Losing Weight - Page 2

[NicolleLynne]

I've been using More Milk Special Blend from Motherlove and it's really helped my supply. It has Goat's Rue, Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle:

http://www.motherlove.com/product/580.html

Tastes nasty but it works!!!

[CorasMama]

That More Milk stuff comes in an alcohol free version, which tastes WAY better, by the way.

[amberdcm]

I have to stick a boob in my daughter's mouth every three hours or so during the night to make sure I'm meeting her nutritive needs lest she sleep through the night, as well. Unlike my son who alternated cluster nursing with belly problems all day & night, my dd will sleep 10 peaceful hours. Keeping her in bed with us really gives me all the benefits of her chill, calm, peaceful disposition while concurrently meeting her needs since the most I'm required to do for a feeding is roll over & pop the "nursie" in her mouth before lulling off to a semi-lucid sleep state. This is heavenly compared to all the pacing & rocking I did for my son during his early months. Definitely set an alarm for every three hours and nurse her during these hours. Your body will naturally produce the most milk it's capable of producing during the night hours because you're resting, and this is one of the important components to making milk (rest, fluids, food). Don't miss out on these prime breast feeding hours by sleeping through them...both your production & your LO can really benefit during these hours.

It's awesome that you've been able to pump a number of ounces during the times you're offering formula. It's pure proof that your body is really making milk. Keep pumping during the times you offer formula so you don't send a signal to your breats that the milk you've pushed so hard for it to produce is no longer needed and cause it to dry up.

Awesome job on the weight gain. You only started supplementing a couple days ago. Be proud of yourself that YOU caused ALL that gain to occur since you first posted.Lots of hugs!

[NicolleLynne]

Originally Posted by CorasMama

That More Milk stuff comes in an alcohol free version, which tastes WAY better, by the way.

Thanks so much for the recommendation. I get mine from a local place called The Pump Station. They don't carry the alcohol free version but I'll ask them to start.

[Tiffanoodle]

Originally Posted by CorasMama

Remind me, what kind of pump do you have?

I have a Medela Pump in Style. 2, actually.

The last couple nights she's woken up more during the night. Monday night I couldn't sleep, so I was up when she stirred around 3. She would only take 1 side, then she went to snuggle with dh and I pumped. She came back to me about 6:30 and slept and nursed the rest of the morning. Last night I slept. She came back around 3 and just stayed with me to sleep/nurse.

She's been getting about 6-7 ounces of formula a day still. I pumped while she was napping yesterday because I knew we were going to have to get going to my dd's baseball game. I got a solid 2 ounces. I noticed, though, that it is coming much quicker. Like, of the 2 ounces, at least an ounce and a half letdown in the first 30 seconds. I started pumping and looked down and was just shocked to see so much out so quickly. I can get maybe 1-2 letdowns in a pumping session, but no more whether I pump 5 minutes or 30. I can't do much more because I have pretty sensitive nipples and the pump tends to balloon them up to cigar size after awhile, which kind of freaks me out. When I'm nursing Lauren, though, I notice that she will get letdown every few minutes. We don't have a lot of time to just sit and nurse during the day (I hear people saying they have 90 minute sessions and I am jealous. I can't imagine 90 minutes in the afternoon where the kids don't need me for something.) But sometimes in the evening I can sit for an hour watching TV and do nothing but nurse her. I like hearing her getting all that good hindmilk.

I'm been keeping up on my 64 ounces of mama's milk tea a day and taking 3 fenugreek 2-3 times a day. I'm kind of nervous to add much more, though. I need to get on a probiotic today. I went to the OB yesterday because I had a lot of pain in one part of my incision where it was kind of red, open, and draining. I have a "minor, superficial" infection. So I get to be on an antibiotic now 4x a day for 5 days. And I'm back on the Percocet awhile longer. I swear, it hurts worse now than when I was first discharged from the hospital. She told me to put hydrogen peroxide on it 3-4 times a day. It is unbearable when I put the peroxide on, so I'm back to looking at the clock and taking the Percocet every 6 hours. *sigh* Always something.

[CorasMama]

ok, a few recommendations:

You may need a larger breast shield on your pump. Let me know if you might, and I'll send you some. (I ended up needing a smaller shield, but that's really uncommon, and someone sent me some larger ones that I won't be using.) If you're pumping with too small a shield, it can decrease your milk production dramatically.

If you're even slightly prone to yeastie beasties, call and ask your doc to call in one or two diflucan. For some antibiotics, I take one at the beginning of the course, and for some, I take one at the beginning and one at the end. You don't want to get thrush. Also, eat yogurt!

Instead of pumping longer (you mentioned 30 minutes. Yeowch!), try pumping until you can't get anymore, even with breast compressions, then stopping, waiting 5-10 minutes, and pumping again. I find that break allows me to get an additional 25% or even more. It's like a third letdown.

Ok, now that I've reread your last post, I wonder if you're not needing the smaller breast shields (really, just inserts that go in the regular size ones.) Try getting a set, and seeing if it works. Also, you can try the Soft fit shields, which, although they only come in the 24mm size, and tend to warp after a month or two, are really way more comfy than the hard plastic 24mm ones.

[Tiffanoodle]

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I have smaller nipple shields that I have used a couple times. I notice a bit less milk when I do that. The regular size is just a bit smaller than my areola, so when it's pumping all of it gets sucked in. I think that's about right?

Great suggestion on the timing. That does make a lot of sense. I usually don't pump much past when I don't see milk coming out. Usually a few minutes longer and then I call it quits. Next time I'll set it aside a few minutes and try again.

I have only really had a few yeast infections in my life. I think it was during my pregnancy with ds. However, that would be just about my luck, adding one more thing to deal with. I got some probiotics today that I added in to my gigantic pill regiment. I hate pills, but now I find myself taking 9 Fenugreek, 4 antibiotic, 1 probiotic, 1 iron pill, and 1 prenatal pill a day. And then my tea, which really seems to be doing something.

Today she had NO formula! I had pumped a couple ounces last night, so I had that. I nursed her this morning and noon and she was perfectly content. Then this evening we were out shopping. I nursed her a bit before we went in to the store and she got a little fussy when we'd been in there a few minutes, so I grabbed the 2 ounces of bm I had. I gave her that and she was great. Then we went to eat. I nursed her a very quick first letdown only on both sides and then we went in to the restaurant. I had her in the ring sling and she was wide awake and happy as can be through the whole meal. She did suck on her pacifier for awhile, but more just because she likes to suck. She flat out refuses to use that as a substitute when she wants to eat. She will spit it out and demand that she get fed. We got home tonight and she had a nice long session from the left side (my "good" side that produces 2-3 times what the right does) and then I changed her for bed. I was going to nurse her to sleep, but my mom brought the older kids home and I was dealing with getting them to bed and taking care of the dogs and then my incision. Dh took her to bed and right now they're cuddled up fast asleep. Guess she didn't need the right side after all.

Thank you all SO much for the advice, support, and outlet. I really needed someone to tell me that we were doing okay and to give me "btdt" stories about increasing supply. We're not where I want to be yet, but a day without formula and with long periods of being contently awake is so awesome!

[CorasMama]

yay! That's an awesome day!

[NicolleLynne]

So happy to hear about your wonderful day! Just remember, formula or no formula you're doing the best you can for your little one and are an absolutely fantastic mama!!!

[Tiffanoodle]

GAH! I know I'm probably driving you all as nuts as I'm driving myself. I had stopped stressing quite as much for a few days. I was puming 2 ounces at night while she was sleeping and giving that to her the following afternoon. She was content, having lots of awake periods, starting to hold her head up really good, and not quite as "needy" as she had been. I was feeling really good going into her appointment yesterday. I put her on the scale and waited to see how much she'd gained...she was DOWN to 7#8oz! I almost broke out in tears. The nurse asked me how much she was at birth and I was really ashamed to say 7#12oz. She didn't really say anything. She certainly wasn't judgemental or anything. She asked if I had any concerns and I said I was concerned about her weight gain, or lack thereof. She said I could talk to the doc about that and he would do testing or whatever if he thought it was necessary.

Doc came in, we discussed the general "how often do you feed her? How many wet/poo diapers, etc." He checked her over and said she looks really great. Strong and healthy, she's just "gaining weight a little slowly." Since she was 7#5oz. when we were discharged from the hospital, she has *technically* gained weight. I mentioned that my other kids were pretty skinny and even my dd1, who was formula fed from a month on, never packed on the pounds. He said there's no reason that he sees to do any labwork or anything. He said just keep doing what we're doing, supplementing as she needs it. I told him I'm trying to work up my supply and he understood that. He asked if I'd talked to the LC and I said I had and was following her recommendtations.

I was really happy he didn't ridicule me or tell me to supplement more. When Cadence was born and was jaundice, I got a bit of an anti-bf vibe from him. It might have been my perception and postpartum hormones.

I'm just going to need to make sure I'm paying attention to how often she's eating and waking her up if she naps too long. Which goes against my instincts. But I need her to start gaining weight. Today I pumped 2.5 ounces while she napped (she had eaten and was still hungry, wasn't getting anything out, and my nipples were really sore so I fed her a few ounces of formula, put some lanolin on my nipples, and pumped when I felt a letdown awhile later.) That's more than I've pumped in a long time, so something I'm doing must be working. To produce more milk anyway.