THe BF Thread - Page 5 « Back to Group Discussions

[Teles]

So it looks like I'm trying no dairy for a while :(

I love milk and everything that comes from it, so I'm pretty bummed, but it's worth it if I don't have to hear that shrieking cry from my little one for a while. 

[buko]

Anyone have any tips for LATCHING into side-lying? We've been working on this, but it's really really hard. All the websites show what side-lying looks like when you're doing it-- duh! But how to latch on first? Without at least 3 hands? I have settled for a cr@ppy latch many times, but it obviously kinda hurts and I don't want her to establish a bad latch habit in that position.

[mama3blessings]

Teles, I had to cut out dairy as well and it was hard at first but does get easier. My little guy was throwing up a lot and now he spits up smaller amounts only.

Sadly as much as I wanted to manage his reflux without medicine we had to put him on Zantac this weekend. A visit to the ER this past weekend after he spit up blood was too scary for mama.

[HouseofPeace]

Buko- i forgot how hard it was to learn side-lying.  w/ my first we grew into it, but it's the key to so much more rest!!!  i had to teach this little guy, and it was a balancing act.  i start w/ the breast on the bottom (though after nursing for 7 years, they both flop enough that i can do them side-lying on either side) and pinch the breast a little between index and third finger just above the areola- this elongates and makes it easier- and then i would bop the lower lip w/ it repeatedly until mouth opens and takes it all in/baby roots and grabs nipple.  by forming the nipple in the direction you want the latch to go and making it longer, i found even at night in the dark i can get a good deep latch and usually can even find his mouth at night by batting him w/ the nipple on the chin or nose until we meet up.  i used my cell-phone at night for the first few weeks to make it work b/c he wasn't very good at it.  i also love to lean on my upper arm and flop my other breast over- it gets a nice steady and effective drain (great before bedtime, upsetting to him at 5am when he wants a snack, not a torrent)  now we both pretty much sleep from 10- 5am, with only brief wake-ups to relatch in the dark.  

Teles- give it a day or two, but i'm pretty sure you'll notice a difference.  when i tried cream recently, i didn't notice a hug difference in crying, but the spitting up was obnoxious.  since abstaining again, it's totally gone.  and he still has gas, but it's not painful.  it was more painful for him w/ even a little bit of dairy.  it's hard, but each day if i have to consider a few hours to days of misery for a bite of dairy, it's not too hard to avoid!

BTDT mamas- i have a pattern where my LO's after a week or so settle into a pattern of only having bm's once a week.  they gain weight, my supply is great, but they just wait around 7 days between blow-outs.  they might go 2-3x in 12 hours, but then we have another 5-7 days before they go again.  and it's always a blow-out, it has to be!  i do wonder where it all goes in the meantime..... any other mamas have experience or insight into this?  why?  i know it's not 'abnormal'- but it is unusual!

[loveandgarbage]

HoP I have no idea about the poop! I've never heard of that before. Maybe TMI but do your or your husband have similar BM patterns? Could be genetic. Can't believe I just asked that.

Buko side-lying nursing will be AMAZING once you get the hang of it. Can't give you better advice for latch than HoP. If my babe has a hard time latching I've also rolled them over onto their side so that they could be flush with the boob, if you will. Hope you can figure it out.

[loveandgarbage]

Teles, sorry about your diet change. I've been dairy free for over a year now for my own GI issues and it seems so normal to me I don't even think about it. But then again I never loved dairy in the first place. Have you tried some substitutes to make the transition easier? I love whipped Earth Balance in place of butter. It's *almost* the same.

[etsdtm99]

The poop thing is because they use the breastmilk so efficiently there isn't much waste - my little guy is going every other day at this point and I'm expecting it will space out more soon - my first did the once a week thing .. My 2nd and 3rd didn't ..

[Teles]

I was vegan for a while in my early 20s (and veg for the better part of my life) so it's not too much to wrap my mind around to go dairy-free. It just means that I remember how much it sucks to not have chocolate, cheesecake, or milk in my coffee anymore.

[buko]

I guess what I'm wondering is how to pull baby's head to the breast while simultaneously doing the sandwich thing or whatever to the breast? Can it be done in side-lying? I don't get it, and I've tried! Seems like can only do one or the other...

[Chloe'sMama]

Buko- at first I sit up and nurse and then let their body slide to my side and I slowly rotate so I am on my side then I lay down. It may just be that I am small chested but I have a hard time side lying at first....until about 3-4 weeks.

Hop- dd1 pooped every day since she was born... dd2 went 8-12 days without looping after she was 3 days old... she poops every day now. DS seems to have some poop at every diaper change and 1-2 big ones a day. I have had very few blow outs with any of the kidder. Dd2s doc said everything was just getting used so nothing left to pass.

Teles- hope your baby starts feeling better soon. Dietary changes are hard. You are a good mama

[HouseofPeace]

Originally Posted by buko 

I guess what I'm wondering is how to pull baby's head to the breast while simultaneously doing the sandwich thing or whatever to the breast? Can it be done in side-lying? I don't get it, and I've tried! Seems like can only do one or the other...

i don't generally pull the head closer while doing the nipple thing- we're usually pressed up close to each other and he's moving towards me and i can find his lips w/ my fingers.  i do pull him in, get him right there, and then push the nipple there.  my breast shape is weird when side-lying so the fingers do help him get it.  i do this a lot before the baby is really hungry- so usually we're just laying then gazing wistfully at each other, and then i start to harass him w/ nipple.  he's usually hungry enough to go for it.  at 4 am this morning, he was full and grumpy w/ me and hubby took him out to the living room until he was really hungry and we all went back to sleep around 5 when he was actually interested in eating again.  he also roots forward for the breast.  when he's mad and arching away, i usually have to sit up or pick him up and carry him around and nurse him to settle him back down.  then i go back down like Chloe's mama said- in an elegant gentle movement.  

[josie423]

HoP, a couple of mine would only poop once a week (or longer). And they would always be blowouts! Both of the kiddos that did that now poop every day. 

[buko]

My thing is that she doesn't always open wide to nurse, so I still have to help push her head in when she is "saying ahh" or it's really painful...

[Brambleberry]

Wow - I can't imagine once a week poops.  Mine are still pooping about 2/3 of the diaper changes, including night time :(.  PITA.  DD1 was several months old before she cut back to once a day.  I'd just count yourself lucky, despite the big blowouts.  

Buko- when I'm side lying I use my lower arm to pull her head in, while I guide the breast with my other hand.  I keep a small LED flashlight propped on my pillow and aimed at the breast so I have a good view of my target.  It took a while for me to get comfortable with side lying with DD1, and it's still not my preferred position.

[Jenny01]

Clarissa has gone 3-4 days without pooping. It of course worried us but midwives said its no big deal and she is just using it all up. Even now she only goes once a day if that.

[odinsmama]

My DD is still pooping all day long.  She pooped like 6 or 7 times yesterday plus the little skid marks that are in almost every diaper.  But I guess that was a good thing, cause last night she slept from 1:00 to 6:00 without waking.  Very nice, even though that was the entire amount of sleep I got since she is very upset from 10-1.  

I said I was going to cut out dairy but I lied and kept eating it.  Now I'm really going to do it.  She's so uncomfortable at night and it's too sad.  But I also have a theory that maybe her diapers are too tight in the back (where the elastic is) so I've started snapping them looser and hoping we don't get blowouts.  She doesn't seem to have red marks but maybe an indent along her back.  I can't tell if it's an indent or just the way her cute little butt and back are shaped.  Oh, but the main reason for the diaper theory is that last night, mid scream, I laid her down on her back, still crying, and as soon as I unsnapped everything she was quiet and alert.  I draped a prefold over her and let her lay there as long as she was content.  She didn't poop after that.  Put on a loose diaper and she finally nursed to sleep.  

I use a couple different styles of dipes and covers and I think I always use the same ones at night since they are thickest, so I'm avoiding those for now and see if she feels better.

[MaybeJ]

Isla has been having an every other day poop schedule since very early on - like pretty much as soon as her poops were yellow.  She's gone as long as 3 days before pooping but usually there's a few good full diapers in that case.  DD1 fell into an every 3 days give or take schedule but not as early as Isla.  I've heard that it's okay for breastfed babies to go as long as 14 days or more without pooping!

[HouseofPeace]

thanks mama's who have been there!  all my kids are regular as clockwork- daily and sometimes more often.  but they also all only pooped once a week as babies!  ???  they're not colicky or usually very gassy, and when little man does have gas, it's not something that bothers him at all.  his burps and gas are hilarious b/c they are adult volume but coming from such a little man. last night he was resting on DH's chest (he hangs out w/ us until we got to bed) and just letting loose w/ some intense gas and hubby kept looking at me b/c little guy wasn't moving at all w/ the gas!  i kept blaming the baby, and it was pretty funny.  then he sat up and belched and we were just like .

Buko- i was experimenting w/ using lower arm to draw baby in last night, and saw Brambleberry post the same thing.  the 'sandwich' thing helps shape the nipple better b/c at that angle my nipples flatten the wrong direction and it's hard to get a good latch if i don't reshape it.  unless they're pretty empty and he's mostly just suckling, then he can usually get it and keep it himself.  

i don't know how we'd sleep if we didn't have this down.  he's seriously on ALL NIGHT LONG.  we both wake up and relatch when he releases.  then he's up right before sunrise.  and loud.  hubby and i have started to aim to head to bed immediately after cleaning kitchen, and our goal is to have that done by 8pm.  just so we're not grumpy when we're hanging out before dawn...  this is a good idea!!!  though we'd like to see each other w/out the little dude between us.  but that's been going on for 10 months now, so we're pretty adjusted!  he was wide awake last night until we turned off the light and went down.  DH thought we could get DS2 down first, but he was proving to be way more awake than us and we were both falling asleep while he watched us in bobble-headed earnestness....

[Teles]

I'm not sure how much this might help, Buko, but when I nurse DD in bed I tend to curl around her with my knees bent below her feet and sort of pop my chest forward when she opens her mouth wide (imagine a side-laying hip hop dance move). My only problem with this position is that I always fall asleep and wake up in a puddle of leaked milk after a couple hours, with a baby in my armpit. Totally worth it for the extra sleep time though. I've started laying a prefold under her at night to help catch the milk (and any accidents, so we can save the mattress) but fixing it is the last thing on my mind in the middle of the night, so it only sometimes catches the leaks.

[Dakota1235]

I had a little breastfeeding success and wanted to share with some supportive mamas. LO is about 4 weeks and I have been trying to get out of the house more, and it's been tough to manage around breastfeeding (i.e. try to be home in time to nurse baby), so this week I said screw it, we're going out and if it's time to nurse when we're out then so be it. I successfully nursed in the car at wal-mart, using the moby in Marshall's (I felt like a champion, lol), in the wide open at a mommy and me play group, and in a variety of family members homes. Lots of my family and friends are not super supportive of public nursing (they really feel like it should be done very privately) so it's tough to try and just do it, but I hate feeling trapped in the house because she might need to nurse while we're out.

So yay! lol I was very excited and felt so much more like myself this past week.