Oh my. I thought I had support in place, in spite of moving to a new area. I'm not trying to scare anyone, just trying to warn you that this can happen. I know what I would do in the future to prevent formula supplementation, but I'm not sure what I could have done differently in my sleep-deprived state this first time around.
My baby was born on a Sunday, at home, with a very experienced midwife. He latched on within minutes. I was thrilled. My midwife checked the latch and said it looked good. I wondered why there was such pain, though. I asked her about that, and I think we chalked it up to first-time tenderness. This, in spite of all my LLL-recommended nipple preparations before the birth!
I continued offering him the nipple on demand. I tried all different positions. I thought yay, he's getting the colostrum! All seemed well. He had normal meconium, normal numbers of wet diapers, etc.
My milk came in Wednesday of that week. I guess I was pretty engorged, though it didn't seem like the horror stories I'd read of pain. I didn't have any difference in nipple configuration, no differences in how he latched on, so I thought it was OK. Still, I wondered why it hurt so much. My midwife came back for a scheduled home visit on Wednesday before my milk came in. I expressed my concerns about the pain. She checked baby's feeding again, the latch, and said she couldn't see anything that looked problematic.
On Friday, I started getting concerned. I called an experienced friend, but there wasn't much she could come up with. At the time I called her, he seemed to have enough diapers. But Friday night was awful. I think that's the night he screamed and screamed, in what I now realized was hunger. On Saturday, I called a nearby LLL leader. I told her I didn't think he was getting enough milk because the number of wet diapers dropped off dramatically. I was doing everything right, and I didn't know what was going on. But it was the weekend, so there was little I could do in my inexperience. LLL leader suggested a tongue tie. I called my midwife in a panic later in the middle of the night, when baby was screaming in hunger again. She named a lactation consultant I could call. I called Sunday and made an appointment for Monday morning.
On Monday morning, it looked like my breasts were completely deflated, the milk gone. I had read in my books not to worry about this, but I really thought no, in my case, the milk has dropped off. And the nipple soreness - ow! Went to see the LC. She couldn't find anything obvious, no thrush or anything, no tongue tie (midwife didn't see any tongue tie either, and my husband had fed well with his tongue tie). She gave me some silicone nipple shields and said I may need to start pumping. I went home.
I think I'd called her by that evening. Baby was still having concentrated urine and few diapers. And by Tuesday, the nipple shields weren't doing any good, and I'd gone back to suffering the pain. I had a long conversation with LC and concluded I needed to pump. We went back to the hospital where we saw her the first time (awesome, huh, after a home birth) and rented a hospital-grade double electric pump. I took it home, apparently without enough instruction on how to use it.
And I pumped only for a few minutes, until my breasts were "empty." I was only getting out a few milliliters of milk! I knew it! My milk was nearly gone!
In the meantime, baby was starving in spite of all the 45 minute to 1 hour feeds. During the Tuesday trip, the LC weighed him naked, then I fed him for 15 minutes or so, and then he was weighed again. He had taken in maybe 6 mL. During the weekend, we went and bought some powdered formula just so he wouldn't starve. We were so scared of him starving. And I cried so much at supplementing with formula.
More conversations with the LC. I procured a drug that isn't sold in this country to increase my milk supply. I also got a fenugreek-based tincture for my milk supply. I started the LC's standard plan of pumping at least 8 times a day for 15 minutes to bring up my milk supply. And we fed baby with a special needs feeder - the regular nipple allowed a gush of formula or milk that caused him to sputter, so we needed something to slow it down. Spoon and cup feeding weren't working, and I didn't have a tiny tube lactaid style thing. Fortunately, baby never had nipple confusion, and was too hungry to reject either bottle or breast.
Part of the plan was to breast feed first, then give stored breast milk, then give formula if he was still hungry - and of course, pump. After a few weeks, all of the stuff I tried must have worked. My milk supply was back up there. I was starting to put milk in the freezer. I stopped the formula, and then within a week or two, I stopped the bottle. I was breastfeeding full time.
Another thing we did was to take baby to a pediatric chiropractor. It seemed like baby's tongue wasn't covering his lower gums. I think the chiropractor did some good, but it's hard to know if normal growth and time was helping.
In spite of the pain, I stuck with the breastfeeding until it didn't hurt anymore. It's going great now, at 12 weeks. The feedings are short, and it's comfortable!
At first, I was convinced it was something I was doing wrong. I just hadn't found the right position or latch or something, right? I did benefit from this website - I ordered the video and watched it, started doing the asymmetrical latch and compressions.
http://drjacknewman.com/
But it looks like it was something going on with baby's mouth that caused the problems.
And all during this time, I kept my baby close to my skin. As soon as he was born, I put him on my chest and kept him there as much as possible, with no shirt or bra. I can't believe that, in spite of everything, I had to give my baby formula. I couldn't let him get hungrier and dehydrate. He had breast milk every day, though, no matter how little.
Next time, I will have the pump rented for a month. I don't think it's necessary for all first-time mothers, but it will give me peace of mind. I don't want to be stuck depending on formula - I'd rather have some milk in the fridge and freezer in case of problems. Or I could get good at hand expression! Oh, and it would be nice to have the lactaid tubes, so I wouldn't have to use a bottle nipple.
I hope this helps someone.
My baby was born on a Sunday, at home, with a very experienced midwife. He latched on within minutes. I was thrilled. My midwife checked the latch and said it looked good. I wondered why there was such pain, though. I asked her about that, and I think we chalked it up to first-time tenderness. This, in spite of all my LLL-recommended nipple preparations before the birth!
I continued offering him the nipple on demand. I tried all different positions. I thought yay, he's getting the colostrum! All seemed well. He had normal meconium, normal numbers of wet diapers, etc.
My milk came in Wednesday of that week. I guess I was pretty engorged, though it didn't seem like the horror stories I'd read of pain. I didn't have any difference in nipple configuration, no differences in how he latched on, so I thought it was OK. Still, I wondered why it hurt so much. My midwife came back for a scheduled home visit on Wednesday before my milk came in. I expressed my concerns about the pain. She checked baby's feeding again, the latch, and said she couldn't see anything that looked problematic.
On Friday, I started getting concerned. I called an experienced friend, but there wasn't much she could come up with. At the time I called her, he seemed to have enough diapers. But Friday night was awful. I think that's the night he screamed and screamed, in what I now realized was hunger. On Saturday, I called a nearby LLL leader. I told her I didn't think he was getting enough milk because the number of wet diapers dropped off dramatically. I was doing everything right, and I didn't know what was going on. But it was the weekend, so there was little I could do in my inexperience. LLL leader suggested a tongue tie. I called my midwife in a panic later in the middle of the night, when baby was screaming in hunger again. She named a lactation consultant I could call. I called Sunday and made an appointment for Monday morning.
On Monday morning, it looked like my breasts were completely deflated, the milk gone. I had read in my books not to worry about this, but I really thought no, in my case, the milk has dropped off. And the nipple soreness - ow! Went to see the LC. She couldn't find anything obvious, no thrush or anything, no tongue tie (midwife didn't see any tongue tie either, and my husband had fed well with his tongue tie). She gave me some silicone nipple shields and said I may need to start pumping. I went home.
I think I'd called her by that evening. Baby was still having concentrated urine and few diapers. And by Tuesday, the nipple shields weren't doing any good, and I'd gone back to suffering the pain. I had a long conversation with LC and concluded I needed to pump. We went back to the hospital where we saw her the first time (awesome, huh, after a home birth) and rented a hospital-grade double electric pump. I took it home, apparently without enough instruction on how to use it.
And I pumped only for a few minutes, until my breasts were "empty." I was only getting out a few milliliters of milk! I knew it! My milk was nearly gone!
In the meantime, baby was starving in spite of all the 45 minute to 1 hour feeds. During the Tuesday trip, the LC weighed him naked, then I fed him for 15 minutes or so, and then he was weighed again. He had taken in maybe 6 mL. During the weekend, we went and bought some powdered formula just so he wouldn't starve. We were so scared of him starving. And I cried so much at supplementing with formula.
More conversations with the LC. I procured a drug that isn't sold in this country to increase my milk supply. I also got a fenugreek-based tincture for my milk supply. I started the LC's standard plan of pumping at least 8 times a day for 15 minutes to bring up my milk supply. And we fed baby with a special needs feeder - the regular nipple allowed a gush of formula or milk that caused him to sputter, so we needed something to slow it down. Spoon and cup feeding weren't working, and I didn't have a tiny tube lactaid style thing. Fortunately, baby never had nipple confusion, and was too hungry to reject either bottle or breast.
Part of the plan was to breast feed first, then give stored breast milk, then give formula if he was still hungry - and of course, pump. After a few weeks, all of the stuff I tried must have worked. My milk supply was back up there. I was starting to put milk in the freezer. I stopped the formula, and then within a week or two, I stopped the bottle. I was breastfeeding full time.
Another thing we did was to take baby to a pediatric chiropractor. It seemed like baby's tongue wasn't covering his lower gums. I think the chiropractor did some good, but it's hard to know if normal growth and time was helping.
In spite of the pain, I stuck with the breastfeeding until it didn't hurt anymore. It's going great now, at 12 weeks. The feedings are short, and it's comfortable!
At first, I was convinced it was something I was doing wrong. I just hadn't found the right position or latch or something, right? I did benefit from this website - I ordered the video and watched it, started doing the asymmetrical latch and compressions.
http://drjacknewman.com/
But it looks like it was something going on with baby's mouth that caused the problems.
And all during this time, I kept my baby close to my skin. As soon as he was born, I put him on my chest and kept him there as much as possible, with no shirt or bra. I can't believe that, in spite of everything, I had to give my baby formula. I couldn't let him get hungrier and dehydrate. He had breast milk every day, though, no matter how little.
Next time, I will have the pump rented for a month. I don't think it's necessary for all first-time mothers, but it will give me peace of mind. I don't want to be stuck depending on formula - I'd rather have some milk in the fridge and freezer in case of problems. Or I could get good at hand expression! Oh, and it would be nice to have the lactaid tubes, so I wouldn't have to use a bottle nipple.
I hope this helps someone.
! And Welcome 
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