June '14 BFing/Pumping Questions Thread

Savvy122

Any idea what would cause a sudden drop in supply?  I have actually been dealing with an oversupply - literally yesterday was engorged and leaking, to the point that I was pumping between feedings just to get some relief.  Today, I am practically empty.  D has been nursing on both sides when we usually just do one side per feeding and still isn't satisfied.  Also, I'm not pumping nearly as much as I normally do (we give a bottle in the morning and evening when he gets Zantac and I pump at those feedings).  I'd generally get at least 4 ounces and now I'm barely getting 2.  What gives?

ChristineBaker23

AmyG* said:

ChristineBaker23 said:

@AmyG

AmyG* said:

ChristineBaker23 said:

Baby Cora will not take a bottle or paci. The pacifier I'm not too worried about but I would like to be able to give her a bottle from time to time. When I try to bottle feed she ends up gagging violently then screaming (same with paci, even hurled everywhere one time). She is 5 weeks old and has taken a bottle twice previously but now all of a sudden she is not a fan. Any tips guys?

@ChristineBaker23

Be more stubborn than baby.  Try a bottle every single day at same time of day (or try a totally different time of day if you thik she has more patience earlier or later in the day).

Try a botle nipple that looks more like your nipple at the end of a nursing session in shape, length and diameter.  or try one that is totally different.  try a firmer or a softer nipple.  while super slow flow is best overall, at first try faster or slower flow to see if she has a preference.

allow her to open wide and take the nipple into her mouth, don't just push it in there or she'll gag.  have dad or someone ele give bottle with you not around at all.

use breastmilk in the bottle, or try formula.  try warm and try cold.

try when she's wide awake, or half asleep, calm and wants to suck but mostly full, or crying and starved. 

But keep trying.  don't give up and throw your hands up in the air. 

unless you are a SAHM like me and then you give up and move on to soft spout sipper cups ;)and never give bottles. 

Thanks for the advice/encouragement. Today was day three on the bottle front. I'm mostly getting tired of tossing whole bottles of breastmilk out. Tonight I gave daddy the bottle and made myself scarce. I also ran the nipple under warm water to make it feel more like home. She took it for about five seconds and that's it. Then I tried offering it to her by putting it under my armpit and holding her like I would to nurse her. She seemed interested but then she tried to latch on and it made her gag . (The gagging happens before any sucking so I am pretty sure it's the nipple not the flow that causes her to gag) I have some first years stage one breastflow bottles headed my way and the nipple looks much more like my own. Why do they make bottles with such long nipples on them? I was also thinking of trying to get a preemie bottle but I bet her latch would cause the nipple to collapse. I've heard they are a softer thinner plastic? I am a sahm but I'd like some booze occasionally and I need a date night!

Hows it going now? any changes?
Have someone aside from you give the bottle!

The premied nipples are used by a lot of bf babies without collapsing the nipple. so I'd probably give it a try.

 

Cora finally took a bottle tonight! She took it for a minute then got mad so I gave it to her with a syringe to calm her back down and then she took the rest and even fell asleep taking it. So far, loving the breastflow bottle. The nipple is very short and similar to my actual nipple.

katekat8721

Paging our BF experts! I think I'm having overactive letdown or oversupply or hell, I don't know. When the babies start nursing they usually cough, choke, and push away the boob because I'm assuming I'm drowning them. I get engorged every 3 hours or so and leak. From kellymom it sounds like it may be oversupply. I don't want to reduce my supply at all but I want to make it more manageable so that the girls get more hindmilk and don't fill up on just the foremilk (and then get hungry/crabby an hour later). Any ideas?

H&H2014

Ugh, LO had horrible day and night of breastfeeding. She's having trouble latching on and gets frustrated and starts twisting and writhing. If she does manage to get latched she twists off and pulls down which removes the nipple shield. It's sooooooo frustrating. I try to burp or offer other side and she does the same thing. It's driving me not to want to do this anymore. She's gnawed off my right nipple again. I'm annoyed and upset because I'm so annoyed.

Also she won't fall asleep any way but the on the boob. Then I have to pick her up and try to lay her in cradle without waking her up. We have about a 50% success rate. If she wakes up I have to put her back on and start over. I'm tired of being the only one to get her to sleep. She's 1 month today. Is this normal or do I need to break this habit?

BMaidPlanner

I wanted to pump this morning but she keeps wanting to eat and both breasts feel empty.

Worried I'll never have my stash in time. Any tips?

otter1103

@katekat8721‌ you could try pumping just for a couple minutes to get past the letdown. I've seen that mentioned before and the laid back nursing has also been mentioned.

katekat8721

Thank you guys! I'm feeling so defeated the past few days. Tandem nursing was easier when they were itty bitties. Now it's hard and uncomfortable and really draining since they're not eating efficiency so it's taking a couple hours to get through. Plus with them choking and drowning, ugh! I ended up just pumping this morning and it was much easier. Nursing one at a time is fine, it's both that makes me want to throw in the towel.

/end vent

Savvy122

amoot890 said:

Savvy122 said:

Any idea what would cause a sudden drop in supply?  I have actually been dealing with an oversupply - literally yesterday was engorged and leaking, to the point that I was pumping between feedings just to get some relief.  Today, I am practically empty.  D has been nursing on both sides when we usually just do one side per feeding and still isn't satisfied.  Also, I'm not pumping nearly as much as I normally do (we give a bottle in the morning and evening when he gets Zantac and I pump at those feedings).  I'd generally get at least 4 ounces and now I'm barely getting 2.  What gives?

@savvy122 *NOT* an expert, but this came up with my LC just the other day and she said that most people start with oversupply that is hormone driven and then around 6 weeks you balance out and becomes supply/demand driven.

shannonliggett said:

I was told to give LO vitamin D drops but the drug store didn't have the "one drop" kind so we've been giving him D-Vi-Sol. In the past few days, LO has been pooping once every few days as opposed to his normal three-ish times a day. Is it the vitamins? An EBF thing? Normal six weeks old thing?

@shannonliggett Repeat - not an expert, just repeating what LC told me the other day - 6 weeks and after is when it can be normal for bowel movements to drop off. I'm looking forward to it! LO just destroyed three diapers in a 10 minutes period..

Thanks @amoot890!  Tha actually makes sense.  I guess I am just used to practically drowning D with milk.  He's also had fewer dirty diapers, which also worried me, but I guess that's normal too.

Jazznit1984

I had my first breakdown yesterday night. Tired if being chained to the house because of LO feeding schedule. It takes her an hour to feed and that leaves me two hours (if I'm lucky) until her next feed. MIL comes in four days and I was hoping id have some milk stashed in the freezer. To date I have 1 3oz portion and it wiped me out pumping and feeding all day to get it. I live in singapore, and although it's very westernized.. There is no way i can feed in public even with a modesty apron. What am I going to do when they get here? I was tempted to buy formula and feed LO that when we go on outings. Would this be ok? Or would this ruin everything? Arrg

ElTrain5

Anybody else having a problem with green poop in an EBF baby? I looked on the Internet and all I can find is oversupply issues which I definitely don't have. I pump after nursing and only get about half an ounce and If DH gives a bottle (of expressed milk) and I pump instead I barely get 2 ounces that's definitely not oversupply. LO is 17 days and seems to get green poops all day when I'm nursing. when I'm pumping his poops turn back to mustardy color so confused.

Taymiller

@Jazznit1984‌ - yes get formula for outings, you need to be able to leave the house for your sanity! We had to supplement formula this last couple of days because my nips are dying and LO was just fine with the formula.

AbbySeiden

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only on conflicted about a paci - at night after I feed him and he's asleep I put him down and often he wakes up, so I have to pick him up and put him back on the boob for like 3 minutes when he passes out again - this can happend 2 or 3 times and I keep wonder of he's actually hungry or it's the perfect opportunity for a paci. Same with when my husband gives him a bottle of pumped milk he never falls asleep after and that feeding is supposed to be my break! So I figure maybe a paci after the bottle with some cuddling? He's 3 weeks old.

AbbySeiden

This sounds exactly like me - I made so much milk my boy would fall asleep in a milk coma and I'd still need to pump on top of that! Now I feel empty all the time and feeding take forever. The only difference is I'm only 3 weeks in ...

H&H2014

@ElTrain5‌ we also had some green poop days. I think it was a foremilk /hindmilk imbalance. I've been sticking to one side for 2-3 hours instead of switching after 30 min. We are now back to yellow with occasional green.

kbellizio3

@ElTrain5‌ my pediatrician said that green is normal. We've had a couple green poops too. She said anything other than yellow green or brown to call in though.

elsa1688

@ElTrain5‌ I have heard it can also be a hind milk imbalance (which can occur with oversupply but also on it's own). Try nursing on one side only. You can also massage/ compress the breast while baby is nursing to increase hind milk intake

elsa1688

AbbySeiden said:

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only on conflicted about a paci - at night after I feed him and he's asleep I put him down and often he wakes up, so I have to pick him up and put him back on the boob for like 3 minutes when he passes out again - this can happend 2 or 3 times and I keep wonder of he's actually hungry or it's the perfect opportunity for a paci. Same with when my husband gives him a bottle of pumped milk he never falls asleep after and that feeding is supposed to be my break! So I figure maybe a paci after the bottle with some cuddling? He's 3 weeks old.

I would give him the paci.

Jazznit1984

@Taymiller thanks for the encouragement. Think I will give not a try today.

babygabe614

How many oz should a baby be getting in a feeding at 1 week old? I'm so confused about how to gauge if she's getting enough, and the whole "base it on how many wet/dirty diapers" method doesn't really answer ny question. She's having enough diapers per day but when we nurse for 15 min per side (30 min total) and then top her off with 1oz of either pumped breast milk or formula, she often still seems hungry and will wake up screaming later. We feed her every 3 hours. How do i go about making sure shes satisfied after a feeding without pumping her too full of BM/formula? Should I increase the size of the supplement? Nurse more frequently (every 2 hours)?

roadspeckle

@babygabe614‌ - why do you feed her every 3 hours? Does she only wake up that much? I let LO eat off of one breast as long as he's hungry/until he pulls himself off. I was told they won't eat unless they're hungry, so feed until she seems full. Maybe you need to nurse every two hours instead? LO has consistently eaten every 1.5-2 hours since birth, couldn't bare to go any longer in the earlier weeks. Only time he goes longer is he he has a longer stretch, then he will wake up and eat furiously.

babygabe614

@rachelnjacob‌ @MommyWaldron‌ The LC gave us the three hour recommendation. She probably wouldn't wake up on her own more than that and I still have to wake her for about half of her feedings. I can try waking her more frequently but the lactation consultant was concerned that that would leave us no time to sleep or function... I always let her nurse each side as long as she wants to but she usually falls asleep after 10 to 15 minutes on each side and I have to wake her in between. even though I have to wake her for each side and then wake her another time to take the supplement she always eats it all so I'm wondering if maybe she is just a lazy eater?

Taymiller

@babygabe614‌ - we are 3-4 hour feeders and have been since day one. At a week old I was doing 15 minutes in each side and had to wake him up throughout those feedings and then did 1 oz after. At about a week and a half I started 20 minutes each side and no pumped milk after. (We did have a day where it was all pumped feedings due to a much needed break for my nips) There have only been a couple times he gets up before the 3 hour mark. To me it sounds like you have a lazy eater just like my guy. My LO is gaining weight so what ever we are doing is working.

babygabe614

@Taymiller‌ Yup, sounds like we are in the same boat. My LO gained a good amount of weight since starting the supplementing so I guess it's working, but I am starting to wonder if that 1oz is still enough. I gave her 1.5 at her last feeding to see if she wanted it and she guzzled it all right down...

JulieSmiles

Okay, I'm confused about how much milk I should be producing. I keep seeing on here that a baby will only eat 2-3 ounces when bf'ing and that the milk will change to accommodate their needs. When I went to the ped, she said that my LO should be eating about 4 ounces each feeding (4 weeks old) and that it would be up to 5 ounces soon. Which is correct? I can't figure out if I'm producing enough. Lucy hasn't gained much weight, but we are also dealing with reflux so she was/is spitting up a ton of her food.

elsa1688

If baby is falling asleep, try stripping them down to just a diaper for feedings. You can also tickle their feet, blow on them, jiggle them a little. J was a really lazy eater the first week or two and then figured it out. I was told to let them eat as long as they wanted and once they reach birthweight, they can feed on demand. J rarely goes more than 2-3 hours on his own.

cinnamonsmiles

So how do you get breastmilk stains off of clothes? I leak hardcore before and during feedings so prior to getting pads I had several shirts that now have nice round stains on the boobs...which means no wearing out in public Any advice?

Brittnic531

I have been using a nipple shield since day 1 as we both had issues. Now the biggest issue is my supply and the LC thinks it is because my nips haven't been stimulated enough because of the shield. Our goal now is to wean off of the shield and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for successfully weaning off... I introduce the nip at every feeding but have only had her latch twice. She's just not interested and gets frustrated. Thanks!

irenewslee

JulieSmiles said:

Okay, I'm confused about how much milk I should be producing. I keep seeing on here that a baby will only eat 2-3 ounces when bf'ing and that the milk will change to accommodate their needs. When I went to the ped, she said that my LO should be eating about 4 ounces each feeding (4 weeks old) and that it would be up to 5 ounces soon. Which is correct? I can't figure out if I'm producing enough. Lucy hasn't gained much weight, but we are also dealing with reflux so she was/is spitting up a ton of her food.

My LO is 4 weeks as well and i think she eats about 3ozs per feeding. Sometimes she can go for 4. She typically screams for food every 3-3.5 hrs. I guess if you go by the 1oz per hr, thats about right. I mostly nurse but do about one to two bottles on the weekend so DH can get some one on one time with LO. When we bottle feed, thats about how much we feed her and she seems satisfied. I dont think 3ozs is too little.

katekat8721

Do you find you don't have to burp your BF babies as much as bottle fed?

katekat8721

@wareagle1220‌ Gah mine do that too. Like yo the boobs in your mouth, you gotta just stop screaming and then you can eat and be happy! I don't know why they do it but it's stressful

sjn00

wareagle1220 said:

Sometimes my LO screams bloody murder, kicks her legs and acts starving, then as soon as I get her latched, she sucks a little the pops off and screams again. I'm not sure if it's gas or belly ache. Both. Or something entirely different. It's so frustrating when she just screams and screams and I can't figure out what's wrong.

My LO did this in the beginning when I was still trying to breast feed and it was because the milk flow wasn't fast enough for her and she got mad and through a fit.. I just had to keep relatching =\

mrscbrad

@wareagle1220‌ My LO had the same problem so I started feeding him pumped milk for about an ounce before nursing to calm the hangry so he could focus and latch. It has saved us!

babygabe614

katekat8721 said:

Do you find you don't have to burp your BF babies as much as bottle fed?

@katekat8721 Right now we are BF, pumping, and supplementing with formula and the only times LO really needs a burp seems to be when she has the formula. With BF she will sometimes get a small burp but a lot of times she'll settle after a feeding without it. Formula is the only thing that makes her spit up, too.

Brijonunez

My LO does this a lot now, but only on my left boob. On my right it seems like oversupply or fast let down 'cause it feels more firm than the left and right when she latches on she's gulping really hard.
I'm lopsided.

katekat8721

wareagle1220 said:

@katekat8721‌, she's been eating all afternoon so I feel like she's frustrated with the lack of milk flow. But it just makes me feel like a mom failure.

You're not a mom failure! They're just impatient like Sara said. I massage the boobs a bit and try to bring some milk out so they don't freak out too bad, but there's only so much you can do. I just tell myself it's good for them to be on the boob even if there seems to be no milk, since they're stimulating more milk production!

H&H2014

ktcort13 said:

So I just did a weighted feeding because I've suspected dd isn't getting enough. I messed up the weight on the first side but she got 1 ounce on the second side. She ate twice as long on the second side. She's eating every 2-3 hours so seems like that would work out to a lot less than the 25ounce average. We're doing plenty of diaper changes but she's gaining weight very slow (3 weeks and not back to birth weight).

I'm so worried she isn't getting what she needs. And I'm thinking this might be the cause of her colic symptoms. I'm calling a friend tomorrow who is a LC and I'm really hoping she can help me.

To get back up to our birth weight our LC had me feeding every two hours (waking her) plus supplementing with a bottle of pumped milk (typically was 1-1.5oz). It worked but it was really hard.

whoberry

cinnamonsmiles said:

So how do you get breastmilk stains off of clothes? I leak hardcore before and during feedings so prior to getting pads I had several shirts that now have nice round stains on the boobs...which means no wearing out in public Any advice?

@cinnamonsmiles‌
I am not sure but just learned first hand how to get poop stains out of cloth diapers. Dry them in the sun. It was seriously magical. Maybe you can try that with your shirts?

whoberry

Brittnic531 said:

I have been using a nipple shield since day 1 as we both had issues. Now the biggest issue is my supply and the LC thinks it is because my nips haven't been stimulated enough because of the shield. Our goal now is to wean off of the shield and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for successfully weaning off... I introduce the nip at every feeding but have only had her latch twice. She's just not interested and gets frustrated. Thanks!

@Brittnic531‌ I am currently trying to wean off the shield too. Been using it since the beginning. It sucks because I think it was protecting my nipples and it hurts like crazy when D latches on the left side without it. I am going to try half feedings with and half without and see how that goes.

MrsAy

H&H2014 said:

ktcort13 said:

So I just did a weighted feeding because I've suspected dd isn't getting enough. I messed up the weight on the first side but she got 1 ounce on the second side. She ate twice as long on the second side. She's eating every 2-3 hours so seems like that would work out to a lot less than the 25ounce average. We're doing plenty of diaper changes but she's gaining weight very slow (3 weeks and not back to birth weight).

I'm so worried she isn't getting what she needs. And I'm thinking this might be the cause of her colic symptoms. I'm calling a friend tomorrow who is a LC and I'm really hoping she can help me.

To get back up to our birth weight our LC had me feeding every two hours (waking her) plus supplementing with a bottle of pumped milk (typically was 1-1.5oz). It worked but it was really hard.

We had to do this too when she lost a bunch of weight after we left the hospital and in less than a week she was back to her birth weight and then some. I had to wake her up every time and she would sleep while nursing if I let her, it was hard but it worked.

SecondTimeinMSU

I weaned off the shield maybe two weeks ago. I started by doing without it during his most calm feedings (usually the mid morning, early afternoon). I kept using it longer for the evening and middle of night since he is usually fussier and more frantic then. The right side hurt like none other when he latched on initially but usually after a minute it would be better. I found it helped me to have him hold onto one of my fingers. I am not sure if "holding my hand" helped him relax and find a better latch or if it just relaxed me which allowed me to get over the initial pain. It was frustrating trying and trying and he still can take a minute sometimes to get on right but it was definitely worth it.  It was a pain to always have the shield and have him rip it off me and I think it has helped my supply to not use it. Good luck.

EDIT- I see both of your babies are younger so try not to stress about the shield. I didn't really start pushing it until after his due date and found success more in the 5 week range when he was really more wakeful he had an easier time getting latched on.