Gabby, I love you but my breasts NEED A BREAK!!!

[VroomieMama]

Gabby (3 weeks old) is at my breast eating for 1 hour or 1 hour and half then she gets hungry again within an hour or so.  Her peds. said she should be at my breast for 30 minutes max but my DH googled and saw that the babycenter.com saying that its better to feed on baby's demand.  I love the bonding experience with Gabby but I just don't have any free time when I'm feeding her and it is so exhausting even more so at night.  I fed her formula at every feeding today and it didn't take her so long to eat and she slept for 3 hours and would eat again.  I'm feeding her formula today (and I pump to keep my milk production going) so I could get some sleep & rest that I desperately need.  I'm not giving up on breastfeeding but I'm just wondering if this is normal and if its just one of those growth spurt thing?   I do know that Gabby latches on just fine because I can see her jaws & throat moving when she's at my breast, her lips are wide apart and when she doesn't latch on right, it hurts!

[jessica_s]

Yep, 3 weeks is a pretty big and intense growth spurt, you really don't want your breasts to miss that message. How often are you pumping? This is a time when they nurse like crazy to increase your supply to be what it needs to be, so it's overall way less headache and struggle to just let them nurse. 

There isn't a lot of free time with 3 week old infants... or really much of any at any age! That's not meant to discourage, just meaning to say that it's normal and it will get less intense. 

Have you tried to lay down and nurse at the same time? That helped me out a ton in the beginning and I got some sleep while my son was nursing right along. 

[VroomieMama]

Thanks for the response and I have not tried laying down to nurse.  I hope I'll be able to do that successfully and I'll try it tonight.

I'm pumping every 3 hours today right after I'm done feeding her.

[cyclamen]

Since you have no pain and if she is gaining enough weight, it's probably just typical newborn behavior.  Definitely try laying down to nurse.  I also used to prop her up and surf the web or read a book.  (I read the entire harry potter series the month my daughter was born... all while nursing her... she was attached to my boob like a little boob tick.)

But if she is really nursing for 1.5 hrs - not just flutter or comfort sucking, but trying to eat... you may want to have an LC check her latch just to be sure.

My dd did that.. I could see her jaw working, and it looked like she was swallowing, so I thought it was normal.... turns out she was having troubles getting enough milk due to a tongue tie, and was only getting milk because of my overactive letdown.  But her latch was also very painful, and milk kept coming out of her mouth and pooling on the bed.

[Ellien C]

I remember that period well - you're body kind of feels OK and you think you should hop right up and start cooking dinner and cleaning the house and being "wonder mom" to  your new baby.

Hang in there. It sounds totally normal and don't expect to do much for like the first 8-12 weeks. Three weeks is still really, really young. By all means, if your breasts need a break try a pacifier or your little finger - but take it easy on yourself and DON'T expect to DO too much. I read all of the Lord of the Rings (ocasionally outloud) to my daughter when I was home on maternity leave!

[VroomieMama]

It's impossible for me to just lay down or sit down almost all day long just to breastfeed Gabby because I have other small children (19. mos old twins) and they need me too.  Gabby is my 4th and last child.  I have had breastfeed my first child (8 yo now) and I didn't experience anything like this with her like I did with Gabby and with twins, I didn't breastfeed too long b/c they were in NICU for a month in beginning and when they got home, I became sick, went to ER  and couldn't breastfeed for 7 days due to the antibiotics that would hurt twins' mouth if I breastfeed them and I didn't pump religiously then my breasts just stopped making milk so I fed them formula afterward. I felt very sad and like I failed them. This time around, I'm determined to breastfeed Gabby but its such a struggle b/c Gabby is constantly hungry if I fed her when breastfeeding or using my breast milk from bottle, she's always hungry and would need to be fed a lot sooner but if I fed her with formula, she's full quite quickly.  Like I said in the first post, I'm not giving up on breastfeeding though.

I tried breastfeeding laying down in bed with Gabby on my side and it felt very awkward, uncomfortable and it was difficult for her to latch on.   I only can feed her if she's on top of me as she lay sideways on my stomach.

[VroomieMama]

I have been thinking about getting LLC down here but wow, its so expensive to pay for their service. Its about 85 dollars to 110 dollars just for an hour visit. I will have to talk with my DH and figure out our budget to get LLC  because I have a feeling that there is a solution to this situation for a busy mommy like me.

When Gabby was still in NICU, there was a nurse who used to be LLC and she said Gabby was latching on just right but at home, milk do come out of her mouth and sometimes she would drool milk as I feed her so maybe she's also tongue tied. LLC checking her latch would be a good idea.

Thanks
 

Originally Posted by cyclamen 

Since you have no pain and if she is gaining enough weight, it's probably just typical newborn behavior.  Definitely try laying down to nurse.  I also used to prop her up and surf the web or read a book.  (I read the entire harry potter series the month my daughter was born... all while nursing her... she was attached to my boob like a little boob tick.)

But if she is really nursing for 1.5 hrs - not just flutter or comfort sucking, but trying to eat... you may want to have an LC check her latch just to be sure.

My dd did that.. I could see her jaw working, and it looked like she was swallowing, so I thought it was normal.... turns out she was having troubles getting enough milk due to a tongue tie, and was only getting milk because of my overactive letdown.  But her latch was also very painful, and milk kept coming out of her mouth and pooling on the bed.

[Ellien C]

Originally Posted by VroomieMama 

I have been thinking about getting LLC down here but wow, its so expensive to pay for their service. Its about 85 dollars to 110 dollars just for an hour visit.  

I know you are committed to BF, but think about how much formula would cost if you needed to supplement? I know it seems like an LC is a lot, but it's a lot less than using formula full-time. Just some food for thought. And you did not fail your twins. You did all you could for them and ANY amount of BM is good and should be celebrated. Think about what you DID give them.

[cyclamen]

Check with the hospital.  The hospital I delivered at had a Lactation consultant and for people in difficult financial situations they often charged a sliding scale.  It could have been up to $100 for a consultation but she only charged me $15 or $20 I believe.  Also if there is any possibility that you qualify for WIC, then you should call them.  They also provide lactation consultant services free.

[VroomieMama]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, $$ would be wasted if having to use formula to supplement Gabby.  I hated how messy and hassle it was when we used formula to feed our twins.

The hospital doesn't have LC unfortunately b/c they don't have the $$ and recently they changed to a new management. The nurse at the NICU who used to be a LC said she's hoping that the hospital would hire several LC's and also rent out their hospital grade breast pumps.

We don't qualify for sliding scale or WIC b/c we make too much $$ but its really good to know that WIC do provide free LC services.

[VroomieMama]

Gabby and I saw her ped today and the ped. suspect that Gabby may be tongue tied and suggested that I go and see an ENT to confirm it and do the clipping procedure if necessary.   I saw another thread about this topic and its good to know that the procedure is safe.

[ShwarmaQueen]

Totally quick and simple, not excruciatingly painful and usually improves the latch ten fold within a few weeks, depending on their age. We had DS done and never looked back!

[annettemarie]

As per the forum guidelines, I am moving this out to the main forum.

[crystal_buffaloe]

I'm sorry about the LC situation, and I don't have any tounge-tie experience, I just wanted to offer some support.

You could talk to or see a LLL for free. Go to the website and find your local organization and give one of your leaders a call: http://www.llli.org/ 

It took us a little while to master side-lying nursing (and part of that is just the baby getting a little older and having better head support, I think), but once I could nurse lying down for naps and at night, things improved a great deal  

Good luck!