Breastfeeding, etc. - Page 20 « Back to Group Discussions

[birdhappy85]

I don't even know if I cleared up whatever confusion there was. I may need to sleep on this one. I'm not sure what I exactly confused you with. 

[jbk21]

Makes sense to me!  I don't think you'll need to pump when you return home, nor will you *need* to feed her.  I think your supply should be totally fine since you're home with her every other day.  I worked out of the home 2 days a week for 6-8 hours at a time when my older son was little and I always had plenty of milk.  I would go 6 hours without pumping, even.  Just be aware of it, which I am sure you will, and you'll be fine!  

How is bedtime going for her without you there? Is she doing okay?

[seraf]

I think when people have supply issues when they work, it tends to be full time work. I think your supply would suffer in the evenings if you pumped nothing from 4 pm til mornings and nursing would be less comfortable during that time on days you're home. I work 3 evenings a week, from 2:30 on. I pump once at work and when I get home. I am pumping for him to take 2-3 bottles and he will also nurse with Sara in that time. That's what I dislike about evenings, my supply is lower then so he takes a larger quantity from the bottle than he would get from me (I pumped about 14 ounces last night, stash goes quick).

If you don't leak, I would pump around hour 4, when you're done with the big file thing. Otherwise I would just do it 15 minutes before I expected to be busy.

[TalkToMeNow]

Sorry, Joanie... I was confused on when you worked and what your exact pumping issue was. It was late at night! Lol. Anyway, I don't think you should have to feed her when you get home if you normally wouldn't. You can always pump if you need to. Like everyone else said, that amount of time away shouldn't hurt your supply.

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by birdhappy85 

Does anybody else feel like they're getting to a point where breastfeeding is just not enjoyable at all anymore?

I go through phases with breastfeeding and now that this is my third time doing this, I can easily identify my feelings being associated with lack of sleep, stress, burn out, or baby's increased neediness/demand due to growing or milestones/teeth/illness.  For me, it helps to figure out the source of my agitation so I can work at resolving it or realizing it will pass soon.  I'm not one of these moms that just LOVES breastfeeding either.  I often find it slightly annoying.  But I also find it incredibly helpful and much easier than formula.  Breastfeeding accomplishes a lot more than is immediately obvious in the first 6 months of life.  Once she gets older, breastfeeding will become your number one tool for calming your spirited toddler.  When she's got the stomach flu or rotavirus, breastfeeding becomes a safe source of fluids and nutrients.   When she's running and scrapes her knee, breastfeeding will ease the pain.  And when you're working and she misses you, breastfeeding will reconnect you quickly and sweetly.  As she gets older, she will nurse less.  The first year is definitely the most demanding.  Once she is consuming real amounts of solid food, her nursing sessions will decrease and they won't seem so taxing.  Eventually she will go down to just a handful of times a day, then just a couple, then just one or two and then maybe every other day, every couple of days, and then poof... it's over.  And you will likely miss it and remember it fondly.   Weaning is a very emotional thing.  So I urge you to consider all aspects of your breastfeeding relationship with your daughter before making any decisions and especially now that you're entering the work force and will be embarking on the more difficult task of pumping.  I nursed my first until she was almost 2.5 and it felt like a good solid amount of time and I felt ready to stop.  I only nursed my second until he was 17 months and it felt way too short.  I know you've been going through a LOT lately and so breastfeeding might feel particularly overwhelming, but I really urge you to stick with it longer so that you can make a decision about this from a solid place and not an overwhelmed place.  Please keep posting if you need encouragement. 

[birdhappy85]

Sweet. I'm not going to worry about pumping at work then unless I have to be there extra late. I'll just pump when I get home. I have a feeling I wouldn't pump much milk anyway just a few hours into working. I only pumped 5 oz last night after 5 hours.

[birdhappy85]

Thanks, Jaimee.  I'm trying to stick it out! The whole spirited child thing is one of my biggest motivators for continuing to have the comfort nursing available. I'm scared of what I'd do without. 

[jbk21]

Yeah unless you are super full and leaking, don't worry about it if it is going to stress you out.  I'd bring the pump just in case, but you certainly don't have to be regimented about it.  I found that if I was stressed out about having to pump I couldn't get any milk anyway!  But if I waited until I was super full and knew the milk would flow easily, I would pump.  

Jaimee is right- weaning is VERY emotional.  And nursing gets so much easier really soon!

[CDsMom1031]

When I was still pumping and working (Granted, I work full-time), I got breaks every 2 hours, a 15 minute, a 30 minute, and a 15 minute. I pumped at every break... Just to have my boob drain (I also have a sucky supply, so anything I could get, I'd take). I never, EVER skipped a pumping, but, I also went back to work really soon so my body never got a schedule worked out with Conner, my body was more used to my pumping schedule than it was to Conner. I say just try it out once... Skipping a pumping one time this far into your nursing relationship won't have a devastating effect to your supply... So go to work once, if you find that you're getting uncomfortable around 7, pump.

[birdhappy85]

Originally Posted by jbk21 

How is bedtime going for her without you there? Is she doing okay?

Sora is doing well with DH in general (yay!) but bedtime is still the same fight it always is when she's not being nursed to sleep. He said she cries a lot. I try not to think about it. I'm just happy she's taking a bottle and complying when eating solids without me there.

I'm so so so thankful I don't need to get Sora a babysitter while I work. I had my brother and mom try watching her for a little bit today while I was on the other side of the house studying for class, and I didn't last very long leaving them alone... I really tried to resist intervening, I really did!!! But I was so frustrated with their [lack of] ideas of how to calm her down -- which clearly weren't working! -- and I ended up stepping in. Sora was screaming so high pitched, it was almost worse than any other time I've heard her freak out with someone. And it was escalating with no sign of stopping. When I walked into the room, my mom and brother had Sora in her rocker chair on the floor and were trying to get her interested in toys they danced in front of her face. For over 10 minutes... they did the same dang thing. I picked her up and frustratingly told them that they can't just expect her to calm down if they leave her in the same position and don't pick her up! UGH. Common sense, people... They know from a million conversations we've had that she hates sitting in one place. Bounce the girl, walk the girl, do ANYTHING but make her stay stationary when she's upset! Plus, my mom had given Sora her car/house keys to suck on.  I was NOT HAPPY. I snatched them from her hands and told my mom those keys have been everywhere. Come on!!!!

I'm officially back to being afraid of having anyone babysit Sora. Again.

[jill the pill]

My MIL was going to give Audrey a piece of wrapping paper to play with.  I agree.  I'm afraid to have anyone babysit too.  People just don't think and it drives me nuts!

[dashley111]

Hehehe.  Maybe its because its my 3rd but...I give her car keys all the time.  And mail.  She loves to chew on paper.  The other day she was eating my ODD's shoe and at first I thought "oh gross" but THEN I thought, "Well she has already chewed on it...so..."

[KayPea]

Originally Posted by dashley111 

...at first I thought "oh gross" but THEN I thought, "Well she has already chewed on it...so..."

Ha ha. I have this thought daily. Perhaps multiple times a day. Oh second child. How different your experience is from the first. The other day he was chewing on a toilet paper tube. 

[jbk21]

Dylan's most ingested items include: paper, stickers, feathers.

Sigh.

[seraf]

Originally Posted by dashley111 

Hehehe.  Maybe its because its my 3rd but...I give her car keys all the time.  And mail.  She loves to chew on paper.  The other day she was eating my ODD's shoe and at first I thought "oh gross" but THEN I thought, "Well she has already chewed on it...so..."

Yeah, car keys can't be swallowed or damaged, major score in my book.  Shay finds bits of paper and crawls around with them in his mouth.  I usually have to pull something out of his mouth in order to nurse (cardboard, magnets, erasers, lids).  My oldest was the same way with rocks, I used to fish rocks out of his mouth a dozen times a day.   

Here you can see a big magnet hanging out of his mouth.

[Jaimee]

We're guilty on the key thing, too.  I know they are SO dirty, but we haven't had any issues with them with the first two, so...   At any rate, it seems handling toys and books at the library gets my kids sick much more often than sucking on keys.

[jill the pill]

I guess I'm just really paranoid!  

[birdhappy85]

Originally Posted by jill the pill 

I guess I'm just really paranoid!  

You're in good company over here!  I've relaxed on many things already but man, nothing gets me so worked up as public facilities and items that might've come into contact with them.

[TalkToMeNow]

Originally Posted by birdhappy85 

You're in good company over here!  I've relaxed on many things already but man, nothing gets me so worked up as public facilities and items that might've come into contact with them.

I'm pretty paranoid, too! Jasper is like our first-fourth baby. Plus, dh is a germ-phobe. High chairs at restaurants make me want to puke. Well, I have relaxed some. At first, I would wash a toy if it touched the ground. And I mean the living room floor. I'm over that. And recently, I dug a pacifier out of a crack in the car seat, rinsed it off with water from my bottle, and gave it to Jasper to chew on. 

I stuffed a tissue box with strips of paper for Jasper to pull out. He loved it, but would eat the paper, so dh took it away. Dh is really funny... I had to stop him from literally carrying around a bottle of hand sanitizer and insisting we all used it before we touched the baby. 

[birdhappy85]

Originally Posted by TalkToMeNow 

Dh is really funny... I had to stop him from literally carrying around a bottle of hand sanitizer and insisting we all used it before we touched the baby. 

 Too funny!

I just try to calm myself down with the mantra that "it's building Sora's immune system" when she comes into contact with germy-seeming places. I seem to actually be more paranoid about other substances she might be ingesting than germs... Like the car keys? All I could think of were toxic oils and other stuff being on them from mechanics holding them, etc. Yeah, I wasn't thinking germs. I'm weird I guess. During my pregnancy I was TERRIFIED of bacteria and viruses. Now? I'm just terrified of everything else! lol