to really enjoy your little one.:D

January · 13-04-2010 10:01pm

As above, cannot comment on the breast feeding as never managed it for more than a couple of days. But I swore by swaddling on my first baby, she just settled straight away once I started doing it. Her startle reflex was really strong and if her hand even brushed her cheek she was screaming again, the swaddle blanket eliminated that. Only problem is, I ended up doing it till she was nearly 8 months because it became a comfort thing for her so try without the swaddle occasionally to see if she has grown out of the startle reflex.

simu · 14-04-2010 1:14pm

ebmma wrote: »

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??

I agree with this and I think it's awful how so many parenting books urge parents to adopt routines straight away or else... It's far easier to start getting a 6 month old into a routine and most newborns settle into a rough routine by themselves anyway. There's no need to stress about setting up bad habits for years to come in the first few weeks imo!

As for the bfing, I would let the baby suckle away for now - it's comforting and it will help with your milk supply even if she isn't actually drinking. Or if you don't like that, you could rock/cuddle her on your shoulder or facing outwards from your chest; I find that if babies are near a breast, they will want to suckle. Well, just some ideas!

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