How is nursing? - Page 2

[kareniswaiting]

Originally Posted by Blanca78 

Minus the painful latch, this sounds like my girl exactly. She will nurse for a couple minutes then all hell breaks loose & she needs to be walked and joggled to quiet down enough to even attempt nursing again. This can go on for a couple of hours sometimes, or--last night--FOUR hours. It was so frustrating--I could tell she was exhausted and just could not settle down.

Apart from the fussy times--which do seem to be calming down somewhat, at least during the middle of night feedings--she's doing pretty well. She nurses well during the day usually (sometimes is too sleepy), and has given me a couple of dreamy middle of night sessions lately. They give me hope that the fussy times are temporary as she becomes more efficient.

A lot of times the screaming seems to coincide with swallowing air, but I have trouble getting her to burp or fart...any tips from more experiences moms? She likes the over the shoulder position best, but I have trouble getting anything to come up a lot of the time.

Though I am not personally more experienced, a friend who has been watching young infants in many capacities for years recommended rubbing the lower back area instead of patting and this has worked really well for me. 

[kareniswaiting]

Ditto to the strong let down and fussy at the breasters! My left boob always squirts my LO in the eye!

At first nursing went really well, but after my nipples were still sore after 3 weeks I decided to see the awesome, free LC we have at out public health office. She was great and helped me latch him on better, avoiding the strong letdown in the back of the throat gagging, and keeping him from smashing my nipples! I still get lazy and let him nurse to shallowly but overall there is way less pain. I have been trying to pump as well, but hardly have time for it. My husband deploys in a month and a half I want to have milk stored for sanity breaks while I am a part time single momma. The LO is either eating, fussing or I am wearing him! I often manage to get about a 6 oz a day, which is easier in the morning when they are giant from his slow night nursing. Speaking of night time... He is doing really well! He usually goes to bed (often after much coaxing and fussing) around 9 pm and then makes up at midnight, 3:30 am and then at 6 or 7 depending on how long we are up at 3. He takes quick sleepy nursing snack and usually needs to be changed at 3. I guess I should thank my stars I get this much sleep, but I am still exhausted. It took me two days to fully recover from a disastrous day of shopping last week where it took me more than 2 hours to get out the door and then an hour in the car nursing and changing before we could go home! Hopefully things will get a little easier when my husband comes back from his 2 weeks away, but I need to be prepared for this stupid deployment... Ok enough ranting, more baby head smelling!

[jenniferadurham]

Another ditto on OALD. Ugh! He chokes all the time then gets crabby and starts screaming he's so mad. Then he won't nurse and I have beg him to go back. Lol.

However...this is my third attempt at nursing and for some reason it's going great this time! With my first two I only nursed for a month. I'm going on 7 weeks tomorrow and he is EBF! Woot! It's so nice just rolling over in bed, popping it out, and snoozing while he eats instead of getting a dang bottle! I hate bottles...with all the cleaning and making sure you have enough before you leave the house. AND...I have BF out in public and I have to say it feels good! I have already thought in my head that if someone says something to me I will come back with... "you eat in public...why can't he?"

[kittn]

pat in an upward motion on the lower left side of baby's bach while she is  upright. almost like paddling.

Also lay baby on her back and paddle downwards over her belly from ribs to hips. then take your hand at the base of her belly and your other  hand under her bum. fold up sandwiching your hand against her belly with a tiny bit of pressure. roll her bum from side to side. it works almost every single time for 90% of babies. I have seen some babies whose bellies were hard from gassy bubbles and this does help

Originally Posted by Blanca78 

Minus the painful latch, this sounds like my girl exactly. She will nurse for a couple minutes then all hell breaks loose & she needs to be walked and joggled to quiet down enough to even attempt nursing again. This can go on for a couple of hours sometimes, or--last night--FOUR hours. It was so frustrating--I could tell she was exhausted and just could not settle down.

Apart from the fussy times--which do seem to be calming down somewhat, at least during the middle of night feedings--she's doing pretty well. She nurses well during the day usually (sometimes is too sleepy), and has given me a couple of dreamy middle of night sessions lately. They give me hope that the fussy times are temporary as she becomes more efficient.

A lot of times the screaming seems to coincide with swallowing air, but I have trouble getting her to burp or fart...any tips from more experiences moms? She likes the over the shoulder position best, but I have trouble getting anything to come up a lot of the time.

[kittn]

nice work!

 have you tried nursing him "uphill"? if you  recline and have baby come at the breast from the top, it makes the OALD  easier to cope with for baby.

on a side note We have thrush here so my nips hurt like heck now

Originally Posted by jenniferadurham 

Another ditto on OALD. Ugh! He chokes all the time then gets crabby and starts screaming he's so mad. Then he won't nurse and I have beg him to go back. Lol.

However...this is my third attempt at nursing and for some reason it's going great this time! With my first two I only nursed for a month. I'm going on 7 weeks tomorrow and he is EBF! Woot! It's so nice just rolling over in bed, popping it out, and snoozing while he eats instead of getting a dang bottle! I hate bottles...with all the cleaning and making sure you have enough before you leave the house. AND...I have BF out in public and I have to say it feels good! I have already thought in my head that if someone says something to me I will come back with... "you eat in public...why can't he?"

[justrose13]

sorry to hear about the thrush... do you know if gentian violet is ok to use? don't have thrush over here but i'd like to know, in case it happens. we already have it in the medicine cabinet.

[jenniferadurham]

Originally Posted by kittn 

nice work!

 have you tried nursing him "uphill"? if you  recline and have baby come at the breast from the top, it makes the OALD  easier to cope with for baby.

on a side note We have thrush here so my nips hurt like heck now

That's actually the only way he would nurse on my left side when he was first born. I tried it last night and he was already mad...so I will try again when he's not mad. thanks for the advise!

on the thrush! Hope it gets better real soon! What causes that?

[organicviolin]

overgrowth of yeast and candida causes it.  going gf makes a huge difference!

[kittn]

thrush is an overgrowth of yeast.  and yes gentian violet can treat it. I will start also taking grapefruit seed extract. we are treating with nystatin and getting air time  on her bum and my nipples.
 

Originally Posted by jenniferadurham 

Originally Posted by kittn 

nice work!

 have you tried nursing him "uphill"? if you  recline and have baby come at the breast from the top, it makes the OALD  easier to cope with for baby.

on a side note We have thrush here so my nips hurt like heck now

That's actually the only way he would nurse on my left side when he was first born. I tried it last night and he was already mad...so I will try again when he's not mad. thanks for the advise!

on the thrush! Hope it gets better real soon! What causes that?

[Blanca78]

Thank you for the burping suggestions! I will definitely try all of them, as the situation is getting pretty frustrating--I can tell she is in pain from gas but am having trouble doing anything about it.

Another question: how long do feedings take for you mamas? Especially at night? Between feeding, changing, calming fussiness, her drifting off and then waking up and wanting to nurse more, I am always up at least an hour for night feedings and often longer than that, sometimes two hours. Is this normal? This time includes her falling asleep in my arms, then carefully swaddling her (she will only stand it if she's asleep already) and transferring her to bed. Then she'll sleep for an hour and a half or two hours (VERY rarely a little more than that) before the process starts all over.

She's only three weeks old--I know "you can't spoil a newborn" but I do worry a bit about her only being able to fall asleep in my arms--if a few months down the line this is still the case it may drive me insane. Feeling like I always have to be with her and can never put her down is one of the hardest adjustments to motherhood...I am counting the days till she sleeps longer stretches at night and is okay not being held quite so constantly.

Edited by Blanca78 - 5/16/11 at 2:53pm

[gumshoegirl007]

We've been through nursing hell and back, but we're on the right track again!  Mastitis, followed by a yeast infection/thrush caused by the antibiotics to treat the mastitis, and then we got the diagnosis of a posterior tongue tie which we're not going to do anything about because she's gaining weight even though feeding isn't entirely comfortable for me. 
 

Originally Posted by Blanca78 
Another question: how long do feedings take for you mamas? Especially at night? Between feeding, changing, calming fussiness, her drifting off and then waking up and wanting to nurse more, I am always up at least an hour for night feedings and often longer than that, sometimes two hours. Is this normal? This time includes her falling asleep in my arms, then carefully swaddling her (she will only stand it if she's asleep already) and transferring her to bed. Then she'll sleep for an hour and a half or two hours (VERY rarely a little more than that) before the process starts all over.

Your baby is still very young, but feedings with my babe at that age would take about 1 hour (that's really how long she was at the breast).  We bed share, so she'd fall asleep while nursing, and then be up about 2 hours later to eat again.  Most feedings at night were 2.5-3 hours apart and we'd usually get one 4 hour stretch.  I usually did a quick diaper change before feeding her.  What you're describing above sounds entirely normal.

Now at 7 weeks, I roll over and put a boob in her mouth and fall right back asleep.  The downside to this because I do fall asleep is that she only gets to nurse on one side at a time.  Her first night feeding is usually around 2-3 am (which is 4 to 5 hours from her last feeding) and then she eats again around 5-6am and then around 7am before we get up for the day.   She stopped pooping at night around 5-6 weeks, so we just put her in a fantastic night diaper (something with a wool cover, a bum genius, or grovia).  We put that on around 10pm and don't have to change her until 6-7am! 

Now I'm getting enough sleep, although it's still not entirely restful as it's broken up.  Now that the babe is 10lbs+, I hope we can start sleeping through the night.  Yay for 5 hours!!!!
 

[justrose13]

Originally Posted by gumshoegirl007 

We've been through nursing hell and back, but we're on the right track again!  Mastitis, followed by a yeast infection/thrush caused by the antibiotics to treat the mastitis, and then we got the diagnosis of a posterior tongue tie which we're not going to do anything about because she's gaining weight even though feeding isn't entirely comfortable for me. 
 

Your baby is still very young, but feedings with my babe at that age would take about 1 hour (that's really how long she was at the breast).  We bed share, so she'd fall asleep while nursing, and then be up about 2 hours later to eat again.  Most feedings at night were 2.5-3 hours apart and we'd usually get one 4 hour stretch.  I usually did a quick diaper change before feeding her.  What you're describing above sounds entirely normal.

Now at 7 weeks, I roll over and put a boob in her mouth and fall right back asleep.  The downside to this because I do fall asleep is that she only gets to nurse on one side at a time.  Her first night feeding is usually around 2-3 am (which is 4 to 5 hours from her last feeding) and then she eats again around 5-6am and then around 7am before we get up for the day.   She stopped pooping at night around 5-6 weeks, so we just put her in a fantastic night diaper (something with a wool cover, a bum genius, or grovia).  We put that on around 10pm and don't have to change her until 6-7am! 

Now I'm getting enough sleep, although it's still not entirely restful as it's broken up.  Now that the babe is 10lbs+, I hope we can start sleeping through the night.  Yay for 5 hours!!!!
 

my night sounds an awful lot like yours! sleeps from 8p-11p, then change, nurse side lying while falling back asleep, sleep until 6a (with a dream feed in between) when he wakes with a smile and a dry dipe! it's lovely!

blanca, seems pretty normal for 3weeks.... DS was like that in the begin too. then we started cosleeping and night got much better. he also liked to be held constantly and hated swaddling, but after 6weeks of "indulging" him in these preferences he his starting to have times, more and more each day, that he lays happily on his own in his bouncer, on his playmate, or even in his crib under his mobile! hang in there!

[Blanca78]

Thanks, Wehrli and GumshoeGirl! Your replies are so helpful. I've been so tired and overwhelmed at times it really helps just to be reassured that what I'm experiencing is normal. Part of what makes night feedings hard is that I'm not good enough at nursing yet to do it without light and sitting up, so I've been going into another room to nurse her so I don't wake DH, who has gone back to work. Learning how to nurse lying down is definitely the next step. We've given it a couple tries but she gets frustrated with positioning after a couple minutes. My doula says once she gets better head/neck control it will get easier. We bedshare but she sleeps in a "Snuggle Nest" thing (we don't have a good mattress/blanket set up for true bedsharing) so I'd have to slide her back up into her little basket. Still, it would be worth it to be able to stay in the dark, lying down, and hopefully she will stop fussing so much when she's older because I don't want her to wake her dad.

A four hour stretch of sleep would be a miracle at this point. Hard to believe how well I can function on one to two hour chunks!

[gumshoegirl007]

Originally Posted by Blanca78 

Thanks, Wehrli and GumshoeGirl! Your replies are so helpful. I've been so tired and overwhelmed at times it really helps just to be reassured that what I'm experiencing is normal. Part of what makes night feedings hard is that I'm not good enough at nursing yet to do it without light and sitting up, so I've been going into another room to nurse her so I don't wake DH, who has gone back to work. Learning how to nurse lying down is definitely the next step. We've given it a couple tries but she gets frustrated with positioning after a couple minutes. My doula says once she gets better head/neck control it will get easier. We bedshare but she sleeps in a "Snuggle Nest" thing (we don't have a good mattress/blanket set up for true bedsharing) so I'd have to slide her back up into her little basket. Still, it would be worth it to be able to stay in the dark, lying down, and hopefully she will stop fussing so much when she's older because I don't want her to wake her dad.

A four hour stretch of sleep would be a miracle at this point. Hard to believe how well I can function on one to two hour chunks!

Glad to be of help.  One more tip came to mind when you mentioned 'dark' that has been vital to our success at nighttime nursing.  Once you've mastered side lying (or sitting up in bed without disturbing DH), our secret ingredient has been a night light.  We purchased this little dandy on a whim for the nursery and it's been in our room the entire time .  It puts out just enough light so I can see the baby to feed her and sneak peaks at her all night long.

[2FarmBoysMomma]

Originally Posted by Julieee 

I think we're doing this right, cause Grey is definitely getting bigger, having regular bowl movements and lots of pee.... but it's changed since he was first born so I hope he's not missing his hind milk intake...

When he was first born, it took everything to keep him awake.  I'd strip him down to his bare diaper, even taking that off sometimes!  I knew he finished when he pulled away.  Now that he's older and likes to suck/pull/play, I usually say he's done when he pulls away repeatedly and opens his mouth again trying to find the nipple. It's actually really cute to watch cause he gets this cheesy grin and big eyes and moves his head all over the place until he latches, then lets go after a few sucks.  He never seems upset when we stop... so I'm assuming it's all good?

Sometimes he falls asleep, or slows down sucking.  I can tell when he's just soothing and not actually drinking... so if he just sucks with no drinking, is he done?  I used to let him do that until he pulled away (asleep) but that would take like 45 minutes!!!  Now I stop him when I think he's done and we're nursing only 25 minutes for both sides. 

He's definitely not upset between feedings, so I am sure he's well fed... just wondering if we're missing the hind milk?

Any thoughts?

DS does the same thing here! Its too cute to watch him! Everything you described is exactly what were experiencing here so I am too wondering this!

[willowq]

I have been nursing my daughter for 3 months now and she is right on cue with her growth spurts.  We are in the middle of one now and I always find them challenging.  Her sleep patterns have changed just when we got into a groove.  Guess we will find a new groove..haha.  Her nursing has increased from every 2 1/2 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night to every 1 during the day to every 2 at night.  Thankfully she sleeps with me so the night times are not that bad and easy to adjust to.  I always toy with the idea of bottle feeding when we go through spurts.  It goes through my mind that it would be so much easier for ME, easier for ME to go out, for ME to enjoy a cocktail, for ME to have my own body back and then I think of HER and all that ME stuff goes away.  Not to say that bottle feeding in selfish, I bottlefed my first child and did so for anything but selfish reasons.  I just can't think of a reason at this time that bottlefeeding would benefit her more than breast feeding.  She is such a happy baby and it just warms my heart when I look down on her and she is so content.  She is growing like a weed and her development is right on track.  So I will weather this growth spurt storm and next week all will be well.