The Great Breastfeeding Thread

lowen83

Lizzy42 said:

I'm thinking there's a correlation between giving LO older freezer milk and increased spit up. Is that a thing?

Were you eating things that could upset lo's tummy when you pumped that milk?

Nichole8787

@ichamommy‌ yes everyday. In public and everywhere! Lol I really need to stop. It's becoming a habit....


Question...Does anyone have experience with nipple shields? My lo latches great but I have an incredibly strong letdown. Do thou think they could help lo handle it easier?

ashlya1

Nichole8787 said:

@ichamommy‌ yes everyday. In public and everywhere! Lol I really need to stop. It's becoming a habit....


Question...Does anyone have experience with nipple shields? My lo latches great but I have an incredibly strong letdown. Do thou think they could help lo handle it easier?

I just weaned my LO off the nipple shield. We started after a couple days of painful latching ( wish I knew enough to tough threw it). So I don't have any experience with using it for strong letdown. I do know it was hard as hell to get her off the shield. And now that we are off we are starting all over (sore nips, engorgement because my milk supply increased big time, learning to latch)! My letdown has been pretty strong so I have been doing a reclined position and it seems to help a bit. There is a le leche league mother to mother forum on facebook too that has been really helpful for me just fyi.

cookiemomma14

If your let down is fistful you could also ley the initial let down in a towel/Burp cloth and then put LO on. Shields are meant for long term use, but can help catch some of the initial let down. If LO already latches well then I personally would not use a shield. You might talk with a LLL leader or ask on one of the mother forums on fb. I'm personally in like 4 of them and they are SO helpful!

bride2012tobe

My baby is 7 weeks old. I am still having a difficult time. The first month I had to supplement with formula due to postpartum bleeding,
Retained placenta, surgery. I had true low milk supply. I did everything pumped, power pumped, supplements, oatmeal, malt sugar Etc.

My baby does great during the night. She sleeps 4-5 hour stretches then eats great. During the day she eats for example at 12:00 for a few min then 12:50 3 min then 2pm 5 min 2:45 3 min. She snacks all day.
Sometimes I am beat and give her like a ounce of pumped milk.

She is making her weight. The doctor thinks I should wean for my own sanity. I think that first month affected her ability to be a great breastfeeder. She liked the formula, liked the bottle. Instant gratification for her.

I want her to get breast milk for all the benefits. Should I try exclusively pumping and give her that during the day and nurse and night? Give up all together?

I am tired, feel like I can never leave the house with her feeding schedule. I love her and want her to get the best. Part of me feels like that is breast milk. Part of me feels like maybe a happier mommy with formula.

hab83

@AnotherDreamer‌ nope, no medications or herbs. Just prenatal vitamins and probiotics.

I also think I may have thrush. Ugh, The LC said my nipple was awfully pink yesterday and to keep an eye on it. It started itching in the middle of the night last night and hasn't stopped.

jrinehart0

bride2012tobe said:

My baby is 7 weeks old. I am still having a difficult time. The first month I had to supplement with formula due to postpartum bleeding,
Retained placenta, surgery. I had true low milk supply. I did everything pumped, power pumped, supplements, oatmeal, malt sugar Etc.

My baby does great during the night. She sleeps 4-5 hour stretches then eats great. During the day she eats for example at 12:00 for a few min then 12:50 3 min then 2pm 5 min 2:45 3 min. She snacks all day.
Sometimes I am beat and give her like a ounce of pumped milk.

She is making her weight. The doctor thinks I should wean for my own sanity. I think that first month affected her ability to be a great breastfeeder. She liked the formula, liked the bottle. Instant gratification for her.

I want her to get breast milk for all the benefits. Should I try exclusively pumping and give her that during the day and nurse and night? Give up all together?

I am tired, feel like I can never leave the house with her feeding schedule. I love her and want her to get the best. Part of me feels like that is breast milk. Part of me feels like maybe a happier mommy with formula.

You should do whatever makes you most comfortable! For me, I just began exclusively pumping during the day and nursing at night. I did it because LO will be going to daycare soon and I hated not being able to quantify what she was eating. It is working really well for me. But, if my supply drops I will begin supplementing with formula. I go to a new moms group facilitated by a nurse and she is very insistent that as long as you can give a little breast milk you should not stress how baby gets it, whether nursing, pumped or supplemented with formula. The more stress you are under, the harder it will all be.

Huahine

jrinehart0 said:

bride2012tobe said:

My baby is 7 weeks old. I am still having a difficult time. The first month I had to supplement with formula due to postpartum bleeding,
Retained placenta, surgery. I had true low milk supply. I did everything pumped, power pumped, supplements, oatmeal, malt sugar Etc.

My baby does great during the night. She sleeps 4-5 hour stretches then eats great. During the day she eats for example at 12:00 for a few min then 12:50 3 min then 2pm 5 min 2:45 3 min. She snacks all day.
Sometimes I am beat and give her like a ounce of pumped milk.

She is making her weight. The doctor thinks I should wean for my own sanity. I think that first month affected her ability to be a great breastfeeder. She liked the formula, liked the bottle. Instant gratification for her.

I want her to get breast milk for all the benefits. Should I try exclusively pumping and give her that during the day and nurse and night? Give up all together?

I am tired, feel like I can never leave the house with her feeding schedule. I love her and want her to get the best. Part of me feels like that is breast milk. Part of me feels like maybe a happier mommy with formula.

You should do whatever makes you most comfortable! For me, I just began exclusively pumping during the day and nursing at night. I did it because LO will be going to daycare soon and I hated not being able to quantify what she was eating. It is working really well for me. But, if my supply drops I will begin supplementing with formula. I go to a new moms group facilitated by a nurse and she is very insistent that as long as you can give a little breast milk you should not stress how baby gets it, whether nursing, pumped or supplemented with formula. The more stress you are under, the harder it will all be.

The frequent daytime nursing may be more about a developmental need to be close to you than hunger. Clinginess and loss of appetite (not eating much per session) is a sign of an upcoming leap. I find the Wonder Weeks book to be really helpful in understanding changes in my LO's behavior.

ariel8200

DD now only nurses on one side per session and I switch sides every session. Should I be pumping the side she doesn't nurse on or am I okay not pumping it because my supply will just adjust to her needs?

DEA31

Just gave first bottle of pumped milk to try introducing the bottle. She drank it in just a few short minutes and it was 3 ounces. I started small so I wouldn't waste if she didn't take it. Any suggestions about how much to give her each time? She started screaming as soon as it was done. I'm wondering if she needs more and/or needs time for her belly to know its full because she ate fast. I go back to work in a week and I seem to learn all this mom stuff by trial and error ahhh! I wish time would stand still.

cookiemomma14

DEA31 said:

Just gave first bottle of pumped milk to try introducing the bottle. She drank it in just a few short minutes and it was 3 ounces. I started small so I wouldn't waste if she didn't take it. Any suggestions about how much to give her each time? She started screaming as soon as it was done. I'm wondering if she needs more and/or needs time for her belly to know its full because she ate fast. I go back to work in a week and I seem to learn all this mom stuff by trial and error ahhh! I wish time would stand still.

Did you try paced bottle feeding? It will help make the feeding last longer and allow her to realize when her belly gets full. How old is LO? 3-4 ounces might be right as long as it's paced. If she is still hungry you can always give her more or nurse her. Also it might help to Burp her half way through the bottle ad if she would of she was nursing. Hope that helps. Good luck!

hab83

DEA31 said:

Just gave first bottle of pumped milk to try introducing the bottle. She drank it in just a few short minutes and it was 3 ounces. I started small so I wouldn't waste if she didn't take it. Any suggestions about how much to give her each time? She started screaming as soon as it was done. I'm wondering if she needs more and/or needs time for her belly to know its full because she ate fast. I go back to work in a week and I seem to learn all this mom stuff by trial and error ahhh! I wish time would stand still.

I just saw an LC today who said 4-6oz would be typical for my son. He's 9 weeks old.

JLHV1909

I was about to give up breast feeding when I realized that the horrible pain I was feeling was being caused by a milk blister. Thank god for dr. Google actually giving me advice I can (and did) use and not telling me that my boobs were going to fall off and I would die a horrible death because of my symptoms.

Warm compresses and baby latching for the win!

TwizzyG

I disagree. My LO is 8 weeks and eats 5-6 ounces every 3 hours (and she's not overweight or anything, very healthy girl).
And the most air is introduced when you put the bottle into the babies mouth, so you should only be stopping to burp about halfway through and at the end, or every ounce at MOST. Otherwise, you just keep making your baby swallow air with the unlatching and relatching.
Also, for a 9 week old...you should not have to use a preemie nipple. If the flow is too slow, your LO will actually have a more difficult time eating because they will get frustrated.

rach1285

@DEA31‌ I mostly pump and feed, my LO is 8 weeks old and eats between 4-6 ounces every 3-4 hours. I usually give him 4 oz of BM and if he's still hungry I offer 2 oz of formula since my supply only allows for that and I'm afraid to waste BM is he's not hungry for the full 6.

lowen83

kam3100 said:

DD now only nurses on one side per session and I switch sides every session. Should I be pumping the side she doesn't nurse on or am I okay not pumping it because my supply will just adjust to her needs?

Yes your body will adjust after a day or two. You could pump the other side and store your extra milk. That's what I did with DS 1 and I had a massive stash!! This time with DS 2 I don't have to time to pump after he eats so I only pump usually once in the am on the breast he didn't eat off of.

cookiemomma14

2lacyblue said:

Question for pumpers. I've read that several of you pump 20+ minutes. If I pump 5 minutes on each side I will get a combined 2-5oz per session. Does the extended pumping time give you a "second wind"?

Sometimes. If I'm pumping because I'm away from LO, like for class, then I'll pump 20 minutes to take care of how long he would normally eat. But honestly when I pump 10 minutes, like after his morning nursing session, I get almost as much, maybe an extra ounce. Others may be different, irk. I know I don't have much patience to be hooked up to the machine!

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cookiemomma14

@TKT17‌ I don't have experience with this, but what I would try is when you start on the right and then go to the left and then go back to the right so that it gets more input to make more milk.

ariel8200

DD is 10 weeks old on Saturday and the majority of the nights she is waking every 2 hours to nurse. Is this still expected or is there a way to know if she is just waking up for comfort? I really don't want to starve her but I'm desperate for more than 1.5 hours of sleep at a time.

nolemomma14

@kam3100‌ does she take a pacifier at all. If it's been less than three hours, I will try and give DS his pacifier first. A lot of times he takes it right away and will go back to sleep for about another hour or more. If he wants nothing to do with it than I go ahead and feed him. He will be 9 weeks on Monday.

ariel8200

@kdelgado03‌ she does take a pacifier. I will try tonight and see if it's hunger or habit that's waking her up. I suppose if she is actually hungry she probably won't fall back asleep.

jwittwer

Friday we had our 2 month checkup and pedi was concerned LO had only gained 9 oz in the past 5 weeks. As a result, she wanted me to pump every 2-3 hours, offer that breast milk, and then offer supplemental formula afterwards. I did this all day Friday and felt completely defeated. I would get 2 oz total each time I pumped (every 3 hours).Yesterday I decided that I would nurse for 20 min each side, then offer the supplemental formula while I pumped. Do you think taking supplements would boost my supply and I would be able to wean LO off the supplemental formula? Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated!

jwittwer

Thanks, Ladies. I go back to the pedi tomorrow.All day today I've been nursing her myself, offering the supplemental formula, and pumping. Seems to be working better than pedi's suggestion of all pumping/no nursing. I am also going to call and get in with an LC this week. I think they may be much more helpful with trying to correct this issue, and hopefully getting me back to EBF. I agree with pp- not sure if the pedi is very BF savvy, so I'm trying to take whatever she told me with a grain of salt.

nolemomma14

How many bottles a week are you ladies giving to LO? I've only been giving DS a bottle a week, if that. I'm home with him during the day, we pretty much take him everywhere with us, and he's down to just one MOTN feeding, so I don't mind getting up instead of having DH give him a bottle, when he was waking up multiple times a night. At his 2 month appt today the pedi suggested that he should be getting more bottles, about 1 a day or more she said. She said it was so LO didn't get use to just the boob, and would take a bottle if he was away from me. I understand that he needs to take bottles when I'm not with him, but do you think it's really necessary to give him 1-2 bottles a day in order to do that? I'm not against the bottles, it's just far more convenient to put him on the boob. What do you ladies think? Any advice is appreciated!

mcvgal

kdelgado03 said:

How many bottles a week are you ladies giving to LO? I've only been giving DS a bottle a week, if that. I'm home with him during the day, we pretty much take him everywhere with us, and he's down to just one MOTN feeding, so I don't mind getting up instead of having DH give him a bottle, when he was waking up multiple times a night. At his 2 month appt today the pedi suggested that he should be getting more bottles, about 1 a day or more she said. She said it was so LO didn't get use to just the boob, and would take a bottle if he was away from me. I understand that he needs to take bottles when I'm not with him, but do you think it's really necessary to give him 1-2 bottles a day in order to do that? I'm not against the bottles, it's just far more convenient to put him on the boob. What do you ladies think? Any advice is appreciated!

we gave DS2 just one bottle per week, starting at 2 weeks. I went back to work last wednesday (12weeks) and he has had no problem being bottle fed while I am at work

lamarei

A bottle a day seems crazy. We found a bottle that worked (latch) and only give her the bottle when we have to, no practice schedule. Needless to say we have only used it twice and not had a problem.

cookiemomma14

@kdelgado03‌ we only give LO a bottle like once a week too. There's no real need for us to since I'm not going back to work. It frustrates DH that it takes him 20 minutes to drink it but that's normal since that's how long he nurses. I say don't feel pressured. Do what you think is best. If LO does take that one bottle just fine then to not stress over it.

nolemomma14

Thanks for all of the feedback. @AnotherDreamer‌ I work from home so LO doesn't have to take a bottle during the day. I pump about every other day and it all goes in the freezer, so when I am away from him there is milk for him. I think I will just offer him a bottle a 2-3 times a week. This way DH can feed him as well, and I know he will take a bottle if needed. DH and I are going to a concert next week and he will have to take a couple of bottles for MIL.

shortstack930

@quinncat‌ a friend of mine had the medela freestyle so she would pump while driving since it was hands free. Although if you got pulled over I imagine it would be awkward...

rachelchristina

Summerlovin314 said:

I will say that we were given the go-ahead to introduce bottles at 2 weeks since LO was eating so well, and the first bottle went great! Then, it went totally downhill.  She cried, screamed, refused to eat, and when she did eat, swallowed so much air that she puked it all back up.  We were getting so stressed out, especially since I was returning back to work at 6 weeks PP.

1 - we figured out I have an excess of lipase which makes my frozen (and older refrigerated) BM taste like it has been soaking pennies.  No wonder she didn't like it.

2 - she preferred a wide-neck bottle (Dr. Browns wide-neck) to a narrower nippled bottle.

We gave her bottles once a day (most days) to prepare for me going back to work.  Some days she would take it, other days we just had to give up after about 20 minutes so that none of us would get too overwhelmed/frustrated.

Now that I am back at work, her first bottle of the day is still a challenge.  She cries, fusses and only eats a little until she falls asleep.  The next two bottles she can't get fast enough.

If I had to go through all of this my first week back to work, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown.  I'm sure most people and babies can make the transition just fine, but I am so grateful that we did a couple test runs.

Just my .02!

Some of this seems really familiar to my situation. How did you figure out you had excess of lipase? And what did you do about it?

My DD was taking a bottle great the few times we tried it before, then this week after a bad latching session causing some cuts on my nipples, I have been pumping a little more and we gave her BM from the freezer and she hated it! We would finally get her to take a bottle after trying 3 different ones, but it also smells different than it went in I think. Maybe it's my imagination, but what you said has me intrigued that this might be the case for me.

JLHV1909

@summerlovin1980‌ how did you figure out that you had a lipase issue?

I'm trying to figure out how to not keep getting milk blisters...LO hasn't been nice to my right breast :-(

rachelchristina

@Summerlovin314‌ Thank you! This helps! I'm going to try this with my milk. I think it might be my problem! How fresh the milk when you put it in the freezer? Do you think that matters? Just asking these questions because this is all new to me but I'm excited if it helps. Thank you!

rachelchristina

@Summerlovin314‌ Thank you!

earichar23

Those of you dealing with allergies and elimination diet concerns, how long does it take for what you ate to show up in your BM and effect LO?

shortstack930

Those of you who have gone to restaurants with LO--if they start to cry that they're hungry, do you just NIP at the table? DH and I are taking a trip with DD next week and we're going to have to eat out a lot so I'm trying to figure out the logistics.

lamarei

I just NIP at the table most people have no clue what's going on. Except old people, and they will straight up sit next to you and keep you company.

cookiemomma14

@shortstack930‌ I just nursed at the table too. I'm still leary about it so I cover up using an Aden&Anais blanket tied in the corners around my neck. Works life a charm and I typically still eat with my free hand so things move along. We did have trouble at really noisy restaurants because DS was distracted and his "fussy" time so we just asked for our check and food to be boxed up. You can do it! First time is the most nerve wracking but it gets easier after that.

hab83

Does anyone else with large breasts have trouble pumping? I can't do the hands free thing because I have to constantly massage and squeeze various areas to try to get all the milk out. Or maybe I should go ahead and look into a new pump? I reusing the one I had from DD. I only BF for about 5 months. The LC I talked to said these motors are usually good for a year. But if insurance will cover it, maybe I'll go ahead and try a new one. I've replaced the membranes, tubing, and tried a difference size flange.

shortstack930

Great, thanks everyone! NIP at the table will definitely make life easier.