April 2016 Moms
spicedice
member
Going from pumping/formula to breastfeeding with next baby?
spicedice
member
With DS1, I could not get a breastfeeding relationship to work. Apparently my hormones sent the "baby is born" signal to my milk ducts and never sent the message out to my nipples. They were so short that it was impossible for LO to latch on, so he never got enough milk, was constantly asking to eat, was losing too much weight, and was terribly fussy. I had two nurses tell me to just keep trying and looked at me like I was the failure. When the lactation consultant finally made it to me, she immediately recognized the problem and gave me a nipple shield along with a pump. She told me that it may take a few days for my nipples to get the message... Or they may never get the message. I could keep trying to breastfeed with the shield, but in the end, I would probably have to pick between formula and exclusively pumping.
I ended up having to exclusively pump, because even with the shield, I was getting blisters and bleeding. Once I started pumping, DS1 started gaining weight, sleeping more, was happier, and not needing as constant of feedings.
My question goes out to the third time moms... Did you do formula/pumping for your first and then have a successful breastfeeding relationship with your second? Was it really hard to breastfeed if you had so many issues the first time around? I still plan on having a pump handy, just in case I do have to exclude let pump again.
I ended up having to exclusively pump, because even with the shield, I was getting blisters and bleeding. Once I started pumping, DS1 started gaining weight, sleeping more, was happier, and not needing as constant of feedings.
My question goes out to the third time moms... Did you do formula/pumping for your first and then have a successful breastfeeding relationship with your second? Was it really hard to breastfeed if you had so many issues the first time around? I still plan on having a pump handy, just in case I do have to exclude let pump again.
Re: Going from pumping/formula to breastfeeding with next baby?
When DS2 was born, I vowed to make a fresh start and try my hardest to make breastfeeding work. Sadly, I had the same issues. Only this time I stopped before the horrible frustration set in and we only made it to 6 weeks of nursing before switching to formula. With this baby, I have vowed to skip the mom guilt and nurse for as long as it works out, which may only be days or weeks, then switch to formula.
So, to answer your question, we had problems with the first baby, and the same problems with the second baby.
With DD2 I had slightly better success. She had a much better latch, but my nipples were still flat. I ended up blistered and bleeding. Finally had to switch to EPing (with a hospital grade pump) and was able to continue until she was around 8 months.
I plan to try again this time and am hoping and praying for a better outcome. I will have a good pump at the ready just in case.
I'm in the same boat as you, as a STM looking to establish a breastfeeding relationship after having complications during the first time around.
Sometimes those hospital nurses are awful when it comes to breastfeeding. I went through the same thing after DD was born. They looked at my as if my milk was supposed to come in immediately after the baby left the womb and I had a CSection. I also have inverted nipples, but LaLeche league says that shouldn't make a difference. Not the case for me. Milk may come in right away with other C Section mothers, but it wasn't the case for me. I struggled like hell in the hospital trying to get my milk started by pumping and I was also given a shield. They also looked at me as if I was also a failure and I felt like they treated me that way too, like I intentionally was starving my kid. I even tried supplementing with an SNS system and I could not get baby to latch. I'm going to a different hospital this time around, I don't want to get treated like that again. My milk didn't come in until 4-5 days later, and that's with trying to pump them all the time.
I ended up having to exclusively pump from thereon because baby never latched. I EP'ed until my supply dried up at 4 mos post partum. I tried domperidone, fenugreek, steel oat diet, lactation cookies, pumping on a schedule, all kinds of things. I just could never make the supply I needed if baby was directly breastfeeding. I've worked and worked with a lactation consultant and still baby just never latched. It was heartbreaking.
Who knows maybe this time around it might be completely different, at least I'm hoping. I plan on going directly to supplementing with an SNS so baby doesn't lose any weight and pumping the heck out of my nips to try and get things going. Things hopefully will be different from last time around or they can be completely the same. Either case, good luck to both you and me.
It's a boy! Grow baby, grow! EDD: 4/22/2016
My second child went pretty smoothly. She didn't latch as readily as the first due to slight jaundice. Once that was out of her system after a few days, it was smooth sailing. I gave her a bottle occasionally if I was gone.
For my third, we will see what happens. I've experienced it both ways now and am prepared to do whatever is best for me and baby.
I have a friend who had a difficult time breastfeeding with her first child, but was able to do so with her second. My mother always had to switch to formula after a week or two. Each baby and mommy team is different. There is hope for a different experience the second time around, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. And that's ok.
I had 44 hrs of labor and that ended up with a C Section. My DD went right to breast as soon as possible and did the best she could, but my milk supply never came in. Babies are able to live off the colostrum until your milk does come in so that was fine. I had issues with my nipples as well, they appeared flat at times and I also ended up with blooded, blistered nipples. We tried the nipple shield, which did work (although not easy to coordinate), but because my milk was not coming in my poor baby was hungry after a couple of days.
I have not seen the cluster feed mentioned here, so I figure I will mention that as well. Usually on Day 2, babies will do a cluster feed, which is pretty much nursing non-stop to help bring in Mom's milk supply. Our DD did this on Day 3 from like 10PM until 6AM, she would just keep sucking from each breast to try and get milk. Because the nurses check the babies weight, they realized quickly that my milk was not in and baby was losing too much weight (babies generally lose some weight, but anything over 10% and they will have you supplement with formula). Of course I was devastated because I felt like I was doing something wrong, but poor thing was so hungry. So while my husband bottle fed, I used the hospital pump to help bring in milk. I used that for another 2 days while we were there and I was not able to get anything over a couple of ml's. I rented a hospital grade pump from our pediatrician for another week or two and tried a bunch of herbal remedies like mother's milk, fenuegeek (or whatever its called), and still no more milk. And I was pumping like every 2 hrs to try and help stimulate. It just did not work for me and I was not bonding with my baby at all. So at that point, I just gave up and we just did formula. Our daughter has always been healthy and she did well with formula. I just want new Mom's to know its ok to formula feed, your babies will turn out just fine.
Even with all of that, we are still going to give breastfeeding a try this go around. I even ordered my free pump and will do the best I can with this baby. I am not expecting this to go any better, but I am hopeful.
Good luck to you all!