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Houston Babies
tell me not to quit
we've made it to two weeks EBFing Eliza Jane, which is further than I EBF'd with Marion and so a major goal for me.
But I want to quit. Eliza's cold is so bad that it hurts her to latch on and suck. She also won't take a bottle, so we're finger feeding her with a syringe. Which means that I'm trying to nurse, feeding her most of her feeds with a syringe, then pumping so we have fresh milk for the next feeding. (I have a good freezer supply, but fresh milk is best for getting her well quicker since it has the antibiodies she needs right now in it.) So each feeding is taking about 1.5 hours and during the day, we're on a 2 hour feeding schedule to keep her weight up.
I'm exhausted and frustrated. So please tell me that her cold is going to get better soon (like, um, in two hours) and that I can hang in there for a few more days.
(And yes, we're doing saline & sucking for her nose, and I've seen an awesome LC and our pedi who have just said she's going to have to get through this and there's nothing we can do in the meantime except feed her and wait.)
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Re: tell me not to quit
I know it's hard and frustrating, but you're doing so well! This is just a speed bump and will pass quickly! Samantha had a cold at a couple weeks old as well and it was miserable, so I feel your pain! After the first 3 or so days, she was able to eat again without pulling off so much.
It's hard work and I know you are exhausted, but I would hate for you to later regret stopping.
Hang in there momma! You are doing fantastic!
I know that breastfeeding is so important to you, and you are one strong mama. Her cold is bound to get better soon, and then you'll be back in business. I do encourage you to stick it out, just knowing how very important it is to you. I can't imagine how exhausting your current schedule is though. That's brutal.
Marion is proof positive that formula-fed babies can thrive beyond belief, so you know that giving up wouldn't be the end of the world. I would just love to see you conquer this &#^$ cold!
She won't take a bottle? Then feeding her formula won't really help, will it? Because you'll still be doing it by syringe.
And if you really wanted to quit you'd have already done it and not be telling us to tell you no. It is hard, but does anyone ever regret pushing through and doing it? No the regrets come when you don't think you've done everything you can.
Eloise was a marathon nurser too, and she wasn't sick - I felt like my butt was glued to that nursery chair and I had about a 30 minute break before she wanted to start all over again. That is really pretty normal.
It is hard, but you can do it!
This too shall pass! A mircle worker while they are sick is instead of using saline use your bm. I know as crazy as it sounds take an eye dropper and place a few drops in each nostril. Your breastmilk has more antibodies to help fight of the infection than saline and faster. You will see a difference within just 8 hours!
I wish I had known this when my lo was sick at two weeks. After his 6 mo check up he started to get stuffy and I tried this as a recommendation and within 1 day we had no more issues. As I was told bm is Chuck Norris...lol!!
Hang in there and congrats on making it this far!!!!!!!!
Honestly, you just have to decide how important it is to you and whether or not you're going to stick it out. Almost everyone I know had some kind of major difficulties early on. It's hard, plain and simple, the first six weeks are hard. But if you can make it through that you're golden.
Cooper refused my right boob for weeks on end. He would refuse to latch at all, or he'd pop off and writhe and scream and I'd get so very frustrated I'd have to put him down and walk away so I could scream without scaring him. Somedays he did the same on the left side too, it would be a battle just to get him latched on and sucking and I thought I'd lose it. (I believe his issue was positional, he had a head preference early on--his head always tilted or looked to the right. I talked to my college roommate who is a pediatric physical therapist and once we got him "straightened out" his nursing issues resolved.)
I think for me, the thing that got me through was that I never considered quitting. Sure I sobbed and screamed "I doooon't wanna do this anymoooooore!" But what I meant was, I want to get to the easy part already, not that I wanted to quit altogether. There's a difference. If what you really want is to hurry up and get to the easy part, then you just have to hang in there.
You CAN do it. Really, you can. Women have been doing it for eons without books, and LCs, and the internet. If millions of generations of women can all do it, you can do it too. They weren't smarter or stronger or more determined than you, they just didn't have an option to quit. You are doing great, the cold will pass and before you know it this will all just be a vague memory.
This is it exactly.
And it was real eye opener that I don't actually want to quit walking along the formula aisle at Target yesterday and seeing the Similac we used with Marion completely off the shelves. That's been my biggest motivator to stick with it through this rough spot.
j+k+m+e | running with needles
if you can make it through the first couple of weeks it DOES get easier... I promise! Nursing is not easy in the beginning but it is so worth it. hang in there!
You are doing an awesome job! It is so exhausting and difficult in the beginning. There were many, many days I wanted to give up and DH would always say "ok, if you're going to quitbf, that's completely ok, just don't quit on your worst day or in your weakest moment"...make the decision when you're not completely exhausted and frustrated (I know feeling well rested and of sound mind doesn't seem like it'll come anytime soon...
).
You've already helped her start recovering faster from the cold and build up her antibodies by EBF her for this long, hang in there! The first 2-6 weeks were the most difficult for me too...it got easier around 7-8 weeks (I know that seems so far away right now...). I never thought I'd even make it to a month but we ended up making it to 14 months! Ditto the PP too, just take one feeding at a time, and one day at a time.
you can do it!
I love the idea of putting breastmilk in her nose instead of saline. I expressed some directly into tracey's eyes when she was having some redness. It cleared it up so fast!
You can do it, Kat -- you're doing an amazing job already!
I know how hard and frustrating it can be...but this whole trial will pass soon. I hated having to pump with E (I was in grad school at the time and had to be away for class) and never felt very successful with it, but I've had to buckle down and get serious with L since he's been in the NICU for a week now...I'm on an every-three-hours pumping schedule and I can't wait to stop! However, I know that it will pass and get easier.
Keep it up!
You can do it!
Don't be hard on yourself and do what you need to do. For me, when I felt like giving up, I would just give myself permission to give up in two days. In two days, of course, everything changes or you find renewed resolve. At least that's how I made it this far with all the challenges of f*ed up sh!z nursing our second.
I also fault no one for making a decision to quit. Sometimes, it really is hard and you just have to do something different.
If it is what you really want, though, you can make it a little longer.
we made it through yesterday - thanks to all of you for the encouragement. And Eliza Jane gained two ounces - she was up to 8lbs 8oz this morning. I think she's turning the corner on this cold as well since she actually nursed twice yesterday evening and is again at the boob this morning. Fingers crossed this trend continues!
Plus, Josh set up a list of rewards for me for making it to six weeks, so that's an encouragement to keep going as well
j+k+m+e | running with needles