Does anyone have any success stories? If so, could you please share? I need to read success stories so I don't give up.
I am going to attempt here in a few days. I feel like a horrible, failure of a mom every time I fix DD a bottle of formula. i'm beginning to think I gave up to easy initially and maybe there is some hope of at least getting up my supply enough to at least give her a couple ounces a day- some is better than none, right?
Her is our story- any advice anyone has to offer would be much appreciated.
She was born via emergency c-section. She is my first baby and with the csection not being planned, I was ill prepared for everything that went down after that. I was not allowed to see her for 8+ hrs after the birth. When I did, she was in NICU and I was not allowed to breastfeed due to having a positive drug screen (still not sure where the heck that came from as I have never in my life done any drugs). I had not read anything on breastfeeding prior to giving birth- I just always assumed it was natural and easy and things would just work. ha. not the case at all. While she was in NICU I only saw her for a little bit (maybe 2 hrs the entire day) b/c I was pretty out of it and DH had to go to work and the nurses were always busy. I walked myself down there twice each day and nearly passed out both times doing it, since the NICU was FAR away from the maternity area. I only pumped maybe twice during that time. No one explained to me how important pumping was even if I wasn't getting anything- so since I wasn't getting more than a few drops I quit pumping, assuming my milk just hadn't come in yet. Once I got her in my room, I tried to nurse, but she wouldn't latch on and screamed when I tried. Once we got her home, same story. I could get her to suck some, but she would get very frustrated easily.
I had super bad baby blues when I got home and when she wouldn't breastfeed I would break down and run to the bathroom squalling. We came home on a Friday, Saturday night DH ran out for nipple shields hoping that would work- when it didn't, we went out and bought a breast pump (Lansinoh Affinity). With the pump I was able to get some, but not much.
We finally got an appointment with the WIC breastfeeding consultant on a tuesday. She kinda sucked, but we had no money for a proper lactation consultant. (and within 2 days both of our vehicles broke down so we couldn't go to a LLL meeting) All she said was put DD to the breast for 10 mins and then pump for 15 with the hospital grade pump. Well... that would be all well and good if DD would suck for more than a minute, but I never could get her too. I was okay with exclusively pumping, but I could never get much milk. I tried for 5 straight days- I would pump every 2 hrs for 20-30 mins. I would get maybe one ounce at the first pumping in the morning and the rest of the day I would get drops- not even enough that if I combined all the rest of the days pumpings to get an ounce. I would always be able to squeeze milk out at the end of a pumping, so I don't think the pump was doing a good job. I know I gave up too early, but mentally I was about to snap. DH had to go back to work only a couple days after us getting home from the hospital, I was so sore that I could not lay baby on my belly, and it was just mentally draining trying to pump every two hours and care for the baby- who always seemed to need me in the middle of a pumping session. Combined all that with a horrible case of the baby blues (i'm a person that NEVER cries ad I was crying at least once an hour) and it was a recipe for disaster. I felt at the time it was either give up pumping or go crazy. I had absolutely no support so I felt it was best to give up- though now I'm not quite so sure about that.
Where I am currently- DD will be 6 wks old in a few days. I still have SOME milk in my boobs, but very, very, very little. I'm going to start Fenugreek back, and order a few other supplements. I'm going to try to do skin on skin as much as possible. We have a hospital grade pump and it just does not get the milk out. Would another pump be better? I can hand express but that takes forever and I'm not sure if that would be the best option? Also, is there anyway to tell if DD is tongue tied? I read about this alot but have no idea how to tell if DD has this issue.
Sorry for writing a novel there... just hoping someone can offer up some success stories or advice. Thanks.
I am going to attempt here in a few days. I feel like a horrible, failure of a mom every time I fix DD a bottle of formula. i'm beginning to think I gave up to easy initially and maybe there is some hope of at least getting up my supply enough to at least give her a couple ounces a day- some is better than none, right?
Her is our story- any advice anyone has to offer would be much appreciated.
She was born via emergency c-section. She is my first baby and with the csection not being planned, I was ill prepared for everything that went down after that. I was not allowed to see her for 8+ hrs after the birth. When I did, she was in NICU and I was not allowed to breastfeed due to having a positive drug screen (still not sure where the heck that came from as I have never in my life done any drugs). I had not read anything on breastfeeding prior to giving birth- I just always assumed it was natural and easy and things would just work. ha. not the case at all. While she was in NICU I only saw her for a little bit (maybe 2 hrs the entire day) b/c I was pretty out of it and DH had to go to work and the nurses were always busy. I walked myself down there twice each day and nearly passed out both times doing it, since the NICU was FAR away from the maternity area. I only pumped maybe twice during that time. No one explained to me how important pumping was even if I wasn't getting anything- so since I wasn't getting more than a few drops I quit pumping, assuming my milk just hadn't come in yet. Once I got her in my room, I tried to nurse, but she wouldn't latch on and screamed when I tried. Once we got her home, same story. I could get her to suck some, but she would get very frustrated easily.
I had super bad baby blues when I got home and when she wouldn't breastfeed I would break down and run to the bathroom squalling. We came home on a Friday, Saturday night DH ran out for nipple shields hoping that would work- when it didn't, we went out and bought a breast pump (Lansinoh Affinity). With the pump I was able to get some, but not much.
We finally got an appointment with the WIC breastfeeding consultant on a tuesday. She kinda sucked, but we had no money for a proper lactation consultant. (and within 2 days both of our vehicles broke down so we couldn't go to a LLL meeting) All she said was put DD to the breast for 10 mins and then pump for 15 with the hospital grade pump. Well... that would be all well and good if DD would suck for more than a minute, but I never could get her too. I was okay with exclusively pumping, but I could never get much milk. I tried for 5 straight days- I would pump every 2 hrs for 20-30 mins. I would get maybe one ounce at the first pumping in the morning and the rest of the day I would get drops- not even enough that if I combined all the rest of the days pumpings to get an ounce. I would always be able to squeeze milk out at the end of a pumping, so I don't think the pump was doing a good job. I know I gave up too early, but mentally I was about to snap. DH had to go back to work only a couple days after us getting home from the hospital, I was so sore that I could not lay baby on my belly, and it was just mentally draining trying to pump every two hours and care for the baby- who always seemed to need me in the middle of a pumping session. Combined all that with a horrible case of the baby blues (i'm a person that NEVER cries ad I was crying at least once an hour) and it was a recipe for disaster. I felt at the time it was either give up pumping or go crazy. I had absolutely no support so I felt it was best to give up- though now I'm not quite so sure about that.
Where I am currently- DD will be 6 wks old in a few days. I still have SOME milk in my boobs, but very, very, very little. I'm going to start Fenugreek back, and order a few other supplements. I'm going to try to do skin on skin as much as possible. We have a hospital grade pump and it just does not get the milk out. Would another pump be better? I can hand express but that takes forever and I'm not sure if that would be the best option? Also, is there anyway to tell if DD is tongue tied? I read about this alot but have no idea how to tell if DD has this issue.
Sorry for writing a novel there... just hoping someone can offer up some success stories or advice. Thanks.
