How's breastfeeding going?

[Surfacing]

So Mamas with your newborns, how are things going? Struggles to share? Venting? Joy to announce? Tandem or single?

[PapayaMom]

Things are going really well here. Jack has always had a good latch and a strong suck. The only thing that is harder to get used to is he seems to be a cluster feeder. He will sleep uninterrupted for 4-6 hours and then need to nurse for about 2 hours. I am just trying to get used to his rhythms vs my past experiences with the girls. But we went for a weight check yesterday, she had wanted to see 1/2oz to 1oz per day and he did more than an oz per day so clearly he is doing just fine, 2 oz shy of his birth weight at 10 days pp.

I thought my 3 year old would ask to nurse, she weaned during the 1st trimester but has remained firmly attached to the "noonies" since then asking to hold them shrieking with delight when I change etc. I was worried about how she would do watching him nurse. She loves snuggling up when he nurses but has never asked and she likes to talk about how baby Jack gets lots of yummy noonies. It is sweet and I feel so lucky that she doesn't resent him.

[chattyprincess]

My only words right now are engorment, engorment, engorment. I am sure my poor breasts are going to burst out of the skin. lol.

[mummy marja]

Papaya mom, that is so wonderful and totally sweet with your DD. Sounds like she's actually glad that her brother gets to have the same wonderful stuff she remembers having!
As for us--Babe nurses ALL THE TIME. I counted for couple of days so I would know what to tell the MW and he nursed 13 times a day. He is a very vigorous and efficient nurser though, because some feedings only last 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure he's getting all the hindmilk though, because his poops are all yellow and he's gaining like crazy. He was one pound over his birth weight at 12 days PP!

He does go for longer stretches at night, for which I am SO SO grateful. He's been pretty calm and happy so far!

I was also lucky I didn't get engorged this time--had some tenderness and my breasts were huge and sore but not hard.

I still get some nipple pain when he first latches and letdown is painful too.

[atpeace]

How about you, Surfacing?

Raymond had a tongue tie that needed to be clipped, and we're also having some hyperlactation (over-supply) issues with a rapid let-down. We've seen a lactation consultant, who suggested block feeding (I had never heard of it before), and I went to a LLL meeting. No big improvements yet...baby is still gassy, fussy, and chokes/gags when he starts feeding. He often pushes me away, and arches his back and screams. I had no idea these symptoms can be caused by hyperlactation! I'm still engorged, almost three weeks post-partum, and doing massages with each feeding to prevent plugged ducts (the massage probably doesn't help the rapid let-down though!). ARGH, I know things will get better soon...

The good thing is, at least our latch is comfortable, and I don't have any pain (other than the discomfort of engorgement). I have a few questions I'm going to post on the breastfeeding board about over-supply, but other than that, we're limping along and learning each day.

[CoBabyMaker]

Nursing is going pretty well but there are a few things that have been very different.
* My milk came Tuesday night but I never really got engorged. I get full and my breasts feel heavy but not the rock hard engorgement.

* I'm not leaking. I feel let down, baby is swallowing but the other breast never leaks. It's really weird.

* Nursing my 2 y/o has been hard because of the c-section. I have to put a pillow between us because she gets wild. So I can't nurse both girls at the same time yet. I feel bad because I want DD1 to be able to nurse more but it's just hard right now.

Overall though, Cora has a good latch loves to nurse and we are doing well.

[AmyKT]

Originally Posted by CoBabyMaker

* My milk came Tuesday night but I never really got engorged. I get full and my breasts feel heavy but not the rock hard engorgement.

No engorgement is good! It probably means you're nursing just the right amount. Engorgement is by no means a good sign.

[matthia]

I was just going to post about breastfeeding! how convenient...

I hope you don't mind and I don't want to take over the thread but I was hoping some of you experienced mama's might have some words of advice...

DS is 6 days old and we are still trying to get the hang of breastfeeding. My milk came in on day 2, I'm a little engorged but not too crazy bad. DS has a great latch so we haven't had any pain at all...so all the things I was worried aboiut as a first-timer seem to be working fine.
BUT : DS seems really uninterested in nursing! he sleeps a lot so I've been having to wake him for feedings and I've figured out by now that he won't nurse if he's a little gassy so I have to burp him well and just keep offering until he's comfortable again...my MW was concerned enough that she suggested I pump and finger-feed him along with continueing to (try) BF but now I'm worried we might be causing nipple confusion with our fingers and DH doesn't see why we don't just use a bottle since it can't be much different from a finger...I;ve been using the finger feeding method as seldom as I feel comfortable with, more often at night when DS is fussier.

He's peeing lots and by day 3 he'd passed all his meconium poos and they became very msutard-seedy right away and he's pooing at least 2x a day if not more...

SO, do I need to be worried if he's not feeding every 2-3 hours? He slept for 4hours straight last night (which I am NOT complaining about, let me tell you) but hasn't had a really good feed since then. We've tried several times but he's only had a few minutes here and there...
I guess I'm just a little frustrated because it doesn't seem like there's much I can do for this and so far this is the only thing that's triggered any baby blues.

[mataji4]

matthia, sorry you are having a bit of nursing frustration. was he early? could he be hypoglycemic, hence sleepy because his blood sugar is low? sometimes with sleepy babies you have to be pretty aggressive about waking them- undress them, mess with them, take them outside, i've even known someone to use ice on baby's feet! once disturbed and fussy, offer the breast and then keep sort of jostling/talking, etc to keep them awake. perhaps you are doing this already. if your midwife isn't helpful enough, then i encourage you to contact a local la leche league leader or a breastfeeding consultant (either from the local hospital or some doulas are certified as well). good luck!!!! and congratulations

[PapayaMom]

Originally Posted by mataji4

matthia, sorry you are having a bit of nursing frustration. was he early? could he be hypoglycemic, hence sleepy because his blood sugar is low? sometimes with sleepy babies you have to be pretty aggressive about waking them- undress them, mess with them, take them outside, i've even known someone to use ice on baby's feet! once disturbed and fussy, offer the breast and then keep sort of jostling/talking, etc to keep them awake. perhaps you are doing this already. if your midwife isn't helpful enough, then i encourage you to contact a local la leche league leader or a breastfeeding consultant (either from the local hospital or some doulas are certified as well). good luck!!!! and congratulations

great advice!

Also my first babies were totally efficient nursers even from the beginning they didn't nurse long and I was worried they weren't getting enough. What helped my through those first few weeks was a digital kitchen scale. I put a cookie sheet with a receiving blanket on the sheet and zeroed out the scale then put the baby down and was able to keep track of their weight that way. I usually am not obsessive like that but first time mamahood can do that to you. I just weighed them every few days and was satisfied knowing they were gaining.

It is very encouraging that he pees a lot. Mine is much more of a pee-er than a pooper as well. Good luck hang in there!

[Noah's mommy]

I hope you don't mind me jumping in...Stella was a July baby in the end!

Breastfeeding is going well, she was over her birth weight yesterday at 10 days postpartum. The biggest issue she's having is she seems to want to nurse all of her awake time-and she doesn't seem to sleep long stretches. So we basically nurse for an hour on and off (I offer both sides, think she's done, and then try to hold her or something-but her little birdie mouth starts going very soon after a 30 minute feed) and then we end up nursing her to sleep as well. I just don't seem to remember this from my other two. She's over 9 pounds, and doesn't fall asleep too much during feedings. I just can't figure it out!

Otherwise, it is going well. She seems to slide down my nipple and then I get some pain, but once I reset her she's good to go!

[tarasattva]

Inverted nipples making latch difficult - check.

Engorgement and general over supply - check.

Cracked nipples from inverted-ness plus engorgement making a good latch impossible - check.

Violent drowning let down - check.

Leaking all. the. time. - check.



I keep reminding myself that this is better than not having enough milk, and that with time things will get better (although w/ DD I leaked all the time up until the day she weaned) but at 2am I sometimes want to scream!

Little guy is a champ though, he gets a milk bath every feeding and spends the first 10 minutes playing lazy (just lapping up what is spraying everywhere) but eventually latches on to get the rest of his milk. Since we don't have AC we're having a lot of nekid time and he is already a fan of the shower (DD was a christmas babe, didn't realize what a stinky problem milk everywhere plus heat creates).

Looking forward to a time when each feeding doesn't soak several receiving blankets and we don't have to change the sheets daily, but all in all it could definitely be worse!

[SpuglyRoo]

matthia- the only two things I can think of that others haven't suggested are that being even slightly jaundiced can make a baby more sleepy, so make sure he is getting plenty of sunlight for vitamin D, and also, perhaps try a different position? My DD will fall asleep after only a few minutes if I hold her in what I consider the normal or standard BF position, but will stay awake for a really good feeding if I hold her tucked under my arm (is that called football style? I really don't know the terms, sorry)

AFM we are four days pp and my milk is actually here! Hallelujah! Actually, it came in yesterday and quite frankly I was more concerned with it arriving in a timely manner than I was about being pregnant, or the impending birth, or the postpartum recovery because for my DS it took 12 days before I was getting anything! Talk about unnecessary stress for a first time momma! But this time around we knew it was a possibility and started taking EVERYTHING that I took the first time to get it to come in right away.

DD latches on REALLY strongly, and the initial latch is painful because she nurses so often, but it goes away after a second or two. She tends to want to nurse all the time and wants to sleep on the breast but we are working to change that. I didn't get engorged with DS because by the time my milk came in he was soo ready for it (we didn't starve him in the meantime, by the way, my SIL donated milk and I gave it to him in our SNS) so the tenderness in my breasts is quite a different experience, but I'll take that over feeling like I'm starving or failing my baby any day.

Overall I am loving being able to snuggle my sweetie and stroke her downy head and really enjoy this newborn time.

by the way, how is everyone doing with the afterpains that nursing brings on? Good Lord! It is a good thing I recently read that they were worse with subsequent babies or I would seriously have thought something was wrong with me! Ugh! I'm just glad that they seem to be getting better, not worse.

[chattyprincess]

other mamas with engorment...TRY CABBAGE LEAVES...tried this today and its REALLY helping. Also the earth mama angel baby nipple cream while expensive appears to have save my nipples from the tearing up they recieved last time!

[Momma2DoubleCuties]

Things are going great. He's a champ nurser. I'm feeling pretty blessed that I've had pretty easy nursers.

[CoBabyMaker]

NAK

SpuglyRoo- Yea! So glad your milk came in sooner this time!!!

I feel like we just had a bid tandem nursing breakthrough!
I haven't been able to nurse my older DD(Nadia) much because I am afraid she will get wild and hurt my incision and Cora is ALWAYS at the breast. I could tell Nadia was feeling hurt but couldn't find a solution. I sat down at the play table with Nadia for a tea party while I was nursing Cora a bit ago. Nadia asked for "ninis" and I realized I could say yes! Cora was in a cradle hold covering most of my incision so it felt safe. Nadia was able to stand at my right side and nurse. So there we sat for 10 or 15 minutes all three of us snuggled together. I could tell she was SO happy and felt loved. I have a new appreciation for kids furniture!

[tcooper]

Originally Posted by AmyKT

No engorgement is good! It probably means you're nursing just the right amount. Engorgement is by no means a good sign.

This is not true. Engorgement is completely normal for many, many women and is not a "bad" sign and does not mean you are not nursing properly. And then some women never get engorged or have firm breasts. This is also normal.

We are doing very well. DD has been doing great since birth. No latch issues, strong suck. She nurses about every 90 minutes to 2 hours during the day and then 3-4 hours overnight. She never lost weight and is 1lb 2oz over her birth weight at 2 weeks.

[AmyKT]

Originally Posted by tcooper

This is not true. Engorgement is completely normal for many, many women and is not a "bad" sign and does not mean you are not nursing properly. And then some women never get engorged or have firm breasts. This is also normal.

No, I didn't mean that engorgement is a bad, bad thing, or that it means you're doing anything wrong. She just seemed concerned that she didn't have it this time, and I was just trying to encourage her that that, too, was ok. I'd rather not be engorged than be engorged, though.

[emilyash]

Yay CoBaby Maker!

It's going very well for Maggie & I, she cluster feeds in the morning and again in the evening, and then pretty much STTN...we cosleep, so she has a few dream nips that don't last too long, but otherwise....wow! She's almost .5lb past her birth weight at her 10 day appt, and going strong.

Tandem, when we do it, is going well. But I'm trying to keep DS to only his old nursing times: first thing in the am, when he gets home from daycare, and before bed. Otherwise it seems too inconsistent for him, and sometimes he hoovers all the milk and DD might not be getting enough during her cluster feeds. So it's been hard trying to communicate this to DS (he's almost 19 months). He gets SO upset when he sees me holding or nursing DD. He loves her and kisses her a lot, but he just gets so upset that he can't nurse Right. Then. It's heartbreaking. He just wants to climb up on both of us, and I'm afraid he'll smoosh her or poke her inadvertently. DH & gramma are great at distracting him, but when it's just me....yikes...don't know what I'll do. Just get through it, I guess. Like I said, I don't want to let him nurse whenever because the answer won't ALWAYS be yes, so I think if we have routine times he'll get it eventually. But this is hard. I've tried cuddling with a special snack/book, but that doesn't last long, he just asks for "side" (he calls it "side" because before he was born I'd tell him it was time to switch to the "other side"...so now he calls it "side"....so cute it kills me).

Anyway, this was more more about toddler nursing than newborn....but that's where I am!

[PapayaMom]

ugh I spoke too soon I cam edown with a plugged duct thursday night which turned into mastitis yesterday. complete with a fever and chills. I am feeling better today but am just going to hang out on the couch and nurse today. It's too bad the girls really wanted to go to the farmers market and now we are just laying low.