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October 2014 Moms
Breastfeeding Links & Talk
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Breastfeeding Links & Talk
I agree with the weighed feeding idea. Good luck girl.
The struggles you're experiencing with LO popping on and off the breast, fussing at the breast, and never feeling like you've emptied the breast (and pumping after feedings), point to an oversupply and overactive letdown.
The overactive or forceful letdown makes the milk very fast and causes lots of babies to pull away or unlatch and fuss. Pumping to completely empty the breast beyond what she has taken at a feeding might be contributing to an oversupply, since it would signal your body to produce more than baby needs.
I would suggest giving your LC a call and describing what's going on, and ask her if she thinks you might have an oversupply, and what she might suggest you do. If your LC is not free, you could call LLL instead. Leaders are volunteers, their help is free, and most will come to your house.
In the meantime, lots of skin to skin (maybe baby would even sleep on your chest for a bit), especially to calm baby when she cries, will help both you and baby. When she becomes upset, bring her up to your chest abf just take a short snuggle break from nursing. Try again in a few minutes.
Consider pumping a bit less, but also watch for plugged ducts since you're nursing with the shield. You can also consider block feeding, but I would definitely recommend speaking with your LC before taking any measures like that so early.
((Hugs)) it really is difficult in the beginning, but it does get easier, you can overcome these challenges, and you will sleep again. Do you have good support people who can care for baby sometimes while you rest between feedings?
https://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/fast-letdown/
Here's some great info:
https://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/mastitis/
I finally just pumped the left breast (which doesn't really hurt when I pump) and got two ounces in minutes. The clog is still there but at least I can nurse on the right next feeding and don't have to worry about the pain.
The LCs I've spoken to say to apply warm compresses, massage, and empty the left breast to try to get rid of the plug and so I don't get mastitis again.
They then say to avoid expressing unless I have to in order to feel comfortable, apply cold compresses, and consider block feeding.
The advice conflicts completely. What the hell am I supposed to do first? I am terrified of getting mastitis again, but I want to get my supply control and be able to nurse on my left again without screaming in pain.
Do you have a personal massager? Some mothers find that using a massager to gently break up the plug works best on the really stubborn or deep ones. Try a massager or a comb in a warm shower, use a warm compress before nursing, and when you nurse, try "dangle nursing" wherein you place baby on her back on the bed, lean over her, supporting your weight on your elbows on either side of LO, and "dangle" your breast over her to feed her. The gravity can help pull out the plug.
So all the recs you received were good, but they're to accomplish two different things. FIRST, you need to break up and expel the plug so that it does not become infected. That is the first set of instructions. Once the plug is gone, you can try some block feeding, but express or nurse enough on the unused side to keep yourself comfortable and not engorged, so that no more plugged ducts appear.
If recurrent plugged ducts or mastitis are an issue for you, you might consider asking your LC or OB about taking lecithin:
https://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/lecithin/
The LC has me on lechithin already too but I guess it takes a bit to take effect. This thing is so stubborn!
Ugh this is rough. I know this will pass eventually but right now it feels like I will never nurse normally again.
So, I haven't given her a paci, but the hospital tried. She spits it out (I'm happy with that), but I never considered she just wanted something for comfort. I thought if she chews on her hands, she is hungry.
The LC is calling me every 24 hours to check on the diaper situation and see how I'm doing, so I can ask her some things this afternoon. She was going to do a weighted feeding, but Audrey REALLY didn't want to nurse for us there, and she said she didn't want to freak us out if it wasn't a good change, and she just wants us to do what we are doing and watch diapers for now.
Side-lying: I'd like to try it, but I'm not comfortable on my side yet, since I had a section. I'm finding that she does best when her head is turned to one side, so on my left, football hold, or on my right, cradle. I just had a pretty good feed, I think, doing it this way.
Her poops aren't big, and they are more yellow than they were in the beginning, but they are seedy. I'm so nervous about the diaper counts more than anything.
Overactive or oversupply boggles my mind. I feel like I'm not making ENOUGH. The LC did say to only pump the one side (it was my lazy side), and only pump the other side when I'm uncomfortable. I'll stop pumping all together now if I'm not uncomfortable (because I think the right has mostly caught up to the left now).
I just feel like I'm not making enough. Although, it seems like if I pump, even after a feed, I seem to get around an oz. She's only 6 days old, so maybe this is ok? I got caught up in the fear that she wasn't gaining, so I was pumping to try to get some extra in case she wasn't getting what she needed from the breast. I was so scared about her weight due to our experience in the hospital, that I even asked the doctor if he was SURE we shouldn't give even just a LITTLE formula. I want to BF, but I'm so scared.
1oz pumped after a feeding is fantastic! Avg pump output is 1-2oz per breast, and that's pumping to replace a feeding altogether, not after. Considering her age and how little she needs at each feeding, 1oz is a perfect yield.
Pumping, though, is not a good indicator of supply. Pumps are not nearly as efficient or as cute (it matters!!) as baby, so your supply can be perfectly adequate and you still can be unable to pump much. So don't rely on the pump to tell you that you have a good supply.
Chewing on her hands is a good indicator of hunger. Since baby is so young, responding to cues like that helps her learn to communicate hunger well. It's all new to her; feeling hungry, having to tell someone she's hungry, having to eat. Responding to those signs is really good for you and LO, so even if she just wants to nurse to be close to you and satisfy her urge to suck, it's really great that you're meeting her needs so quickly and lovingly. As she gets older, she'll become a better communicator and there will be less concern about wondering if she is hungry and worrying about weight gain. Offering the breast for now at every sign of hunger is a good thing.
It's great that the LC is calling you every day! I hope you can get some helpful recommendations and lots of encouragement from her this afternoon. You're doing great! ((Hugs))
And I'm over feeding my baby. I foresee an oversupply issue coming my way. So I'm done pumping for now. I'm glad my concerns were addressed, but it really hurt my feelings that I was reading her "cues" wrong. She's not always hungry, she's just looking to self soothe by sucking her hands and what not.
So the whole spit up and gassiness mystery has been solved. Apparently she transfers a whole ounce and a half in 4 mins. So my feedings will be short and sweet, and we will just do more skin to skin with a paci to fix her need to suck for comfort and bond.
I'm so thankful for this thread.
Also, even if LO awoke hungry immediately after you pumped, you would still have more than enough milk for her. Your breasts produce milk as baby nurses, after she has drained whatever has collected in your breasts. So nursing after pumping is like starting in the middle of a feeding. There's no instant reward of milk; she has to work to initiate a letdown at the start; but there will always be plenty of milk for her, no matter when you nurse.
There are many ways for dads to bond with LO that are not feeding her. Nature kind of made that a focal point of the mother-child relationship. That doesn't diminish the value of the father-child relationship AT ALL, just makes it different. Good different! A father's job is to teach his baby that love is not always associated with food.
https://www.llli.org/docs/0000000000000001WAB/WAB_Tear_sheet_Toolkit/10_what_about_partners.pdf
ETA: details. Also - Before you know it, LO will be ready for some solid foods. That's a great point at which dads can get in on the feeding action!
But a TL;dr version of my night is a 9 day old newborn who has spent more time screaming than sleeping, and only wants to stay on the boob..
Give her the boob they said.....
.....yeah, well I'm also dealing with an over feeding issue.
But she is latched without the shield for once so good things too.
I was supplementing prior to now because I interpreted her cues as being hungry. She was eating way too much for her tummy size. Which led to gassiness and spit up issues. So I was told to stop the formula and do the boob only. More frequent feedings, etc.
It was to the point where she had gained 6 oz in two days *insert ugly cry*
So she told me that she spends so much time on the boob for comfort and since she transfers 1.5 oz in 4-5 mins of sucking to try skin to skin with a paci and if she's still on a rampage, put her back.
I def gave her lots of boob time last night, but I'm so exhausted. I want to do side lying but I'm not totally ready to lay on my side for multiple reasons. Mainly c-section..
Babies can be very picky about bottles, and the nipples are mostly not interchangeable. Dr. Brown's, TommieTippie, and Avent are some popular brands for breastfed babies.
Make sure you're always using the slowest flow nipple, and have baby's caregiver use the "paced bottle feeding" technique.
Many breastfed babies will not take a bottle from mom, and some won't take a bottle when mom is home (why eat from that when the warm and comforting breast is in the next room?!). Other babies still want to be fed by mom, and they do well when their caregiver puts a shirt or blanket of mom's between them and baby, so that they smell like mom.
Experiment with different things to see what LO likes best. Also, don't offer the bottle when LO is hungry (it's hard to learn something new when you're hungry), but maybe offer half an ounce after you've nursed or a few minutes later.
I think this is also maybe an oversupply or forceful letdown-maybe both? DD will sometimes pull away a couple of times after first latching. And during the middle of a feed, I can hear her start to gulp and drink really fast, and she will usually pull away (sometimes with the nipple still in her mouth. Ouch.) and milk is just dripping out like crazy. I have tried the lying back way to feed and havent got the hang of it. But will this calm down after Im not so engorged?
What can I do for the engorgement and when it should it even out? She takes one side completely and sometimes the other but not often. She feeds every 1-2 hours with maybe one 3 hour stretch a day. I bought the Therapearl Lansinoh gel pads snd have used them both hot and cold and it helps but only while Im using them.
For laid back breastfeeding, try reclining as though you were on the sofa, planning to watch TV for an hour. It would hurt your neck to lay all the way down and turn your head to watch, and you would tire quickly if you sat up straight, feet flat on the floor. You'd most likely sit sideways, feet up on the sofa, pillow behind your back, reclining slightly - that's what you're going for.
Reclined this way, place baby skin to skin on your chest, high between your breasts. This will arouse LO's rooting instinct, and he/she'll begin moving a bit toward the breast. Gently guide him down to one and help him latch. You can support him with an arm below his body, but most of his weight will be supported by your body. His head will be positioned above your breast/nipple, so that gravity can help him get a good latch and also work against the forceful letdown.
https://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/fast-letdown/
https://www.biologicalnurturing.com
https://www.llli.org/docs/0000000000000001WAB/WAB_Tear_sheet_Toolkit/01_laid_back_breastfeeding.pdf
ETA: Block feeding (see kellymom article) may help regulate your supply sooner.