6/26 Nursing and/or Pumping Support Thread

tbmadeamistake · June 2014

Like @emilyh107‌ mentioned, the first thread has gotten super long and hard to follow so I thought I'd start a new one. Ask questions, share experiences, bitch about the difficulties and celebrate the triumphs! It'll be like the best kind of rom-com, it'll make you laugh and cry and wish it would never end!

tbmadeamistake · June 2014

I'm still dealing with oald, so poor mam drowns, even as he has trouble latching because my boobs, they are a floppy. We are making it work, lots of side lie nursing...so I'm not sure how that will work when we're out in public.

otter1103 · June 2014

Thrush came back. The pain of pumping is more bearable than the nursing pain but I still had to pop a Percocet... This on top of all of my other feels today is just the icing on a shit-tastic cake X(

izzetoot · June 2014

Hi ladies! We just started using the slow flow nipple from Medela, we were using the Calma nipple before, and now my lo's latch is off

He starts out shallow and then sucks really hard and makes these loud smacking noises. It is so painful! He does the same with the bottle. Anyone else experiencing a new latch from intro-ing a bottle/new nipple? Advice?

Also, my dh gives lo the bottle at 3 am when he gets home from work (so I can sleep!) and he is up to consuming 3 oz per feeding. Its hard for me to nurse him all day and get a good 3 ouncer to leave in the fridge for him and sometimes we just give him a bottle of formula. My dh suggested adding an ounce or so of formula to the BM I leave for him to equal it out to 3 oz. Can I do that?

elsa1688 · June 2014

@Lilygrace48‌ I have oversupply too and poor J chokes

it scares the crap out of me

BMaidPlanner · June 2014

@ktcort13 Do you know what has changed about the latch now to make it better?

MrsP419 · June 2014

I am having SO much nipple pain that I got the OB to call in a RX for All Purpose Nipple Ointment (the stuff with the anti fungal cream and a bit of numbing agent and something else). I am pretty sure that they are not latching wrong, but between having to latch two babies at once and their little mouths still being a bit too small to get much in them, I had open blisters on both nipples. It was toe curling pain every time they latched! Hoping the APNO does the trick; if I remember from my previous kiddos, that stuff is magic.

PressLove · June 2014

ktcort13 said:
BMaidPlanner they showed me to have her chin at the edge of the areola and point the nipple up towards the roof of her mouth and when she has a big mouth to put her on with as much areola in her mouth as possible. I hadn't been doing that because I though that would cause her to have her top gums on my nipple but it doesn't. It's basically exactly what all my BFing paperwork says to do but it's totally different when someone shows you.

they also suggested leaning back once she's on. Her nose should be right against the boob, chest against you. Since I had been in such pain I ended up hunching over and being so uptight. Leaning back really helps to relax.

^^^WSS^^^

I was getting the loud smacking and painful latch. First thing LC said was to uncurl my toes and take a deep breath. From there you can adjust the latch. Now, I get her to pen wide first. DH swears I look like I'm double-dutching, trying to find the right time to stick my boob in her mouth.

For soreness, I rub best milk on my nipple after each feeding. I also use the Earth Angel nipple butter. Someone suggested it in the last thread. Within a day, things were feeling much better.

BMaidPlanner · June 2014

I use earth mama nipple butter too, and medela shells (not to be confused with shields) on my nipples in my bras when home so the butter stays on/has a chance to work and nips air dry in the shells and don't rub on clothes. Only wish I could sleep in them, they helped so much.

sarahlynnc317 · June 2014

I was having issues with cracked nipples and nothing was helping so I used Bag Balm for a day and only pumped on that side. It worked great and I haven't had an issue since.

chloephoebecali · June 2014

BMaidPlanner said:

I use earth mama nipple butter too, and medela shells (not to be confused with shields) on my nipples in my bras when home so the butter stays on/has a chance to work and nips air dry in the shells and don't rub on clothes. Only wish I could sleep in them, they helped so much.

The shells are the best for healing nipples. I wore them to sleep when I needed them, though. I used a sleep bra or stuck them in my nursing tank top.

I also totally recommend spreading some milk on the nipple before baby latches. It sounds strange but it really takes the pain out of that first latch if they are hurting.

kks4471 · June 2014

I'm just wondering if our BF schedule is normal, because it's driving me crazy. During the day, LO can barely make it 1.5 hours in between feedings. I feed him for 10 minutes, burp him, then do another 10 minutes or so. Today, he cried at the 20 minute mark, and I ended up feeding him for 30 minutes three separate times.
The only good this is LO does sleep up to 3 hours at night. Tonight I fed him at 1am, and now at 4am. I am thankful to get some sleep after his daily 10pm colic tantrum.

So basically, I feed him for 20+ minutes, every 1.5 hours. It's driving me crazy!!! I feel so glued to the chair. I keep telling DH I want to give up EBF and give formula. Is this a normal daytime feeding schedule? It just seems like too much to me.

puttyeast · June 2014

ktcort13 said:
DD is cluster feeding tonight and I swear there's nothing left. I don't know if she's getting anything but if I take her off she cries. I'm just glad I got help with her latch this morning because otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it through tonight.

This is happening to me right now with DS. Nurses, falls asleep and then wakes up a few mins later showing more feeding cues and crying. My fear is that he is not getting enough. It's going to be a long night.

BabyCurtiss2014 · June 2014

izzetoot said:
Hi ladies! We just started using the slow flow nipple from Medela, we were using the Calma nipple before, and now my lo's latch is off He starts out shallow and then sucks really hard and makes these loud smacking noises. It is so painful! He does the same with the bottle. Anyone else experiencing a new latch from intro-ing a bottle/new nipple? Advice?

Also, my dh gives lo the bottle at 3 am when he gets home from work (so I can sleep!) and he is up to consuming 3 oz per feeding. Its hard for me to nurse him all day and get a good 3 ouncer to leave in the fridge for him and sometimes we just give him a bottle of formula. My dh suggested adding an ounce or so of formula to the BM I leave for him to equal it out to 3 oz. Can I do that?

Yes that's what I do I mix milk and formula bc I don't have enough milk!

BabyCurtiss2014 · June 2014

puttyeast said:

ktcort13 said:
DD is cluster feeding tonight and I swear there's nothing left. I don't know if she's getting anything but if I take her off she cries. I'm just glad I got help with her latch this morning because otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it through tonight.
This is happening to me right now with DS. Nurses, falls asleep and then wakes up a few mins later showing more feeding cues and crying. My fear is that he is not getting enough. It's going to be a long night.

This happens to me and I supplement w formula. Still trying to figure out the formula to use bc it upsets his tummy. ;/

roadspeckle · June 2014

@kks4471‌ - how old is LO? Growth spurt? Is he taking himself off when he's full or are you taking him off?
My LO is 6 weeks old and nurses as often and as much as he needs. At the beginning it was 30-40 minutes every 1.5-2 hours. The time frame hasn't chAnged but now he nurses maybe 10-15 minutes but still has frequent. He also has colic tantrums and reflex.
It's hard and frustrating so in understand your feelings. It does seem to feel better as he's not nursing as long. GL and hang in there

fsumom · June 2014

Now that DS surpassed his birth weight, I'm wondering if I can start relying on him more to let me know he's hungry. He wasn't nursing efficiently and lost too much weight. He's getting better at nursing now as he's more alert. My issue is that I think I've been overfeeding him. He'd nurse and then I'd offer a bottle. Since I wasn't sure how much he was getting by nursing, I feel I offered too much from the bottle. He gained 3oz in a day but he did have a few oz of formula too. It's just too time consuming doing weighed feedings every single feeding. It's also too time consuming doing paced bottle feedings. This morning I weighed him and he weighed almost an ounce less than yesterday. This nursing and pumping has proved to be difficult since I don't know how much to feed him.

kks4471 · June 2014

He usually falls off himself around 20 minutes, but yesterday was different with him wanting to go 30 minutes. He's 4 weeks old today. Had a growth spurt at 2.5 weeks, where he nursed every hour for 30+ minutes that one day. That was torture lol. I just thought by now he should be spacing his feedings out, closer to 2 hours, rather than 1.5 hours. Just that alone would help me not feel so miserable. Good to know some of you feed for 30 minutes though!

BMaidPlanner · June 2014

Will it ever not hurt on the initial latch?

MrsRahl · June 2014

@Lilygrace48‌ @elsa1688‌ I'm 99% sure I have over active let down because LO sounds like she's drowning and now is all of a sudden projectile vomiting her milk when she burps! It's so scary and messy. This morning I burped her literally every 2 minutes and she didn't vomit this time. I also pumped for the first time yesterday and got 5 oz. From one breast in 8 minutes... I don't know what to do other than laying back while feeding and burping constantly. Any other suggestuons?

tbmadeamistake · June 2014

@MrsRahl‌ Charlie tends to rear his head back when it happens so he pops off, or I'll pop him off. Then I'll burp him while I hold a burp cloth over my nipple to catch some extra. Once he's burped and the flow has stopped, I'll stick him back on. For us, that and the laid back nursing have helped. I did block feeding for four or five days as well and that helped with my over supply a bit.

MrsRahl · June 2014

@Lilygrace48‌ I wish she would pop off! She just swallows literally every second. It's like she's doing a beer bong of milk. Just chugging and chugging until she vomits. I feel so bad for her when it happens. Have you had any trouble with clogging because of laying back? I heard that can happen. Also do you pump at all?

katekat8721 · June 2014

Mine pop off when I KNOW they're not done! They get too cozy and then fall asleep. I end up having to leave them at the boob until they wake back up enough to eat a bit more. It's a vicious cycle but I can't wake them up enough to nurse! Gah!

kks4471 · June 2014

kdrucker said:

He usually falls off himself around 20 minutes, but yesterday was different with him wanting to go 30 minutes. He's 4 weeks old today. Had a growth spurt at 2.5 weeks, where he nursed every hour for 30+ minutes that one day. That was torture lol. I just thought by now he should be spacing his feedings out, closer to 2 hours, rather than 1.5 hours. Just that alone would help me not feel so miserable. Good to know some of you feed for 30 minutes though!
This could be another growth spurt. Some babies have another between 4-6 weeks. My LC always told me not to watch the clock with my oldest. Look for hunger cues and signs that baby is full. You are doing great!

Sounds good, I'll try to not watch the clock. I use an app on my phone, and won't pay attention to the timer. I just kept reading "15 minutes" and "3 hours" on our board, and couldn't help but wonder why the heck my baby eats so much lol!

fsumom · June 2014

mrsdbc said:
I'm going to start pumping today (mainly due to the cracked nipple) how long should I go? Ten min, half an hour, until I dont get any more?

I pump for 20 minutes typically.

Taymiller · June 2014

@mrsdbc‌ - 15-20 minutes, I tried doing it for 30-45 min and I got the same yield so I will stick to the 15-20 min

katekat8721 · June 2014

@mrsdbc I wouldn't pump more than 20 mins.

tbmadeamistake · June 2014

@mrsrahl, So far no problems with clogged ducts. However, in the evenings when I tend to floppier we do a lot of side lie nursing and that seems to counteract the laid back. I don't pump at all because I'm staying home full time now and last time pumping only made my problems worse.

Mom&nurse · June 2014

Ok big AW time for me !!! Forgive me.

WE DID IT!!!

After 7 weeks finally realizing she is tounge tied, getting it clipped yesterday (not as bad as I thought, if you do it use gripe water first. They get high from the sugar rush real quick and be ready to nurse or bottle. More screaming from touching her then the clipping ) a trip to lactation and we did it.

WE CAN NURSE BOTH SIDES WITHOUT A SHEILD!!

We went from no latch to sheild and only sometimes nursing to 24 hr nursing with sheild to no nursing again to nursing without sheild. Ladies it gets better. I promise.

I always wondered why people would ever nurse if it was this hard. It's kind of like labor. It sucks but once the tough part is over you only remember the good!! It's so nice now.

WE WILL ALL GET THERE!!

Sorry for the excitement but this is big for me and I wanted to shout it out and only a few places to do that and have others understand.

I'm happy to share any tips or tricks. I've done everything. I've worked hard for this and your support and knowledge is so appreciated. J14 rocks !!

tbmadeamistake · June 2014

@mrsdbc so far as I remember, yes you can. Chill them all separately before you add them together so that you're not adding warm milk to chilled milk, and then freeze all at once.

Mom&nurse · June 2014

mrsdbc said:
Kind of a follow up question, I didn't get much so if I pump throughout the day can I combine sessions in a bottle/bag before freezing or one session per bag?

Keep days together though.

Savvy122 · June 2014

Mom&nurse said:

Kind of a follow up question, I didn't get much so if I pump throughout the day can I combine sessions in a bottle/bag before freezing or one session per bag?
Keep days together though.

The LC I saw in the hospital said you actually can mix days (everything I read prior always said to keep days separated too) - just make sure to label it with the earliest date that the milk is from. So if some is from yesterday and some is from today, label it with yesterday's date. Definitely chill everything to the same temp before combining though.

Savvy122 · June 2014

Yesterday when I woke up, my left breast was slightly sore. I thought maybe I was a bit engorged (although I don't know how when D eats every 1.5-2 hours overnight) so I nursed him from that side, but the pain didn't go away. It's not excruciating, but just enough to be annoying. It bothered me pretty much all day yesterday and I noticed this morning that there's a small red area right above where the pain is. Also, I will randomly start leaking milk, which has never happened before - but if I pump, I pump significantly less than usual. Does this sound like a plugged duct?

lola4411 · June 2014

sorry if this has been posted previously, but any advice for treating a milk blister? it doesnt hurt but i clearly want it gone.

MrsRahl · June 2014

@Lilygrace48‌ I'm staying home full time too but want to pump just to be able to go put alone every once in a while. For example I'm in a wedding in November and kids aren't welcome

tbmadeamistake · June 2014

@MrsRahl‌ I figure when I make plans to go out I'll pump a couple days before hand after his first morning feed to get enough built up for a bottle or two. I only have a manual pump this time around.

Question of my own: I know floppy boobs don't mean a lack of supply, that's fine. However, Charlie does not like nursing on a floppy boob. Side lie tends to work best, but Any other ideas?

JESNYC · June 2014

I have been EBF and have had no issue with supply. I just tried to BF and LO bit my nipple hard to the point of bleeding. I tried to express some milk and nothing came out of either side. I then tried to pump and still nothing came out. Has anyone else had this happen? I fed LO about 2 hours ago and there seemed to be plenty of milk.

Taymiller · June 2014

I don't if I should be concerned but I feel like my supply is getting worse. I pump after I breast feed because LO is always hungry after I BF him and we feed him a little bit of breast milk that I have pumped in order to save my nipples. Anyways I was always able to get at least 100ml in these pumping sessions but now I only get 60ml. I wish he could just eat a whole meal of my boob and then I wouldn't have to worry so much with pumping but I also like to option of pumping so DH can feed him. Ugh I hate second guessing myself and always thinking there is something wrong!

tclayton53 · June 2014

LO fed at 1 for 25 minutes and then took a 20 minute break and then started to feed again. When does the next feeding start if we are feeding her every 3 hours? Based off the 1:00 feeding or the 1:45 feeding?

Taymiller · June 2014

AmyG* said:

Taymiller said:

I don't if I should be concerned but I feel like my supply is getting worse. I pump after I breast feed because LO is always hungry after I BF him and we feed him a little bit of breast milk that I have pumped in order to save my nipples. Anyways I was always able to get at least 100ml in these pumping sessions but now I only get 60ml. I wish he could just eat a whole meal of my boob and then I wouldn't have to worry so much with pumping but I also like to option of pumping so DH can feed him. Ugh I hate second guessing myself and always thinking there is something wrong!

Use breast compressions and massage to help speed the flow of milk and keep baby nursing longer. Switch sides and if you need to, switch back to side #1 to get baby full rather than pumping. Cause you really don't wanna have to pump after every feeding, do you? Make baby stay and work for the milk instead of saying he's done and you give a bottle, cause then it's easy for baby to start fussing early and earlier on to get a bottle sooner. Make the bottle a bit harder to eat out of, paced feedings and slow feeds, lots of breaks and slow flow bottle nipple. Baby will often fuss after feeding for other reasons besides hunger, but if you give a bottle they'll eat it down cause they like to suck. try burping very very very well, patting harder than you think, and offer a pacifier for more sucking.

***quote fail

Thanks AmyG. We do use really low flow nipples on the bottle. I don't want to pump after every feeding but it is important to me to have DH feed the baby too. He needs to bonding time to so I will continue to pump but perhaps I will only do it a couple of times a day. I just had a boob only feeding session so I know it is possible, I posted my OP and then had that great feeding right after.

I was worried about my supply because my boobs are no longer hard and engorged, i am not leaking in between feedings and they are squishy again but I think that is a good thing.

I am going to try and not stress about it, that tends to alway help me when I over think things.

JESNYC · June 2014

AmyG* said:

@JESNYC said:

I have been EBF and have had no issue with supply. I just tried to BF and LO bit my nipple hard to the point of bleeding. I tried to express some milk and nothing came out of either side. I then tried to pump and still nothing came out. Has anyone else had this happen? I fed LO about 2 hours ago and there seemed to be plenty of milk.

Thanks @amyg*. I will try the suggestions. In the interim, is it a bad idea to supplement with formula? I don't want to give up on BF but I don't want LO to starve while I try to get my milk to come in. If baby bit down, you are not scared of baby biting and of the pain and that can keep you from letting down for the pump. There is still milk, it's just afraid to come out. Try warm compresses, relaxation techniques, nipple creme to help with pain and it will come. Then get evaluated for latch issues. if supply is high baby will clamp down hard to keep from drowning and may damage the nipple.

ETa: Stuck in the quote box.

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6/26 Nursing and/or Pumping Support Thread

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

Re: 6/26 Nursing and/or Pumping Support Thread

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

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