Breastfeeding, etc. - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[IwannaBanRN]

I had an overactive letdown only with DD. My letdown seems to be fine this time, which I'm glad. I hated DD coughing, choking and gagging everytime my milk letdown.

[CDsMom1031]

Wow. This thread is awesome. This is my first, so all I know is what I've experienced in these five weeks. I don't know what's "normal" and what's not, so this was awesome.

My LO eats for about 45 minutes at a time. I let him eat one side until he comes off completely then I'll burp him and hang out for a bit to see how he does. If he's still hungry, I'll give him the other side. Otherwise I'll just pump it.

He also gets fussy after feedings. Or even an hour or two later, he'll start crying and acting hungry. It made me feel insufficient for awhile, like I wasn't producing enough so he was getting hungry faster/sooner than he should.

The ONLY thing that consoled me was the fact that he's gaining weight like a champ.

He only poos once a day. Is that normal??? 

And I do supplement sometimes if he gets hungry in-between feedings. My boobs only make enough to feed every 3 hours...

[FaithF]

Nicole, your boobs will make as much milk as your baby "tells" them to. Nursing on demand is very important. Cluster feeding will happen as your baby goes thru growth spurts. There are days when my girl will eat both sides and then go back and forth for the next hour. I know she's not getting a bunch of milk when she's doing that but I know all that sucking is her way of making my supply increase to fit her need. If I were to supplement during that important time, I would be gradually diminishing my supply because I'm not signaling to my breasts that more milk is needed. The first six weeks are so important to establishing your supply, I wouldn't supplement during that time if I were you. Hope that helps some! :)

[Abraisme]

Originally Posted by FaithF 

Nicole, your boobs will make as much milk as your baby "tells" them to. Nursing on demand is very important. Cluster feeding will happen as your baby goes thru growth spurts. There are days when my girl will eat both sides and then go back and forth for the next hour. I know she's not getting a bunch of milk when she's doing that but I know all that sucking is her way of making my supply increase to fit her need. If I were to supplement during that important time, I would be gradually diminishing my supply because I'm not signaling to my breasts that more milk is needed. The first six weeks are so important to establishing your supply, I wouldn't supplement during that time if I were you. Hope that helps some! :)

Also, it's very normal for a 5 week old to only poop once a day or LESS.  Both of my kids only pooped every 5-7 DAYS from roughly 1-6mo.  Basically until they started to eat solids.  Faith is very right, just because your breasts don't feel full doesn't mean that they're empty.  Nurse your baby every 15 minutes if he wants.  Your body will keep up, it's an amazing system.  :)

[CDsMom1031]

I guess I just need to learn patience. LOL After like an hour, I'm like, "... ... ... Okay. You're done." Then he screams his face off so I supplement. Doh.

Thanks. =)

[birdhappy85]

Your babies only poop once a day or less?! I'm so jealous! I'd say at least 8 out of my baby's 12-ish daily diaper changes are poop diapers... Is that normal too? She's pooping so much now, we've had accidents with it exploding out of her prefolds and getting all over her diaper covers. Yuck. And she soaks through the prefolds with pee too. She's very hydrated, that's for sure! I think I might need to start using doublers already. I hope my baby isn't the only one eliminating this much! She'll be 2 weeks old tomorrow.

[KaliShanti]

My babe goes poop every other diaper change at least. That is totally normal.

[seraf]

Originally Posted by TTCChloeOrConner 

My LO eats for about 45 minutes at a time. I let him eat one side until he comes off completely then I'll burp him and hang out for a bit to see how he does. If he's still hungry, I'll give him the other side. Otherwise I'll just pump it.

He also gets fussy after feedings. Or even an hour or two later, he'll start crying and acting hungry. It made me feel insufficient for awhile, like I wasn't producing enough so he was getting hungry faster/sooner than he should.

And I do supplement sometimes if he gets hungry in-between feedings. My boobs only make enough to feed every 3 hours...

My son is also 5 weeks and the only way he will go 3 hours between feedings is if he is having one of his big naps or at night.  He is 12 1/2 pounds, I figure he just eats a lot because he has a lot of growing to do.  

I ran into a woman in the grocery store with a similar sized baby.  I asked about him and she said he eats 2-3 times an hour.  I loved it.  

If you nurse more, you will produce more.  

Why are you pumping the other side if he doesn't nurse?  Why not just save that for when he is hungry again?  I only nurse one side per feed because I'm trying to calm down my oversupply.  It sounds like you aren't having that problem, so you might try to switch him back and forth more often?

Originally Posted by birdhappy85 

Your babies only poop once a day or less?! I'm so jealous! I'd say at least 8 out of my baby's 12-ish daily diaper changes are poop diapers... Is that normal too? She's pooping so much now, we've had accidents with it exploding out of her prefolds and getting all over her diaper covers. Yuck. And she soaks through the prefolds with pee too. She's very hydrated, that's for sure! I think I might need to start using doublers already. I hope my baby isn't the only one eliminating this much! She'll be 2 weeks old tomorrow.

Hahaha, anything is normal at this age.  At 2 weeks it was poop after every feed.  Now we're down to about 3 huge poops a day.

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by FaithF 

Nicole, your boobs will make as much milk as your baby "tells" them to. Nursing on demand is very important. Cluster feeding will happen as your baby goes thru growth spurts. There are days when my girl will eat both sides and then go back and forth for the next hour. I know she's not getting a bunch of milk when she's doing that but I know all that sucking is her way of making my supply increase to fit her need. If I were to supplement during that important time, I would be gradually diminishing my supply because I'm not signaling to my breasts that more milk is needed. The first six weeks are so important to establishing your supply, I wouldn't supplement during that time if I were you. Hope that helps some! :)

  VERY important not to supplement or your supply WILL decrease and you won't have enough milk.  If you are nursing on demand and still feel as though baby is not getting enough after a few days of regulation (know that the increase in milk is not instantaneous- your body may need a day or two to regulate), try herbs, foods, teas, etc. to increase your supply.  If you need some suggestions, let us know!

Babies can poop 10 times a day or once every 10 days and both are normal.  My kids are on the frequent pooping end of the spectrum and still are, which made/makes potty training interesting...

[IwannaBanRN]

We're getting 6-8 poops a day. In about a month, we'll be down to 3 I'm sure. Nicole, if you plan on breastfeeding for a bit yet, I would not recommend supplementing. My sister did this and she regretted it by 4 months postpartum because her daughter would get nipple confused and then soon she just wanted the bottle. She pumped for a month and then gave up. It was very discouraging to watch because I knew she'd wanted to nurse for at least a year. Everyone who has commented on this before me is right. If you continue cluster feeds, your supply will go up. And it will be virtually impossible that your baby isn't getting enough. Hang in there, mama.

[jbk21]

Everyone else already gave great advice Nicole, but I'd also add to just get rid of the formula.  If it's in the house, you're going to use it.  If you get rid of it you will HAVE to just nurse on demand and that's a good thing!  You don't want to have it around for those weak moments when you're frustrated, you know?  Just power through the cluster feeds and pretty soon the hardest part will be over and baby and you will have a really easy, wonderful breastfeeding relationship.  These first couple of months are rough though.  We can all empathize 

[jill the pill]

My boobs are ready to fall off!  Audrey was up ALL NIGHT cluster feeding...is that normal?  I mean like from 10pm to 6am this morning.  My nipples are still so sore...I think I might have thrush.  Can I have thrush and the baby have no symptoms?  I just started using grapefruit seed extract to try to clear it up but do I have to treat baby too? 

[CDsMom1031]

The issue with having formula around...

I'm in school about 5 hours a day right now. I don't produce enough to pump extra for him. Anytime I try, I'll get less than an ounce or MAYBE two ounces, which isn't enough to keep him happy while I'm in class. =/

And once I go back to work, it'll only get worse... I want to BF until he gets teeth, at least... I tried to stay strong last night. I had to get up at 6 for school and he was up until 3 going back and forth on my boobs... Then at 6, he ate for an hour.

[Abraisme]

Your body should make at least enough milk to feed your baby while you're away.  There are some important tricks to pumping that will make you a lot more successful. 

It's important that you milk lets down DURING the pumping session.  Even when my breasts were FULL, I could only get an ounce or two if my milk didn't let down.  After let down I can usually get 6-7oz from one side.  It's a huge difference

The more you fully empty your breasts, the more your body is signaled to make.  Keep them as completely empty as possible.  Nurse, pump, nurse.  Do not supplement with formula.  Make your baby nurse more, as he'll do the best job emptying the breast..

Have your baby nurse after you pump to FULLY empty both sides.

After you have a good supply you can nurse on one side only for a few hours, let the other breast get really full and then pump that one side.  You should be able to get 4-7oz with a full breast and good pump (each women is a little different of course).

May I ask why you have decided that you only want to nurse until your baby gets teeth?  To me, getting teeth is a very arbitrary time.  Both of my babies got their first teeth at 4mo, which would be young to wean.  However, I have friends with kids that didn't have a single tooth until they were over 12mo.  While you might get bitten a few times (hurts for a moment, you yell, baby learns not to do that!), teeth really don't effect nursing at all.  Just something to think about.
 

Originally Posted by TTCChloeOrConner 

The issue with having formula around...

I'm in school about 5 hours a day right now. I don't produce enough to pump extra for him. Anytime I try, I'll get less than an ounce or MAYBE two ounces, which isn't enough to keep him happy while I'm in class. =/

And once I go back to work, it'll only get worse... I want to BF until he gets teeth, at least... I tried to stay strong last night. I had to get up at 6 for school and he was up until 3 going back and forth on my boobs... Then at 6, he ate for an hour.

[CDsMom1031]

How do I know when my milk has "let down"? Is that the painful tingle? How do I make it do that?

And him getting teeth was always just my short term goal. I plan to go as long as possible because A) Formula is expensive! And B) I like BFing.

[MrsKatie]

Originally Posted by jill the pill 

My boobs are ready to fall off!  Audrey was up ALL NIGHT cluster feeding...is that normal?  I mean like from 10pm to 6am this morning.  My nipples are still so sore...I think I might have thrush.  Can I have thrush and the baby have no symptoms?  I just started using grapefruit seed extract to try to clear it up but do I have to treat baby too? 

We've had nights like this, and my nipples get super sore all over again.  Like, agonizingly sore.  I don't think it's thrush -- of course I'm no expert, and you may be experiencing something different, but I definitely go through what you're going through and I wouldn't worry!

[Jaimee]

Nicole, yes, the let down is when you feel that tingling feeling.  When you first start bfing, it may be painful and feel more like an injection.  But as you regulate, let down will just be a tingle and no longer painful.  The let down is when the milk starts to really flow.  It will drip out of your nipples (usually) after let down and when pumping you will see that streams of milk are shooting out with each pump. 

To get your milk to let down can be challenging sometimes and with a pump much more so.  It requires mom to be relaxed and pumping sometimes doesn't feel relaxing.  Some moms find it helps to hold baby while pumping or pump off the other side while baby is nursing.  When away from baby it can help to have a picture of your baby or an item of clothing that smells like baby so that you can envision nursing while pumping.  I find that I literally have to watch the pump for my milk to let down.  I can't watch TV or some other distraction.  It's different for every person.

[jbk21]

Yes to everything Abra said.  I'd also add that if you are still having trouble getting a letdown to occur on the pump I'd trying pumping one side WHILE baby nurses on the other.   You'll definitely get the letdown, just be ready at the beginning of the nursing session with the pump!  Yes, the letdown is the pins and needles feeling.  I also find that if I am pumping when he is NOT nursing that if I do something else at the same time (Facebook, chat with DH, eat, etc, just something else) that a letdown happens and I get a lot more milk.  If I am just sitting staring at my boobs while I pump waiting for the milk to come then it doesn't happen.  I can easily get nearly 8 oz from a full breast if I preoccupy myself, otherwise I only get 1-2.   but if you supplement instead of letting your body produce for your baby then your supply will quickly, quickly diminish because you aren't signalling it to make more.  It's a perfect supply-demand system, so start demanding   My sister had to go to school with a baby as well and tried pumping and it just wasn't enough because she'd offer formula as well.  You have to let baby be on the breast as much as possible (more skin-to-skin time helps as well) and pump pump pump until empty as much as you can.  Pretty soon you'll notice a huge difference and  you won't have to work so hard at it ;-)  The other issue with formula is it keeps baby full longer, so then you are missing multiple feeding sessions instead of just one.  You want baby hungry so he will nurse!

Originally Posted by Abraisme 

Your body should make at least enough milk to feed your baby while you're away.  There are some important tricks to pumping that will make you a lot more successful. 

It's important that you milk lets down DURING the pumping session.  Even when my breasts were FULL, I could only get an ounce or two if my milk didn't let down.  After let down I can usually get 6-7oz from one side.  It's a huge difference

The more you fully empty your breasts, the more your body is signaled to make.  Keep them as completely empty as possible.  Nurse, pump, nurse.  Do not supplement with formula.  Make your baby nurse more, as he'll do the best job emptying the breast..

Have your baby nurse after you pump to FULLY empty both sides.

After you have a good supply you can nurse on one side only for a few hours, let the other breast get really full and then pump that one side.  You should be able to get 4-7oz with a full breast and good pump (each women is a little different of course).

May I ask why you have decided that you only want to nurse until your baby gets teeth?  To me, getting teeth is a very arbitrary time.  Both of my babies got their first teeth at 4mo, which would be young to wean.  However, I have friends with kids that didn't have a single tooth until they were over 12mo.  While you might get bitten a few times (hurts for a moment, you yell, baby learns not to do that!), teeth really don't effect nursing at all.  Just something to think about.
 

If baby bites it is really no big deal to get them to stop once they have teeth- they will quickly learn that it's not okay.  However, my newborn is biting me and it HURTS and I don't know how to get him to stop since he can't understand my tone, haha.  But it's okay- I'm over it.  Once my DS1 had teeth he bit me maybe two times before he learned that's a one-way ticket away from dinner.  He learned if he wanted to eat, he couldn't play around haha. 

Originally Posted by TTCChloeOrConner 

How do I know when my milk has "let down"? Is that the painful tingle? How do I make it do that?

And him getting teeth was always just my short term goal. I plan to go as long as possible because A) Formula is expensive! And B) I like BFing.

[CDsMom1031]

Okay. I've been trying my hardest today! And Wednesdays are my long days (I have 7 hours of class instead of the normal 5). I fed him at 6, pumped at 945ish (Whenever we got our break), got home, fed Conner at 1230, went back to school, then came home and pumped around 530. I got 2 oz at my first pumping, which he ate at the babysitters, and I got 3 oz just now when I pumped. Finals are next week so I'll have THREE WEEKS to work on it/perfect it/get my supply up before I go back to work and before school starts back up.

Thanks for the encouragement, ladies.

P.S. The whole let down thing is really hard to force. LOL It happens to me all the time at school when I can't do anything about it.

I'm going to try to spend the next four days (No school) pumping every 2-3 hours religiously so I can build my supply up before it's too late. Blarg. This whole super mom thing is hard to do. LOL

[KaliShanti]

Just a few notes, ladies:

- You can have letdown without the tingle feeling

-How much you pump is NO indication on how much baby is getting when he nurses

-Sometime cluster feeding for hours is not because the baby is hungry.. try other methods of soothing, especially sucking on something other than the breast (finger, paci)...

*hugs*