New Mama's- How's nursing going? - Page 2

[kalirush]

Originally Posted by curlyfry

Oh, and by the way kalirush...how do you pronounce your daughter's name? It's spelled beautifully, just wondering how you say it.

Thank you! It confuses *everybody*. Fortunately, I don't mind. Um, it's really pronounced about how it's spelled- Are-ee-ad-nee. Or Air-ee-ad-nee, we're not particular.

I think people just see it and say "that's foreign!" and get confused. Same thing happens with our last name (Papke, pronounced "Pap-kee"), which gets mangled even though it's pronounced mostly how it's spelled.

Julia

[hemo-mommy]

steady as she goes....

We had a bit of initial trouble (nothing like I had with DS), and I had little blisters on my nipples, some cracking - OWWW. I hollered for the LCs in the hospital, and then my mum (also a LC) checked me out at home. Seems that Akiva was sucking before he had pulled me all the way in, and my nipples were rubbing against his palate. So, some of that irritating latch, suck, feel the suck and pull him off and start over. Fun, fun, fun. But he's got it now. Barring a bad habit of pulling back when my flow's really strong and sucking just on the tip (YOUCH!), he's a champ. And thank goodness! Last time it took weeks to get DS to nurse properly, he couldn't create suction, we were supplementing with formula...nice to do it simply for once.

-Ziva, wife to Ezra the scribe , mama to Elisha-boy 3.5yrs and Akiva, the new baby bean!

[mom2threenurslings]

Owie!!! Coren ...well....sucks! :LOL He sucks on his tongue, he sucks in his lips when latching. It makes it quite fun to try to get a decent latch - and quite painful as well. My firstborn had similar latch problems, so I'm trying to work things out on my own at this point. Mostly trying to get Coren to OPEN his mouth WIDE before latching, which he doesnt' want to do. I'm a bit sore, but it's manageable. Doesn't bother me at all when Haley or Zachary are nursing.

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by mom2threenurslings

Owie!!! Coren ...well....sucks! :LOL He sucks on his tongue, he sucks in his lips when latching. It makes it quite fun to try to get a decent latch - and quite painful as well. My firstborn had similar latch problems, so I'm trying to work things out on my own at this point. Mostly trying to get Coren to OPEN his mouth WIDE before latching, which he doesnt' want to do. I'm a bit sore, but it's manageable. Doesn't bother me at all when Haley or Zachary are nursing.

I'm having this exact problem w. Liam. Please let me know what helps you! I'm still not having any luck, and while I'm not sore usually, it hurts like HECK when my toddler nurses.

[Autumn Breeze]

Things are getting better here! I'm 'sandwhiching' my nipple abit for the latch on, she's opening as wide as she can, but she has mommy's jaw...small. As long as I can do this (sometimes hard with engorgement) the latch isn't bad. I give her a few sucks to draw my nipple back, and if it still hurts we re-latch until it doesn't hurt anymore. I am still usings a glob of Lansinoh after each feeding, and picked up some sposie nursing pads. I loved my cloth ones, but I think maybe they were keeping my nip's too moist and adding to the pain. But who knows, only time will tell.

The engorgement is worse in my right breast,which was the better producer with Jack too, it's a little odd, because I'm right handed, and prefer to nurse on the left. Oh well! I'll get used to it again. I have also discovered I suck at hand expressing. I have done it after Kate has nursed on one side, then a bit on the other for just a minute. Once she falls asleep and I take her off, if I'm leaking from that side, I'll try to express a bit to relieve the engorgment...but never get enough out to relieve anything LOL. I washed my pump yesterday, I suppose I'll go fish out a bottle or two, and pick up some storage bags and freeze the bit that I pump off (probably use an ice cube tray now that I think about it.

BTW...how long will frozen milk stay 'good' in the regular freezer? I can NEVER remember this.

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by DoulaMommy

BTW...how long will frozen milk stay 'good' in the regular freezer? I can NEVER remember this.

3-4 mos in the regular freezer (not compartment-- I think that's like 2 weeks or something), 6 mos or more in the deep freeze.

[Autumn Breeze]

thankyou wendy!

[wenat]

Nursing's going pretty well so far for us. He's even doing a super-long stretch of sleep at night -- 6 hours the other night! I was worried so we took him in for a weighing, and he's been gaining weight steadily. We saw the doctor today for his introductory visit, and he was up to 8 lbs -- birthweight was 8lbs 2oz and he's 11 days old, so he's well on track for regaining birthweight within 2 weeks, so I'm going to let him sleep as long as he likes.

I can tell I've got oversupply again. This morning I must have leaked an ounce before I could get him awake enough to latch on. I soaked through my pajama shirt AND his sleeper, so I had to change both of us after nursing.

The funny/sad part of the oversupply problem -- I've been pumping out "leftie" (which is the main culprit) every morning. The first morning I did that, I left the milk (about 3.5 oz) on the kitchen counter while I was dealing with DS1. And then DH found it a few minutes later in the course of cleaning up the kitchen. And he dumped it. :-(

The next morning, I pumped again, and left it on the counter, but this time with the pump still attached so that DH would know that it was fresh mommy milk. And this time, DS1 wanted the pump (he likes playing with it), so he got hold of it when we weren't looking, and was onto our queen bed and dumping it (about 4 oz) onto the bed. And the worst part -- DS2 had a major spit-up that morning after nursing, so we had stripped the bed and put the sheets into the wash. So DS1 managed to dump all 4 oz directly onto the mattress!!!

Sigh.

The good news is that this morning's pump (only 2 oz) went directly into the fridge, and hasn't yet been spilled by anyone in the house.

[curlyfry]

Originally Posted by mom2threenurslings

Owie!!! Coren ...well....sucks! :LOL He sucks on his tongue, he sucks in his lips when latching. It makes it quite fun to try to get a decent latch - and quite painful as well. My firstborn had similar latch problems, so I'm trying to work things out on my own at this point. Mostly trying to get Coren to OPEN his mouth WIDE before latching, which he doesnt' want to do. I'm a bit sore, but it's manageable. Doesn't bother me at all when Haley or Zachary are nursing.

This is the same thing that Meilana does. It's too cute to see her sucking that top lip, but it does cause a problem when I need her to open wide. Also, I can't really tell whether she's actually swallowing or just sucking. I hope she's actually getting something. How do I know for sure? My milk is just starting to come in, so I'm sure that I'll be able to tell soon enough.

[mom2threenurslings]

curlyfry: I can definitely hear Coren gulping, so I know he's definitely swallowing. How many wet/poopy diapers does she have in a day? That's a good way to tell if she's getting enough. I should mention that Coren was gulping colostrum because I had so much (triandem nursing and all! ) and I have SO MUCH milk right now that I'm surprised he can keep up!

[Goldiemom]

Nursing is going pretty well for us. We are getting past some of our nipple/latch issues. Now that she is a month old she is finally getting big enough that we don't have to use the football hold exclusively. She still has some trouble getting her mouth open wide, but I think that is mostly lazy latch. I have found that if I don't let her go more than 3 1/2 hours between feeds {except at night} that things go a bit better for us.

Michelle, I had some of those exact same issues with ds. I was in the hospital for 2 days with him, and I gave myself those full two days to "master" getting him latched on, and if we couldn't work something out in that time I would just ff him *shudder*. I really didn't want to do that, though he did get some supplimental formula feeds until we had built up a bit of supply. I would pump after he nursed, never getting much, but it helped build up my supply. I also totally understand the frustrations of not being able to get a good latch due to rock hard areolas! You know that I am just a phone call away if you ever just need to talk, so feel free if you are getting frustrated, or just want to talk to another adult. :LOL

[curlyfry]

Originally Posted by mom2threenurslings

curlyfry: I can definitely hear Coren gulping, so I know he's definitely swallowing. How many wet/poopy diapers does she have in a day? That's a good way to tell if she's getting enough. I should mention that Coren was gulping colostrum because I had so much (triandem nursing and all! ) and I have SO MUCH milk right now that I'm surprised he can keep up!

I really don't think there's much there for her to gulp yet, but she's definitely eliminating. She has somewhere near 6 wet dipes and about 2-3 poopy dipes a day. I do need to try and get her latched on a little further up my breast and not so much toward the end, but when she pulls away, I can see a milky residue on her lips. I'll listen for the swallowing more carefully from now on, though.