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Babies: 0 - 3 Months
Any BF Moms here?
I'm still in the hospital and I'm having a particularly hard time with BF'ing tonight. My milk hasn't come in quite yet but I am making more colostrum. I've been feeding the baby practically every 2-3hrs all day long despite dry, cracked nipples and the immense pain from him latching but tonight, I gave in and allowed the nurses to give him formula. I know formula isn't a bad thing but I swear I feel like a POS mom for doing it. As soon as she took the baby to the nursery, I just broke down and started crying. I know he'll be fine with a little bit of formula and I reallly need to let my nipples get a break but why the hell do I feel like such a failure?!
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Re: Any BF Moms here?
First, congrats! Don't feel bad. It does get better. I remember almost crying when he would wake up to feed. I didn't think I could handle it. My nips ached. Get some lanolin from the nurses, they should have some handy and ask to speak with a lactation consultant. She will give you tips on how to get him to latch better. Don't worry about your milk not coming in yet and don't worry about the formula. You aren't a failure, we all jus have unrealistic ideas of how breast feeding should be.
Good luck!
It's food...not poison.
That said, please call LLL or a LC. Your shouldn't be in pain and there are things that can be done to help.
Next, get some nipple cream and a high grade lavender essential oil. Both will help heal and sooth your nipples. Ice packs are also wonderful gifts from God at this point.
And please, give yourself a break. You jut had a baby! Your poor body is in total turmoil and your hormones are off the chart crazy. It's normal to cry and it's normal to be upset. But lean on those around you who can help. YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE! You are a new mommy!
Do you have a friend who has bf that might be able to come and help you?
Thanks for the insight ladies. I do have Lasinoh and I've been using it after every feeding to help. I've spoken with the LCs quite a few times since I've been here and they've helped tremendously. I have pain when he first latches and for the first few sucks, but after that, I get used to it and I'm ok.
I think the nurse felt sorry for me bc every time she walked in the room, I was feeding. It was 1:30 and the baby was crying like crazy and I'd tried everything with no luck. I just felt helpless and gave her the go ahead to take him to the nursery for a few hrs and let me get some sleep (and yet, I'm on the Nest...LoL).
I think my fear is that he'll get used to the instant gratification coming from the formula and then when I try and BF, he won't be satisfied.
Another thing that would really help with your milk production is to have the baby in the room with you. Next to you is best, but even being in the room helps. Would he sleep next to you int he bed so you both can sleep?
Oh..and skin to skin contact helps a TON!
I totally hear you! ?Please don't feel bad about giving your baby a little formula...I did the EXACT same thing...my milk didn't come in until 5 DAYS after I had my baby and he was absolutely screaming his head off because he was so hungry! ?He ended up losing almost 10% of his birth weight because by the time I finally gave in and talked to the lactation consultant, he was miserable. ?The first 48 hours at home were horrible and I got literally no sleep because he was constantly crying...My heart breaks thinking that the reason he was crying was because he was so hungry and I had no milk!
?With that said, he is now thriving on my breast milk alone...the minute my milk came in he latched on like a champ and has been exclusively breastfed! ?So just relax, be glad that your hospital is working with you while you are still admitted?and you can get some rest, my hospital just told me to wait it out and that it was normal for newborns to want to feed constantly (which clearly the reason he was feeding nonstop was because he was hungry!) ?Good luck and get some rest!
Hey there, don't feel bad about giving him some formula. Breastfeeding is tough work for them and us! It'll just give you both a temporary break but shouldn't cause any long term problems.
My son was given a bottle within hours of birth and I was against it but didn't put my foot down because of his medical issues. Long story short, we still use the bottle occassionally (now only pumped milk) but we're making the transition to EBF and it is going well. He does get a little frustrated sometimes that BFing is tougher, but 2 tips have helped. One is to fill a syringe with pumped milk and squirt a bit of that in his mouth when he starts to slow down or seem uninterested in the breast. It keeps him interested. The other is to massage the breast during the feeding to help keep the milk coming at a steady pace. Good luck.
I could have written your post myself bc I was in the same position. Don't beat yourself up...it was hard at first for me, and I'm sure it was for many of the women here. My milk took forever to come in and I would look at the other women who came into the nursery and their full bottles of milk with envy.
We got talked into formula too, and I felt like a loser for taking the offer: she could get food and I could get some rest, but my goal in the end was to breast feed exclusively so I asked that it not happen again. I met with a lactation consultant every day to walk me through how to get DD latched on, how to sit, etc, and I went back to see a consultant even afterwards, and they were very helpful. I recently went back to pick up some Mother's Milk tea and that was a blessing. I'm not filling up bottles, but I'm making enough to fatten up DD's cheeks!
You're not a failure. You're new to this, and so were we, and don't get discouraged. It all works out in the end :-)
PS: before you see a consultant, be prepared to have your boobs manhandled! you'll know what i'm talking about when it happens.
In the beginning, you wonder why the fuuck anyone would do it because it seriously sucks so much. DD latched on and in my inebriated (because of the pain meds) state I couldn't get her to unlatch. She just kept sucking harder and harder for a total of forty minutes. She sucked me scabby and bloody and it hurt so bad for weeks.
Sounds awful, but three months later, I still BF and I love it so much. It gets easier by the day. The latching does hurt in the beginning but I swear, it lessens. Give it more of a chance and see where it goes after a few months. If it's not for you, you're not a failure, at least you tried.
Hang in there, those first few weeks are really tough.?
Been there C-Section and all. I swear I asked EVERY woman who I came in contact with at the hospital if they had any tips - lunch lady, cleaning lady, nurses, lactation consultants... I ended up having to give her a day on the bottle too because she had lost 10% and had jaundace and didn't want it to get any worse. I cried horribly that day and just wanted to be alone.
Breastfeeding in the begining is probably one of the hardest things you'll do but as these girls are saying it does get easier. My little one actually took a chunk out of my right nipple - it kept splitting and cracking until seriously she sucked a chunk off. Horrible horrible pain but I stuck through it with just that one day that she was on the bottle. She was exclusivly breastfed since then and I just started back at work this week (she's 2 months now) and while she gets a bottle during the day she's still taking to the breast without issue.
And I honestly don't have any pain any longer
Just an FYI that lanolin cream made things worse for me - the only way I got my nipps to heal was to rub them with breastmilk after each feed and then let them air dry. Breastmilk heals really well.
Just relax... you have PLENTY of time to establish a good breastfeeding relationship. ?Practice makes perfect and you've only had a few days (if you're still in the hospital). ?Hang in there, keep latching him on, pump to relieve engorgement and just relax. ?A trick that really helped me was to put my nipple on their nose and then once they opened their mouth, lower my nipple into their mouth, as far back as I could get it. ?After a few tries of that, the latch got better. ?
?A lot of times LCs will tell you that it shouldn't hurt or you're doing it wrong, but I don't know ONE single person who has NEVER had painful nipples in the beginning. ?
?Just keep at it... its only been a few days. ?Be patient, it will come, but keep trying! ?When you need a break from trying to latch him, pump and give him a bottle of whatever milk you just expressed.?