Hello all!
I had my baby girl (previously team green) Elena on April 28th. I'll post a birth story and pics just as soon as i can. I have a few questions about breastfeeding and pumping.
We had a rough start to breastfeeding. I delivered on a Sunday and therefore did not get any time with the lactation consultant until afternoon on Monday. We were able to correct my latch easily but she did a lot of damage to my nips before that correction happened. My milk came in strongly on day three which was great. I am still having a considerable amount of pain when she latches. It only lasts for the first couple minutes but it is excruciating. I have to psych myself up to feeding her because I know how badly it's going to hurt. As the feeding goes on it isn't so bad.
I am seriously considering switching to exclusive pumping due to the pain. I haven't pumped at all yet so I dont know if it will be just as painful as well.
My questions are:
How painful is pumping when compared to feeling straight from the breast?
She is 10 days old today. Is it too soon to introduce a bottle?
To those of you that already pump exclusively, have you noticed an impact on your supply?
Should I just tough it out until 3 weeks?
Thanks in advance for the advice!!
Re: breastfeeding questions...
Congratulations and our babies have the same birthday!
I'm not huge pumping help since i refuse to pump this time. With DS1 i pumped and feel strongly it's why i had mastitis so much.
It shouldn't still be hurting at this point, I would guess the latch is too shallow. Somebody posted an awesome video for how to get baby to latch deeper and I found it to be very very helpful to heal my scabbed and ripped up nipples.
Regarding a bottle, I strongly believe its a toss up. Some babies need to wait and other babies love eating and never get confused. You really don't know until try.
DS was not a good latcher in the beginning either and I cried a few times during feedings. It should not hurt. I finally corrected his latch and he no longer nipple feeds. I don't feel any pain anymore. So my advice is that if it hurts, unlatch her, correct your posture and position and try again. You can do it!!
I was going to pump when I was having latching problems and the manual pump I have hurts even MORE!!
I had the same issues exactly with my LO now two weeks old. I would say don't give up! It gets better. If you have really corrected the latch, your nipples will heal with time even with nursing.
I only had bleeding and cracking on one nipple but noticed a difference as soon as we corrected the latch. The pain from first latching was excruciating at first but became better after a minute or two. I used lanolin a lot and spent a lot of time topless to let my nipple get some air.
The pain was so bad at one point that I did pump for a day. For 24 hours I let him nurse on the good side and pumped the other at the same time. Pumping does not hurt as much as baby feeding.
After that I went back to nursing on both sides and as the days went on, the pain became less. Now, I don't even wince when he latches on either breast at 15 days old!
So I say, hang in there! The first few weeks are tough, but you will get there.
Lucas 3.5.11
Tyler 4.23.13
This is a great video
https://www.fitpregnancy.com/motherhood/breastfeeding/how-breastfeed-deep-latch-technique
I EP'd with DD and I can say that pumping can still hurt if your nipples are already raw and damaged. Not as much as BFing, but some. I managed to EP for about 6 months. I noticed that my supply gradually decreased over time until I was pumping 3 times per day to get 1 bottle. At that point I called it a day because it just wasn't worth it.
DS is EBF (I had a lot of problems with DD so I didn't EBF her and went to EP) and had a great latch from the start. Having said that, I still had pain for about the first 2 weeks and then it gradually got better. I also put Lanolin on my nipples before and after each feeding. I really think that helped. I know it's hard, but try to hang on if you can. Most sites say wait to introduce a bottle until 4 weeks, especially if you are having latching issues.
My baby was over 9 pounds, which for some reason triggered them to be checking his blood sugar every couple hours. The end result of this was that a couple times his sugar was too low, so they required him to be on formula since the breast milk was not keeping his sugar up high enough. So, he was on the bottle and breastfeeding at the same time from birth. He's one of the ones PP mentioned who just likes to eat and doesn't care from whence it comes. He also sucks a pacifier between feedings and hasn't had any problems with breastfeeding.
I do pump. I try to do at least one bottle a day so that hubby can have a chance to feed the baby too. My pump is electric and it doesn't hurt me. It has variable suction though, so if it were to start to hurt, I could turn it down a bit, which I have done. When my baby latches, it does sting at the beginning for just a few seconds, and then it doesn't hurt anymore. This does not happen to me with the pump.
I had a great latch in the hospital, but shortly after coming home something went wrong and we started messing up. My right nipple hurt SO bad that I stopped having him nurse from it, and pumped that breast for a week until I was able to see a lactation consultant. I pumped it whenever he would have fed from it (it didn't hurt when I pumped.) The LC helped me fix my mistakes, and now, less than a week later, all issues are resolved and my supply has been great.
I'd definitely see a LC again, and definitely pump if you can! I started using a bottle when he was 6 days old so my husband could feed and had no problems.
I'd go buy a nipple shield before going through the bull of pumping and feeding... wash and repeat. I just started pumping to build a stash and only do it once a day and I already hate it.
GL with what ever you decide!
She gave me a nipple shield and I used it until I was healed. It still hurt but nowhere near as badly. It also prevented her from getting parts of the scabs and blister in her mouth when she ate.
It took about a week to get her off the shield and a lot of patience but it was totally with it.
I would try a shield before pumping and doing bottles. Medela makes a great one with a cut out so your baby's nose can still touch you. If you do go medela, don't get a size small. Owie! My LC told me the smalls are painful for most.
Good luck!
So on day five I started EPing to let my nipples heal. Honestly, it was such a huge relief. My healing nips still hurt, but the actual pumping wasn't painful.
I took a week to heal, and then started reintroducing breastfeeding yesterday. LO had no problem latching on again, and this time it didn't hurt!
Now we are doing a combo of boob and bottle. Pumping doesn't seem like a huge hassle to me. Right now, actually, it is more efficient than breastfeeding because LO keeps falling asleep on my boob so each session takes 45 minutes.
For me, switching to pumping saved my sanity. I obviously don't know how your LO will do switching between a bottle and breast, but my guy had no problem at all. Switching to pumping has been a positive experience for me!
I guess what I'm trying to say is Don't give up yet. I sincerely believe the worst part is behind you. Good luck!
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Nov siggy challenge: animals eating Thanksgiving food
Rhys - born 04.17.2013
Harry - born 04.18.2016