How's the breastfeeding going?

[*Jade*]

For those breastfeeding, how's it going?

We've been having some troubles, Quinn lost 12% of his body weight so we've had to supplement with formula and pump to get him to gain weight, plus use a nipple shield to get him to latch properly. It's been hard to have to supplement and feel like I'm not providing enough to feed him properly, but I'm focusing on the fact he's getting what he needs, and still having a lot of breastmilk.

[Dahlea]

We are lucky here and it's going perfectly. I didn't have any prOblems with my son and hoping that continues with baby girl.

I hope you can stop supplementing soon. Have you tried posting in the breastfeeding forum for advice?

[*Jade*]

It's funny, I keep going there to post, but I don't know what I need advice on! I'm pumping (when he's not feeding every hour!!) and started taking Domperidone today; I guess I'm more just after reassurance that I'm not a terrible mum for it!

[miss_nikki]

Breastfeeding is going great here. He latched on like a champ within 30 mins of his birth and has a much better latch than DS 1 had in the beginning. I'm tandem nursing and it's actually going pretty good. DS1 wants to nurse more than he was, which I anticipated. Sometimes he has to wait other times I nurse them both at the same time or if DS2 is sleeping DS1 gets my lap all to himself. DH wants me to wean DS1, but I've told him no. I tried when I first found out I was pregnant and it felt very wrong to me, so I stopped trying. I know he'll wean in time and hey, with sick season coming I'm totally cool with him getting more of an immunity boost! DS2 definitely gets plenty of milk, though.

[colleen2851]

I'm having a difficult time. DS spent 8 days in NICU before we could bring him home and I pumped during that time and he was given bottles. He's BF'd a few times but that's it. He will lose it when I try to BF him (and seeing as though in NICU, he popped a hole in his lung from crying, I obviously want to calm him ASAP). So I'm pretty much exclusively pumping, which is exhausting. Hard to find the time, then turn around and wash everything. Have tried the nipple shield and it works for so long then he gets agitated. I never expected this since DD nursed SO WELL!

[longtallanimal]

I feel like we are doing pretty well, but this is my first go round and I have flashes of worry that I am not doing things right. DD will be two weeks old on Sunday, and I believe that I am over the initial soreness, although I sometimes still have some pain when she initially latches on. She is making plenty of wet/dirty diapers, so I think that she's getting plenty to eat, but we have issues with getting her latched on. She does not cooperate very well AT ALL with the cradle hold, so I usually nurse her in bed or with the clutch hold. Just yesterday I discovered the clutch and it's much easier to get her latched on that way. When I try with the cradle hold she fights and fights, and gets herself all riled up.

[trimestersdoula]

We are doing good now. It took some time though. He wouldn't latch at all on one side and his latch was pretty crappy on the other side. We used nipple shields for about a week and now we don't need them anymore. He is eating like crazy though. I got an hour of sleep last night. Thats it.

[somegirl99]

DS is gaining well, but I have oversupply/overactive letdown issues, so every time he feeds we then spend forever dealing with burps and spit up, which really upset him, but he doesn't burp well when he is screaming. I've been block feeding which has helped a bit but not enough. He no longer wants to comfort suck. Forget simply nursing him back to sleep at night, every time he wakes I'm up for at least 2-3 hours.

[kimkim]

i'm having a really difficult time. day one she had a bad latch but i was so excited she was bf'ing and it didn't hurt immediately. now i have a serious cracked nipple and she's refusing nursing that side, so it's engorged and looks like a mess and makes me cry. i try to nurse her there every third time or so but all she does is pop on, give a suck or two and pop off. it's so painful. luckily the tissue is healing, we're on day 8 now but the pain is not letting up. at least the left side is unfazed but today it feels SO sore from overuse. i think today is a cluster day of feeding. i've tried black tea bags, cabbage leaves, lots of lanolin but the fact that she's being so difficult the latch now is making it harder on me. we've taken her to a chiropractor but there doesn't seem to be much of a change.

[trimestersdoula]

I think I may need some help. I never got any sleep again last night. He is comfort nursing. I was up until 4:30 AM because everytime I'd put him down so I could go to sleep he'd wake up and want to nurse again. I cannot keep doing this. I have a 22 month old that needs me during the day and me running on no sleep is NOT good. He sleeps perfectly wonderfully during the day but the minute night time hits its a whole different ballgame.
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[Illiana]

Originally Posted by trimestersdoula

I think I may need some help. I never got any sleep again last night. He is comfort nursing. I was up until 4:30 AM because everytime I'd put him down so I could go to sleep he'd wake up and want to nurse again. I cannot keep doing this. I have a 22 month old that needs me during the day and me running on no sleep is NOT good. He sleeps perfectly wonderfully during the day but the minute night time hits its a whole different ballgame.
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DDC crashing.. I hate to say it but some kids have a stronger sucking reflex. My dd did and the only thing that allowed me to get some sleep was giving her a pacifier at night after she was done nursing. Swaddling also helped keep her warm and comfy.

[jorona]

It's okay. Things were great until we got thrush, now I've been fighting that for 3 weeks. It's on me at this point, I got it cleared from his mouth thankfully. I also am only able to feed from my right side due to prior breast surgery so I'm worried about my supply - he's been cluster feeding a lot and acts like he's starving. I've been taking fenugreek all along and started taking More Milk Plus yesterday. I'll just be happy when I have enough milk to pump for a freezer stash, as of now he pretty much drains me and he eats every hour on average during the day.

[gingerbane]

Hmmmm - I/We have mastitis, thrush, a cracked nipple, and, up until yesterday, baby had tongue tie. I'm on antibiotics for the mastitis (and also taking asidophilis pills), nystatin for the thrush (cream for me, oral solution for baby), Lanisoh for the cracked nipple, and baby had her frenulum clipped yesterday. The frenulum clip seems to have helped alot with soreness, proper latch, and draining the breast. In the beginning, I kept telling myself that at two weeks ppd everything would be better. Now, I'm telling myself that one month will make all the difference.

[megan sacha]

We've been so lucky that it's going really well. My only complaint really is this horrible engorgement. We're at 6 days now so I hope it lets up soon. I'm still not able to sit on my bottom so we've only done nursing via side-lying or other creative positions we've come up with (like her sitting up to the milk bar) as I have very large breasts, facilitating creativity.

DD is back up to her birth weight today after losing 5% at 1d pp, so I'm trilled!

[rlandnl]

It's going better than it was. She wouldn't latch on my right side (same side DS hated because I have a flat nipple there) and she would paw scratch and pull off and scream on my left where I have a good nipple. I was pumping and feeding her pumped milk via SNS (well DH was feeding her with the sns) and I was nursing her to help with engorgement and to help with my fear that she wasn't getting enought since she would latch on scream fuss, suck 5 times and pull off, rinse and repeat. I was very engorged but that seems to have let up, and I went to see another LC and she told me to use nipple shields. So we have been using them on both sides, I think that I might have a bit of an oversupply/overactive letdown and the shields help store a bit of milk because most of the time when she delatches they are filled with milk, and I still here her choking/gagging at times while she's trying to swallow.

I am not sure how I feel about using shields all the time, and I hope that eventually we will be able to get rid of them but I suppose it's better than pumping, and or dealing with her screetching. Her latch still isn't great and I have to pull her bottom lip down a lot, and she has a major problem with gumming me instead of sucking but we are getting there. We will get it.

I did try to give her one bottle of formula when she was jaundiced pretty bad and nursing wasn't going well, but she wouldn't take it, and I am glad she didn't.

[rightkindofme]

My kids latch on at 10 minutes old and have no interest in getting off for months. That was how my older daughter functioned and younger daughter seems right on track to follow that trend.

What is working the best for facilitating tandem nursing is the tiny baby lays across the Boppy in the cradle position and older daughter comes up and sits next to me, facing me, and then she leans her head over onto tiny baby's legs. It's been awesome so far.

[gingerbane]

I gave up on Nystatin for Thrush. It felt like spreading cookie dough on my nipples - sticky, thick, and sweet smelling - yuck. We're on day two of gentian violet treatment instead. I can't wait to be done with all the meds.

[Nicole Starr]

Going pretty well here! Started off with some issues because we were both getting used to it- and I have flat nipples. But other than that, things pretty much evened out.

She chokes because I have a strong let down and my right nipple is seriously sore, but I think it's getting better. We have a ton of wet/dirty diapers, so I think I'm doing okay.

[detroitgirl77]

NAK Going awesome here! Carisma is a very efficient nurser--she was born at 7 lbs 0.1 oz, left the hospital 2 days later at 6 lbs 10 oz and at 5 days was 7 lbs 5.5 oz. She loves to nurse and can drain me in about 5-10 minutes and then sleep for about 3 hours before she repeats the cycle again--much easier than either of my boys were. I'm dealing with oversupply too, just as I had w ds2. I'm just using a handpump to relieve engorgement since my 2 1/2 yr old decided to wean himself plus it is helping me build a bit of a stash in case I have to go back to work.

[rlandnl]

I am startign to wonder if I should pump too, she's nursing every 2-3 hours max, sometimes more, and I am still leaking through breast pads doubled up in an hour or less. I have to put a doubled prefold over the breast she's not drinking from while she's nursing. My breast pads are 1 layer of fleece 2 layers of flannel, and wearing 2 of them in each bra cup isnt' enough my shirts are still soaked... pumping would relieve some of that I would think, but then what am I gonna do with that milk, I know I can freeze it, but I never leave my kids till they are at least 3 years old.... any recs for a better breast pad? should I going sposie? will they hold more?