Please someone have answers for help!

[cierra159]

I'm a new mom my babygirl will be a week old tomorrow. from the beginning she had a shallow latch my mw said to buy a nipple shield, so I did and that's when all the problems began. my nipples were so sore from the bad latch I would almost cry everytime I nursed so I got the shield at day 3 and I thought she was doing great, when she'd fall asleep nursing there was always a little milk in the shield so I didn't worry about it too much... but then I started to noticed she wouldn't suck right she was using it as a Paci more than food, she would nurse for2 hours sometimes, we even lay down side by side in bed and fall asleep and id feel her sucking all night.. So anyway today I tried to nurse without the shield bc my nipples were healed more and she did great until the second feeding without the shield she would not latch for anything so I tried to sqeeze and get some milk on her lips and nothing came out!!!!!!!! At this point she was so hungry and restless, Luckily, thank god I pumped a little today!! once she ate she fell asleep, so now I'm pumping again and I've done 20 mins on one side and I'm on 15 mind of the other there's not even an oz in the bottle!!!
someone please help me, I'm a natural mom that did natural delivery, no vax,organic eating, holistic mom I do notttt want to use formula can someone anyone help????? what do I do when she wakes up in the next hour and wants to eat but mommy is dry? My heart is broken And I truly feel inadequate as a mother :'(

[JudiAU]

How old is your baby? Is she quite young? It sounds like you are still engorged if you can pump that much. I'll leave nipple shield latch question to others but I just wanted to help you calm down.

Drink a glass of water. Go lie down. When your baby wakes up. Give nursing another try when she is ready. You'll have milk for her. She will be fine. It probably won't be the 20+ once you pumped but it will be enough. A newborn is probably only eating 1-3 once at a time. The way your baby responded to the bottle does not indicate that she was starving. A lot of ebf babies react that way to a bottle even if they are full.

Do you have any support? Another experienced mother who can come over and observe? La leech leader with a group coming up? Lactation consultant from hospital etc. You need someone to help you get her latch adjusted so that you feel confident, she is effective, and you don't hurt your nips again.

I'd be a little careful too about pumping so much. Your body could end up with an
oversupply. If she is a newborn, you are pumping to relieve pressure not to empty your breasts.

[momma_bear]

Originally Posted by cierra159

I'm a new mom my babygirl will be a week old tomorrow and from the beginning she had a shallow latch my mw said to buy a nipple shield so I did and that's when all the problems began.my nipples were so sore from the bad latch I would almost cry everytime I nursed so I got the shield at day 3 and j thought she was doing great when she'd calm asleep nursing there was always milk in the shield but I noticed she wouldn't suck right she was using it as a Paci more than food. So anyway today I tried to nurse without the shield bc my nipples were healed more and she did great until the second feeding without the shield she would not latch for anything so I tried to sqeeze and get some milk on her lips and nothing came out!!!! At this point she was so hungry and restless, Luckily thank god I pumped a little today once she ate she fell asleep so now I'm pumping agaiand I've on 20 on one side and I'm on 15 mind of the other there's not even an oz in the bottle!!!
someone please help me, I'm a natural mom that did natural delivery, no fax,organic eating, holistic mom I do notttt want to use formula can someone anyone help??what do I do when she wakes up in the next hour and wants to eat but mommy is dry? My heartbis broken And I truly feel inadequate as a mother :'(

It sounds like your baby isn't stimulating your breasts enough. Ensure you're feeding every 3hrs at least around the clock (if she's sleeping wake her up). It's a supply-demand thing so the more your breasts are stimulated the more milk you'll make. However, it takes 24-48hrs to increase supply. If you find there's nothing in your breasts and she's becoming dehydrated then you may have to pump after each feed (at least 10min each breast, for about 24hrs or until you see supply increase), feed her whatever you pump, and then supplement with a very small amount of formula just until your supply catches up. A lactation consultant should be able to tell you how much volume your baby needs at each feed based on her weight and so if you measure how much you pump you may need to give only a very little bit of formula to supplement and you can give it by cup so as to avoid risk of nipple confusion (although my second child had bottle in the NICU and breastfed just fine).

Lanolin cream can help with the nipple soreness. Continue to feed every 2-3hrs and ensure you have a good latch. Your nipples will heal soon.

Make sure you are constantly stimulating baby to continue feeding. When they're so young they tend to fall asleep easily without finishing a feed. It helps to undress baby (down to just her diaper) and tickle her feet or back to get her to keep going. Doing a diaper change before the feed helps to wake her up to...anything you can think of to keep her going!

Good luck!

p.s. You are NOT an inadequate mother! Breastfeeding is difficult especially for first time moms. What surprises many is that it DOESN"T come naturally - it has to be learned! (the elephant at our zoo couldn't figure it out 'cause she didn't live in a herd and so they had to bottle feed the baby elephant...even elephants need help from other females LOL!!!!) Go easy on yourself...it's still early days and you & baby are still learning! Keep at it. You're doing your best and that's great!

[nikwik]

First things first, breathe deeply and try to calm yourself. Freaking out not only does no good for you, it can also greatly disturb your baby.

Second, please know that not all of us are able to adequately pump. With both of my girls (oldest BFed for 18 months, and youngest is at 10 months so far), I wasn't able to pump ~anything~ even if my life depended on it. I could express a little, but pumping was just beyond me. It's entirely possible that you just have a difficult time pumping, as well. It doesn't necessarily mean that your milk is drying up.

Now, I find it hard to guess how much AJ has managed to nurse, since it seems like she nurses for such a short time (usually) before falling asleep. The biggest thing to consider is whether or not your baby is content. Yes, she wakes up hungry, and that's totally normal -- the question is whether or not she seems satisfied by nursing, even if it doesn't feel (to you) like she's getting anything out of the session. If she IS content, that means that she most likely isn't starving... she's getting enough to allow her to rest.

Next, keep an eye on her weight. Take her to the doctor and request a weigh-in if you get truly worried on that front. You should basically see at least 4 oz. weight gain each week, on average. Less than that, and your ped. will probably be worried.

For a natural way to keep your milk supply up, look for herbal supplements. You can find teas (like Milkmaid Tea), capsules, tinctures, whatever takes your fancy. Many natural baby shops offer something of that sort, and you can also find these sorts of things at most online vitamin stores.

AJ had a very shallow latch to begin with as well, and it's definitely painful for a little while. I swear I spent our first two weeks with my nipples constantly slathered with this stuff, and it was wonderful. We still have a little left, which we use as an ointment for cuts and scrapes. Sometimes it takes a little work to get the baby's mouth on a bit better, but it's worth it... I found that changing positions helped, also. (I couldn't nurse her sitting up for the longest time, because she only seemed to get a good latch while we were in bed on our sides!)

Again, try to stay calm. Hope you get it worked out soon.

[cierra159]

thank you all so much for your answers! I was on my ipod internet when i typed that so it messed up a lot of the words, sorry! But I am only pumping 3oz on both sides, I'm also continuing to pump on both sides even after the milk stops coming out.. reason I think theres no milk is because the milk stops coming out and i'll try to express some out and nothing comes out :/ i'm terrified ill pump until nothing comes out 3 oz and then she wakes i feed it to her and then when she wakes again and my breasts havent filled back up enough to pump.. is that possible? Last night I feel like that happened because when I took her off I tried to squeeze some out and nothing was there, which would make sense to why she would latch on and then get right back off everytime on both sides, like there was nothing in there. And no, no support we just moved down here and don't know anyone yet, I'm going to call the birthcenter where I delivered and try and see if I can talk to someone there. And yessss nursing is NOT as easy as it looks, maybe for some women, but definitely not all. And I think part of the problem could be I wasnt drinking nearly as many fluids as I used to or need to. But i've upped my liquids and started drinking the mothers milk tea. HOPEFULLLLY this works, please oh please.

[motherhendoula]

You nursed her once without the nipple shield, and she did fine? then the second time - she wouldnt latch? I have an 8 week old who didnt seem to understand how to latch on either - you need to be patient, and KEEP TRYING - it once took me 45 minutes to get him to latch on!
There is always milk in your breasts - you may not feel it, but it is made on demand, when baby starts to nurse, breasts start to produce - so never feel like you cant nurse your baby because 'nothings there' .
If baby is having trouble with the latch, try first with no nipple shield, if she cant do it after a good try, put the nipple shield back on - only cut the tip off of it. Just the very tip of it....next week, if baby still needs the shield, you will cut more off the tip...keep going until you have slowly weaned baby off of using plastic - and directly on to the breast.
I agree with another poster who said - careful at the pump - you sound like you are making more work for yourself - the most important thing right now is relax with your baby. Pumping buys yourself too much extra work!
Rather than seeing the pediatrician and weighing the baby ...every day, make sure baby is having wet diapers and poopy diapers - they should be yellow colored poops by now.
New babies really do not need much milk - and the best way to make milk is to nurse more often - every time baby cries, put her to the breast- you will be on track with this baby very soon.

[Heba]

Sorry, don't have long, but wanted to offer congratulations and addv a couple of suggestions/bits of info to the great suggestions and encouragement by pps.
- newborns nurse little and often. Keeping her with you 24 hours/day, lots of skin-to-skin, unlimited access to the breast, will ensure that she builds up your supply
- watch out for her feeding cues. Any time she does *anything* which indicates she's ready for milk, put her to the breast. This could be opening her mouth, turning her head, rooting, sometimes simply waking up! Crying is a late cue, and it can be difficult for a crying baby to take the breast so by picking up on her early cues you can avoid this problem.
- As a pp said, she should be feeding *at least* every 3 hours - but for a newborn, it's very common for feeding to be more often than this - perfectly normal! So what this means is, don't let 3 hours pass without a feed. If she's fed once, twice, or more during the last three hours, all these are good.
- Nappy output is one indicator that intake is likely to be good. By now, she should be heavily wetting 7-8 reusable nappies (or 5-6 disposables) and doing 3-4 proper poops per day.
- consider "laid-back" nursing positions to help with attachment; these capitalise on baby's natural latching instincts. Look at www.biologicalnurturing.com .

Hang in there - you're doing a *great* job - and you and your little one *will* get it.

Please let us know how you get on!

Best wishes
Heba

PS Please be careful not to cut the nipple shield if it's silicone - this advice used to be given with the older ones, but the newer silicone ones are sharp when cut, and can hurt baby.

[kanga1622]

DS had a shallow latch and still does to this day. We used the nipple shields for 2 weeks. At that point, he hadn't made it back up to birth weight so I figured out that I felt like he was latched when he had just clamped down on the shield and wasn't actually getting milk at all his feedings.

We threw the shield out cold turkey and just kept attempting to latch until he got it. I agree with the PPs that trying to latch before the baby starts crying was critical. He was too hungry to be patient with the latch attempts if he was already crying.

The good news was that after we threw out the shield, he figured out how to latch without it in just 1 day and we've been nursing ever since. The first 3 days without the shield upped my supply and he gained weight appropriately.

Now my DS is a little chunker at 7.5 months and about 18 pounds. He loves to nurse and although he still has a shallow latch, at about 5 months he got better enough that it doesn't cause too much pain when he latches.

[nikwik]

I'm trying to remember where it was that I saw the article (it may have even been a handout from the hospital, dunno), but I remember reading that baby's tummy is VERY small. As in, giving them 1 ounce at birth would overfill them. That gradually grows as the baby gets larger, nurses more often, etc. I'll try to find it later today, but you can look it up for yourself, too

Also, I agree with the PP who said the baby may not be stimulating your breasts enough. AJ constantly plays with mine while nursing, and even while sleeping; I would never leak at all, if she didn't, lol. It might be worth it to do some of that yourself on the breast she's not on at the time, until she gets to a point where she does it for herself.

Definitely check the poopy/wet diapers, as well. As long as she's eliminating enough and it's looking normal, then it's a visible sign that she's taking in as much as she needs.

Try to remember, too, that milk is made on demand but it does "empty" before it can be refilled. In fact, being empty is what makes them refill. So when you pump, and then keep going after the milk stops, it's just more work because new milk hasn't had a chance get produced and let down.

These are worth checking out...
http://thebabybond.com/BondingMatters.html
http://forums.ivillage.com/t5/Mom-s-...g/m-p/19521549

If you read past Kathy's answer on that 2nd link, she posts again with an onslaught of links to answers for common questions/issues.

Hope it helps!

[dakotablue]

You've gotten a lot of great advice.

One thing I can add my LLC told me shields are not meant to be a forever solution, only a help to start nursing then you should remove once nipple is drawn out enough to stick far enough back into baby's mouth. She also said If a pump worked to try that to prep nipple.

I had some supply issues until I ditched the shields. I did a method of giving bare breast with a little milk on it, he's fuss, I'd give an actual paci he fuss there was no milk than back to breast. It took maybe 30-45 minutes and two nursing session.

That being said I don't think DS had a shallow latch, I had one inverted nipple and he had nipple confusion due to nurses giving him paci when he was very hungry instead of returning him (won't happen again)

So I don't know how much help this is.

[ChinaDoll]

Originally Posted by nikwik

I'm trying to remember where it was that I saw the article (it may have even been a handout from the hospital, dunno), but I remember reading that baby's tummy is VERY small. As in, giving them 1 ounce at birth would overfill them. That gradually grows as the baby gets larger, nurses more often, etc. I'll try to find it later today, but you can look it up for yourself, too

it's a LLL faq

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/colostrum.html

great info there - you've gotten good advice, just keep trying

[nikwik]

Ah, thanks! I'd been trying to remember, and silly me -- I forgot to check LLLI *hand to forehead* I should have known

[nicky85]

I'd really recommend going to a pediatric chiropractor. During the birth process the jaw can get pushed out of alignment, making it difficult for the baby to open up all the way for a full latch. When this happens, the baby may not be able to create enough stimulation to trigger milk ejection. Get the jaw adjusted and baby can open up again. You'll want to see a chiropractor who is trained in adjusting babies. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association's website is a great place to find one. www.icpa4kids.org. My 8 month old son just had his adjustment today. He loves it and it has helped him so much!