Baby is here!

marijaa333 · May 2015

Hi everyone,

Our son arrived very late last Monday night, after 24 hours of labor (with a glorious epidural for the last 15 hours) and 3 hours of pushing. Everything went smoothly, but I was exhausted from not having slept or eaten for so long, so pushing was difficult and prolonged. He was 7lbs, 1oz and 50cm long. We're all doing well.

The only thing I'm struggling with is getting my milk supply up - we've had to do a bit of supplementing with donor milk and will be getting a hospital grade pump today. I'll check out the breastfeeding forum, but if anyone has tips on this point, I'd love to hear them. And if anyone has ever donated milk, THANK YOU, on behalf of those of us with hungry babies.

Looking forward to checking out everyone's updates for this week.

Be well!

HWKI · May 2015

Congratulations! Take advantage of the lactation consultants. They will have the best tips. LOTS of water, oatmeal, and a nursing mother's tea (Yogi brand) helped with supply for me. The first month of nursing was hard for me, so pat yourself on the back for hanging in there. It will get easier!

PlainJane8350 · May 2015

Congratulations!

jerseygirl227 · May 2015

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!

NeonNoon · May 2015

Congratulations

Glad to hear you are recovering well. Hope you figure out the supply thing soon.

niknak1208 · May 2015

Congrats!!! I hope nursing starts to get better. Hang in there!

cneiding · May 2015

generally milk is a supply and demand issue. So if you are not "making enough" its usually not that your body is unable or not making what it needs to....it most likely is that your baby is not taking enough out. Meaning baby is either not positioned in a way he is able to effectively draw enough milk out to fill himself or baby is not sucking effectively for some other reason (like they have a weak latch, weak suck or something like a tongue tie preventing them for nursing efficiently)

I strongly suggest you see a good lactation consultant that will really sit down and diagnose the problem with you.

There are things that can be done to help boost a supply...but first figure out exactly what the real issue behind all this is. Then things that help people are : oatmeal (just eating it), barley water (google it, you soak barley and drink the water), of course a healthy diet over all and enough water intake, mother love herbs makes some good "more milk" formulas. Other people take just fenugreek or brewer's yeast.

marijaa333 · May 2015

cneiding said:
generally milk is a supply and demand issue. So if you are not "making enough" its usually not that your body is unable or not making what it needs to....it most likely is that your baby is not taking enough out. Meaning baby is either not positioned in a way he is able to effectively draw enough milk out to fill himself or baby is not sucking effectively for some other reason (like they have a weak latch, weak suck or something like a tongue tie preventing them for nursing efficiently)

I strongly suggest you see a good lactation consultant that will really sit down and diagnose the problem with you.

Thanks so much, especially for the advice @cnielding and your experience @HWKI - it gives me hope! I also think the problem is with the latch, hold or a short tongue. We went to a lactation consultant on day 3, after he had no soiled diapers and only very few wet ones. She checked the hold, latch and tongue and measured how much he was able to transfer (only 8g, although this was still colostrum days). She also asked a bunch of questions and determined I didn't have any risk factors. The one remaining "suspect" is his tongue, which, while not tied, may be short.. . She recommended patching in some donor milk or formula until my milk came in, which has helped tremendously, although he's still (today) eating 6 oz of donor milk per day, and the rest mine. He's gaining weight and wetting diapers like a champ now, though. We're going for a follow-up this week.

He seems to take forever to finish nursing, and keeps falling asleep, then waking up and rooting frantically. This is especially true in the evenings...

I rented a hospital grade pump today and am going to try it in about an hour, after I give my nipples a bit of rest.

supersarah77 · May 2015

Congratulations!!! I keep checking back on this board to see if you've announced a birth! So glad everyone is happy and healthy!

For as "natural" as breastfeeding is, it sure can be difficult. Another vote for finding a good LC and seeing him/her until you get in your groove, and also kellymom.com is a good resource. Kudos to you (and your nips) for hanging in there.

marijaa333 · May 2015

Thanks @supersarah77! We're taking it in stride (despite the nipple torture!) - baby will be fed one way or another.

KaLikeAWind · May 2015

Congratulations on the birth of your LO! Best wishes for the breastfeeding challenges to get easier and lots of boob juice! <:-P

ewenner · May 2015

Hooray! Congratulations! So glad to hear that L&D went well. I hope you are able to figure out your BF issues soon.

BeckyP005 · May 2015

Congrats!!!

hooligans4 · May 2015

Lurking from your ttc board.
Congrats.
Hope all works out with the BFing.

marijaa333 · May 2015

Thank you, @hooligans4! I need to get over to TTC>35 to check up on everyone.

Today seems a tad better in terms of feeding than yesterday, so I'm hopeful...

sidey1 · May 2015

Congratulations!!

mdogan29 · May 2015

Yay!!!!! Congrats!!! Glad to hear the feeding went a bit better today - hope that continues to improve!

dc072175 · May 2015

Congrats! Activated Barley helps with milk production.

sameeha32 · August 2015

Congrats i use welada it's organic and very good. I used it with.my first daughter and will now be using it with my second. I purchased it from diapers.com they have next day delivery as well.

Baby is here!

Re: Baby is here!

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