Intro and am I ready?

Bonnesetter27 · August 2014

Hi ladies,
I have lurked and am excited to join you again soon. A little about me. This will be our second LO. I had DS 3 years ago. BF wasn't right from the start. He was a constant nurser. I now know that he may just have needed to nurse more but he was seriously nursing for 40 minutes, giving a 20 minute break and then crying again to nurse. He also was dx with reflux at about a week old so perhaps this was a part of the crying. His latch was great and I never got more than the initial 30 seconds of pain. By the time we left the hospital though he was beginning to be dehydrated and the LC recommended we start supplementing. Everyone thought we would be fine though when my milk came in. I pumped (although nothing came out) and nursed like crazy and at day 4 I noticed a splash of milk in the pump. I never got engorged, my breasts never changed either. I continued what I was doing, nurse, pump while feeding a bottle. Eventually ds refused to nurse so I just pumped and supplemented. I never had a lot of milk. The most I ever got was 1oz combined at a pump. I pumped liked 12 times a day until he started sleeping through the night and then I dropped that pump too. I tried fenugreek but it didn't work. I also saw my ob who basically said "some women can't nurse." I did this until 4 months when I wasn't even covering the bottom of the bottle at a pump so I quit.

I am hoping to do it better time. This time I read a lot more, especially making more milk. I don't think I have hypoplastic breasts or at least they don't look it but my breasts haven't changed with this pg either. I started taking red raspberry leaf and even alfalfa. I got mother's milk tea and special blend more milk plus. I think trying goats rue (in both of those items) may help. I do have a hypothyroidism that wasn't well controlled with DS, I was constantly changing the amount of medicine I was on. This time it has been much better. I also have GD this time so the thought of PCOS has crossed my mind. I am ready to rent a hospital grade pump too. I hope that being prepared to just nurse, nurse, nurse will help.

Congrats if you got this far. I was just looking for advice to be sure I am ready and to say you have already taught me so much! Thanks ladies.

Bonnesetter27 · August 2014

Thanks. I did a search for IBLC's in my area and there seems to be one at another hospital. There are 2 at my hospital who I might call before hand. Thanks for reading that essay.

mshukh · August 2014

Wow...that's amazing that you persevered for so long with the first one. It sounds like you are totally ready. I heard there may be a prescription out there to help with milk supply, but don't quote me on that.

Other than that, good luck. I have hypothyroidism as well, but that didn't seem to affect my supply at all. Hope to hear all is going well with bf real soon!

flcl · August 2014

Wow is right... you put in so much effort with your DS. It seems like you're on top of everything and are reaching out for the right support. The only other suggestion I have to offer is look into renting a hospital grade pump. Fingers crossed that everything goes well!

RDK24 · August 2014

Congrats on such great perseverance! You sound well prepared and I agree with PP. My only other two cents from personal experience would be: If you end up with a c-section, the sooner you can do skin-to-skin with your baby, the better. And, as it sounds like you did with your first LO, put the baby to the breast often in the early days/weeks, which will hopefully signal your body to make milk.

And as you've surely read, make sure you're drinking LOTS of water (64 oz/day is the minimum for me to maintain good supply) and eating adequate calories. I ate like a horse in those early days.

Best of luck!

Bonnesetter27 · August 2014

Thanks ladies. I think I will call an LC soon. Thanks so much for reading.

Bonnesetter27 · August 2014

@AmyG* Thanks for the advice. I sometimes wonder if he was just more thirsty than most and if I didn't respond to the pump. That's why I really am going to keep at the nursing this time even if it seems "too" much. I have no idea what my levels were for my thyroid but when they were checked a few days after delivery they were considered normal. This time I will be sure to pay close attention to them. I wanted to go to an LLL meeting but my pg brain got to me and I totally forgot about it this month. I will definitely go next month though.

Does anyone know if insurance covers an out of hospital IBCLC?

Bonnesetter27 · August 2014

I called my insurance company and they (under ACA) do cover lc services but it has to be an provider they cover. The lady told me to call her with a name or search it online but of course their on-line site sucks and I can't find it.

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