I've got breast questions - Page 2

[yippiehippie]

MW told me to put used tea bags in the fridge and put them on your nipples after baby comes. Anyone else gonna do this or heard this?

[dogretro]

The crazy thing w/ my nursing pain is that dd and I never once had a single nursing problem. I practically memorized the book So THAT'S What They're For! & was totally prepared to dog it out, come what may. From the first latch, every single thing was perfect and glorious, it just hurt for a while *shrug* I cannot remember things exactly b/c of time passage, but she was really the perfect eater & my boobs were the perfect producers.

I was a DD before becoming pg the first time & by the time my milk came in, I was up to a J. I am still a J now (wth???) even though dd was fully weaned by about 15 months. My milk did dry up before I became pg the second time. They are big ole heavy floppies now. I feel way too young to look like an old native African lady :/ It's inconvenient, unattractive & annoying, so one day I will get them redone, but not until I'm done birthing babies.

[justamama]

One thing people skimmed over with me the first time were afterpains. I was told they were minor cramps and only got bad with the more kids you have. Well, mine were bad even with my first. I don't know of it is because I have bad period cramps so my uterine contractions are just stronger all around or what...but it felt like labor was starting everytime we nursed for about a week. And it DID get worse with dd2. I'm probably going to see about getting bfing friendly painkillers for after this babe is here. It scares me more than labor! :x Thankfully, within a week, that pain is gone. It's like some of my worst periods. all over again, though. A week of bleeding and really bad cramps.

And not boob related, but I wish I'd known beforehand that not every bf baby will have a black with each nursing- or even each day! Once mecomium was over with, Dd1 pooped one huge poop every 12-14 days for the fist couple of months. Plenty of wet dipes, and her poop was normal bf poop- just a lot of it! She wasn't uncomfortable or straining. We got a lot of flavor from doctors and. wic but a couple of mamas I knew who were bfing experienced assured me she was fine. And she was. I was just a lucky mama- we used to put her on a chux pad and let her poop rather ham dirtying our cloth dipes. Maybe its why she took so quickly to EC? LOL

[jsh7809]

This thread is SO fascinating! I feel lucky that we live in an age where I can learn so much about what BFing MIGHT be like before I get there. A year or so ago (before many of my friends were also having babies), I would've also thought that BFing is generally intuitive and easy - now I know that it often is, and the rewards are usually worth it, but that it can be really frustrating and difficult, esp. at first.
As for pain... sounds like it can go either way. I expect to have some pain or discomfort as the nipples get used to living up to their "purpose" but wasn't sure if I needed to do something to prep for that. Though it kind of seems like, why hurt them before they might be hurt anyway?
It's nice to know that some women don't have pain, some women find the pain can be corrected through LC help, and some get pain but that can be normal too. I'm a sensitive lady so we'll see. How weird that LLL says there should never be any pain, that makes me sad for the women who don't find it so easy.
I too have uneven breasts, and so far am only seeing an even bigger discrepancy. I mean, they're both growing but now that they're bigger, lefty is pointing a little more down and righty is still staring straight ahead . Not a big deal, nice to know they might even out.
And hmm... I definitely think my mom's breast changes were BFing related, because it happened in her early 30s, after weaning my brother (her last baby). She has never complained about it and I know that she in no way regrets BFing us all! It's nice to know that the smaller ladies can still do the job (part of why I was so happy when my colostrum started leaking a little!). But I am struggling with the part of me that fears a boob collapse - cause what I have is so small to begin with, I don't know what I'd do if even that went away. So I'm just telling myself over and over again that my body will be most beautiful providing for my daughter and I will deal with whatever comes my way.
One thing that helps is to think about how my body image will affect my daughter's - I know my mom's remarks about aspects of her own body affected me deeply - so hopefully that will keep me positive no matter what.
And, yes, lots of bumpies on the areolas beforehand, but now that there are some new, different ones and some odd colors, I just wanted to double check. Nothing scary (I have some moles elsewhere that are growing faster now that look fine but I will have checked post-pregnancy) but just... new.

Hooray for breasts!!

[jsh7809]

Originally Posted by yippiehippie

MW told me to put used tea bags in the fridge and put them on your nipples after baby comes. Anyone else gonna do this or heard this?

I haven't heard of this, but I know hot and cold can both be soothing, so I imagine that would be the idea here?

[Pepper44]

I'm allergic to lanolin...at least it seriously irritates my nipples and causes them to turn maroon and itch/burn like crazy...so I put coconut oil on them instead and it worked great. It was soothing but not gloppy and messy like the lansinoh stuff.

[frontierpsych]

The nipple thing I never did get. I had a lot of pain the first day or 2 of nursing, and nothing beyond that. My nipples are not 'tougher' but they are 'stretchier', so if there was any way to prepare your nipples for breastfeeding, I would think it would be stretching them, not sandpapering them, lol! ouch! Either way though, it has been shown to be generally unnecessary and not really helpful, so I wouldn't do anything.

[Peace+Hope]

Originally Posted by yippiehippie

MW told me to put used tea bags in the fridge and put them on your nipples after baby comes. Anyone else gonna do this or heard this?

yep, my sister's MW recommended this, and specifically black tea. i didn't get to ask why, and my sister was never sore, so never used this method. her MW just said wet/damp. i can't imagine that caffeine works topically, does it??

my nips have gotten bigger, and the areola, but all is still very light and slightly less light (nip) pink. i wonder whether the skin will darken for me! i have gotten stretch marks that radiate out from the nip on both breasts. my beautiful breasts!

i went to my first LLL meeting, and the facilitator said they no longer recommend lanolin. she said they want to encourage women to rely on the montgomery glands more and not introduce any creams. of course, even the newest addition of WABF is several years back so it still has that recommendation.

fun fact: read that the montgomery gland secretions smell the same as amniotic fluid, and the newborn recognizes the smell!

[Pepper44]

You know, logically it would make more sense to just have your DH suck on them all the time to toughen them up instead of rubbing them harshly or using a breast pump. At least it would be a lot more enjoyable.

[Peace+Hope]

Originally Posted by Pepper44

You know, logically it would make more sense to just have your DH suck on them all the time to toughen them up instead of rubbing them harshly or using a breast pump. At least it would be a lot more enjoyable.

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by CamoShades

But I see your other child was born June of 2008, so I'm guessing you're either still nursing or got pregnant and stopped nursing while pregnant? Because that can make a huge difference. The deflation comes once you stop nursing and aren't pregnant. I had DD in April 2008, and I was down to nursing her twice a day (so not often enough to keep them looking nice and big and full of milk) when I got pregnant last July. I had noticed some deflation like I'd never had before, but then they started to perk back up once I got pregnant, and they look great again now. So my boobs have been pretty nice looking for about the past three years, but I fully expect them to turn into pancakes when I'm done nursing this baby, because I caught a glimpse of it during the time I wasn't nursing frequently before I got pregnant. I would say you can't really judge how they're going to look unless you've tested it out -- you're not nursing, and you're not pregnant.

True, though DS was down to nursing once a day by 12mo, and they were still fine.

[AnnieNimIty]

Also, sometimes milk will come out of the Montgomery glands. Just something I recently learned from my doula/LC.
ETA: Sorry I am totally DDCC. I saw this on new posts.

[jolesh]

doesn't black tea have some sort of healing/coagulating properties? i know when i had teeth pulled the dentist told me to use tea bags in the gaps to absorb and add counter-pressure and that it would help with healing. maybe that is somehow related to the nipple thing?

[Knitting Mama]

Yeah, black tea is AWESOME for drawing out infections. As a kid I had a bad spider bite on my forearms, to the point that I was getting blood poisoning--I had red lines streaking up and down my arm. My mom put a wet black teabag on it in the evening, wrapped it in plastic to keep it moist as long as possible, and by the morning it was literally all gone. All you could see were the tiny punctures from the bite. I've used the method at least a half dozen times since then with great success every time.

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

Yeah, black tea is AWESOME for drawing out infections. As a kid I had a bad spider bite on my forearms, to the point that I was getting blood poisoning--I had red lines streaking up and down my arm. My mom put a wet black teabag on it in the evening, wrapped it in plastic to keep it moist as long as possible, and by the morning it was literally all gone. All you could see were the tiny punctures from the bite. I've used the method at least a half dozen times since then with great success every time.

That's really cool. Didn't know that!

[dogretro]

Since this IS the Mothering forum, I will point out that in the current issue, the article "Scent of a Woman" touches on the areolar glands. It says that the secretions of the bumps play a major role in the scent of the breast to attract the newborn. I have also heard that the secretions help in keeping the nipple/areola moisturized & disinfected.

As for lanolin, or any other oil/cream, I didn't take any chances last time & I'm not about to this time, either! Nursing did dry my nips out & the cream really soothed them, so too bad, LLL, I like your bras, but I'm still using lanolin!

[CamoShades]

I'm sticking with lanolin, too!

One thing I haven't seen mentioned about the Montgomery glands is that baby's saliva in contact with them is supposed to be good for helping establish milk supply. I've read that several places; has anyone else heard that?

[Ashes]

Originally Posted by jsh7809

It's nice to know that the smaller ladies can still do the job (part of why I was so happy when my colostrum started leaking a little!).

I had 36 B before my first baby. DH used to joke that how would I ever give my baby enough milk with B breasts? Well... I had a better time BFing than my D friends. Size totally does not matter, you got that right!

The biggest thing I wish I had learned earlier with BFing was to try it lying down sooner! I tried after a week ( with a c-section incision, ouch!) and didn't get it. Then I didn't try until the baby was 4 months old and it was awesome. I am going to try earlier this time for sure.

[yippiehippie]

So what brand/type of cream is everyone gonna use and what's worked for you in the past? I'd love to get something that can be used for diaper cream, too, but don't know about all the ingredients in lansinoh. Pepper-you say coconut oil, what about jojoba oil or shea butter? Also, does all that soak in before the next feeding, i'm sure LO doesn't like any foreign tastes, or do you rinse off? Gosh, i guess i have more questions about it than i thought!

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by yippiehippie

So what brand/type of cream is everyone gonna use and what's worked for you in the past? I'd love to get something that can be used for diaper cream, too, but don't know about all the ingredients in lansinoh. Pepper-you say coconut oil, what about jojoba oil or shea butter? Also, does all that soak in before the next feeding, i'm sure LO doesn't like any foreign tastes, or do you rinse off? Gosh, i guess i have more questions about it than i thought!

Can you use calendula? I think so, and it can also be used as a first aid.

Honestly? I don't use cream. I just make sure to rub in any breastmilk left on my nipple and I never had problems with chapping.