Nursing Mamas Weekly Thread 10/9-10/15

[Shell_Ell]

[Shell_Ell]

How is everyone doing?

So... I'm very happy to report that the PIS pump is working quite well for me. I pump about three times daily, getting 1-2 ounces each time. I'm able to supplement with EBM about half of the time! It's been great. He's in a growth spurt right now so supplements have been making up about 12-14 oz a DAY. It seems like so much but he just keeps wanting more!

I feel like Riley's latch isn't as good as it was, though. I think using bottles has really messed him up. He also has a lazy latch when we nurse sidelying. We see the LC today and I'm going to bring it up. I can't wait to see his weight today, it was 7 lb 13.5 oz on Thursday. I'd be willing to bet he's up to 8 lbs now. He's newborn sized stuff is getting snug!

[danaan]

yay! Shell Ell, that is all great. Especially the part about his newborn stuff getting snug! Isn't it amazing how they grow? I bet you are especially happy about that.

We are doing better, too, still struggling with how much she wants to suck. I don't mind except for two things -- one, when she really nurses for a long time, she inevetably pukes it all up within 20 minutes. This seems to not stress her out at all. She gets all calm and bright eyed. But like yesterday, I had her on my lap, I was wearing the sling underneath her (we were just finished with a change) and had fresh clothes on her. I was sitting on our bed, nowhere near the sink or anything. No warning, she just ejects her stomach contents! So then I had to peel off her clothes, give her a bath (she had chunks in her hair!), redress her, calm her down with a little nursing, wash the sling (which can only hang dry) and change my clothes. Right now I have only one sling, so that evening we didn't have it to help her fall asleep. Sigh. Then she did it again last night after I finally laid her down in her little cosleeper next to DH. Another change, pull the cosleeper off the bed, calm her down again... (she hates having her clothes changed).

The other thing is how fussy she gets -- so angry! -- when she just wants to comfort suck and my boob keeps giving her all this MILK! I tell her she's doing good and to let the extra just pour out her mouth -- I have to line my lap and the boppy with CD's so I don't have to change or be wet after every feeding. Poor sweetie.

But the best thing is that I am relaxing about it all.

I'd like to learn to nurse while she's in the sling..... :

[curlyfry]

Hey Michelle (happy anniversary, btw!) so glad the PIS is working for you!

Clea...Meilana does the same thing! She just wants to suck and will do it for sometimes 40 mins., then 20 minutes later...out it all comes! I change her at least 4 times a day! I wonder how to prevent this?

She's crying...write more later...

[musicmaj]

I am having some nursing trouble - I think my body is fighting mastitis. My breast hurts so bad and I am a little achey with a low grade fever. I can't feel any plugged ducts though. I am going to relax again today, do some warm compresses and nurse a lot. Hopefully by tomorrow all will be better. I don't want to have to take antibiotics.

I have never had this before. Am I doing the right things?

[danaan]

Angie - I was feeling that way too -- I think exhaustion had suppressed my immune system. I dosed up on echinacea, osha, and vit C. I got better after a bit of sleep.

[Shell_Ell]

danaan- thanks!

curlyfry- thanks! Happy anniversary to you too!

Angie- I don't know much about mastitis except that rest will help. I hope you feel better!

We had the BFing clinic today. Riley is now up to 8 lb 3 oz!!! He gained a lb in the past week and a half! I'm thrilled. We also did a naked weight, and guess what? My supply has DOUBLED! He got a full ounce from me! The past 3 weeks he's only gotten 0.5 ounce so this is pretty big! I knew I had been producing more because I was pumping 1-2 ounces a few times a day. I think pumping had alot to do with it, and also relaxing and being okay with supplementing. I'm so happy. I hope it continues to improve from here on out. I'm SO glad I stuck with it! Arlinda (the LC) said I looked wonderful. My skin looks great, hair looks great, and you can tell I'm starting to recover from pregnancy and birth. I think she meant the emotional aspect. So I'm just... elated.

[Autumn Breeze]

Michelle, thanks for starting this wks thread! Sorry I forgot! Congrats on the doubling that's wonderful!!

Things are going great here, but dh and dd are asleep on the sofa, so I'll type more later!

[BennyPai]

: Hello, everyone. I've never posted in a weekly thread before... Here I am - I really need to get some of this off my chest (literally & figuratively) :LOL
Just welcomed our second dd last week. Dh went back to work this week, and I am completely exhausted! I'm trying to adjust to having two little ones...
I'm nursing dd ALL night. She always poops after nursing on one side, so I change her, burp her,etc. She immediately starts rooting so we nurse on the other side. Then the cycle repeats itself.
This would be no problem---but Zeta wakes up at 7AM no matter what and lately has been refusing to nap in the afternoon.
Also, dd has a very difficult time latching on while we're lying down. She finally gets frantic and cries & wakes Zeta up. Once Zeta is awake, she is just as excited each time to find the baby in the bed and wants to pick her up and hold her and has a meltdown when she can't. Dh has to comfort her and it takes forever to get her back to sleep...
Dh is such a different person when he is tired. It makes me upset with him. I am tired too but I refrain from being "fussy" outwardly.
MW suggested I wake dd up during the day for more feedings. I tried this, and dd just nurses enough to trigger my let-down and promptly passes out again.

[Galatea]

BennyPai - I was having the same problem with ds2 waking ds1 and ds1 being too excited to sleep. But now, at one month old, ds2's noises and cries don't wake ds1 anymore - he is used to them - so we don't have this problem. Hang in there!

Eating and eating and eating until they puke is pretty standard for little babies. Some of the milk is staying in, though, so it is good; you could deny them the breast and give a pacifier, but then they wouldn't be getting as much milk. So just be prepared that every feeding could produce puke, and it will pass eventually.

I discovered that nursing lying down is easier if I use my top boob. Weird I never thought of that when nursing ds1. For some reason, it is easier for ds2 to latch on the top boob. I guess gravity makes a nice teat shape.

Shell_Ell - I am not a professional, but it seems like you maybe could stop with the formula soon. Esp. if you are having latch problems. You are making more milk; your milk ducts must have developed a lot more, so why not go for it? Just a thought!

[Shell_Ell]

Shell_Ell - I am not a professional, but it seems like you maybe could stop with the formula soon. Esp. if you are having latch problems. You are making more milk; your milk ducts must have developed a lot more, so why not go for it? Just a thought!

The LC says his latch is still fine. I was thrown off by him "clicking" alot but she says it's probably just because he's not used to so much coming out and he has to swallow faster. As for ditching the formula... I think it may be in the cards soon, but I'm trying to just take it one day at a time and not get too ahead of myself. Right now he's in the middle of a growth spurt, so the formula is a neccesary evil so that he gets the calories he needs. He gets formula about 1/3 of the time now. At this point I'm still not making what he needs for his little tummy to be full. But if it can double in a week, who says it can't double again in this next week?

Has anyone used Blessed Thistle? The LC suggested I use it in conjunction with the fenugreek, since I've decided against the domperidone for now. I'm just curious how much I should be taking. I plan to get some once I run out of fenugreek so I can just buy it all at once.

*edited because I talked in circles a bit. lol

[PrincessCass]

well here we are week three. Like I said in the weekly post I started taking Fenugreek to help boost my supply and stimulate letdown it must be working cause I have letdown when I even think about nursing I gotta remember to put those dang breast pads on :LOL

DD hasn't even spit up a tiny bit so far so thank goodness for that. But now she has decided she will not stay asleep in her bassinet at night. So we nurse to sleep and when the milk starts flowing out of her mouth I replace me with her pacifier but I leave my shirt up so she can nuzzle and she sleeps four hours. Nursing lying down has been difficult cause she is just so tiny but usually I can sit up get her latched on real good and then lay down.

Nursing in the sling is taking a lil practice but I found a really helpful website if your intrested PM me and I'll get you the link.

OT but my canary is driving me nuts he keeps ringing like the dang phone and I run out there to pick it up and realize it's the dang bird oi I gotta get a cordless :LOL

Michele- Congrats girl your doing great I also have a PIS my sister got it as a baby shower gift when pregnant with her first and we have passed it back and forth with each baby this is the Fifth one works like new. I think we have definatley got our money's worth out of it.

Lisa- It was nice chatting with you during Dr. Newmans chat how cool was that???

[Autumn Breeze]

Was hoping to get a chance to post more..but this may be short again...

Kate is 10 lbs 10 oz now (8 lbs 8 oz at birth) and doing great! She still loves to nurse, but still clicks her tounge. We're going to a LLL meeting tomorrow, so hopefully she'll do it there and the leader and I can maybe figure out what is going on. Otherwise I'l have to wait until the 23rd when I see my LC friend at a meeting.

Along with this weekends grocery shopping I'll be buying freezer bags, time to pump and freeze (just because I want too really)

Well, Kate is no longer happy in her bouncy rocking chair thing, even with the vibrations going to, I guess that is it for today!

NOW I remember when DS started to get "difficult"...even though he was still a very easy baby...its when they don't want ot be with out you that makes things harder!

[counterGOPI]

my dear kaulini is a sweetie she wont let me put her down when her daddy isnt home. shes sleeping in m arms right now comfort sucking on the nip-nip.
i know its still early in the bf game but at 3 1/2 weeks we still have problems getting latched on sometimes..like she forgets how or something. (but yet she can find me in the dark when we sleep together at night no problem,ha,ha)does anyone else have this?

[Autumn Breeze]

We are the opposite with the latch! She has trouble finding me in her sleep, and latching on properly when I help her out. She isn't opening her eyes most of the time at night, and we're sleeping with a dim light on. Hopefully tonight we'll just go to night lights. She also doesn't seem to really eat at night (between 11 and about 4!!!!!) but she does latch on several times, usually every 2 hours...and still has plenty pee and poop to suggest that she's eatting at night, I guess I'm just able to go back to sleep easily. Good thing too, because my quality of sleep is poor with that light on!!!! Might as well get more poor quality sleep if I can than less.

[BennyPai]

DD & I are also having problems with the lying down latch. I did try the higher breast and it has seemed to help. Of course, I can't fall asleep that way (unless I'm doing it wrong?).

Dd1 has been refusing to take her afternoon nap still... Yesterday she fought it until she literally fell asleep eating some yogurt at 3:45...

I talked with dh last night about his night time fussiness. We're both going to try harder to keep it together while we're sleep-deprived.
I just checked my email, and there was one from dh that he wrote this morning.
He offered to come home for a long lunch to give me a chance to have a shower (I haven't been able to get one for a few days & it's driving me crazy!) Now there's the considerate guy I married....

It's amazing how different it is for me this time around... Having an older cosleeping toddler and a night-nursing newborn is a much bigger challenge!!!!! We're determined to succeed...and figure out a way to get some more sleep. It has gotten to the point that I actually fantasize about lying down and closing my eyes during the day... Dh, too (and that's scary because he works building houses..)

[Full Heart]

So the last few days my let down has gotten more and more painful. To the point last night where I could not sleep when I was nursing. I have had painful let down before when I had an over supply issue but I don't think thats the problem this time. When I had oversupply I leaked everywhere and at night I used prefolds as breast pads. This time I don't leak unless I am having let down. Which is another thing. I get let down out of no where. Walking down the stairs yesterday, at my parents house talking to my dad during a party (that was tricky). I am wondering if my oatmeal fetish is making my letdown painful? I eat a bowl every morning, I love the stuff. I don't think its thrush since I don't see anything in ds' mouth or on my nipple. I don't think is mastitis since I feel fine, no fever, no engorgement, no lumps. What else could it be?

Other than that I think I may have finally figured out the latch at night. I found if I smoosh my areola right above my nipple I can get it in his sleepy mouth pretty quickly. Hes also taking to longer feeds, he'll nurse for a long time after let down. Its nice, I enjoy snuggling with him that way.

Any advice ladies? Michelle

[nolajen]

Hi mamas!

My little one seems to want to eat ALL the time. But I guess it's working cause he was up to 9lbs 6oz on Monday's check up (six weeks - from 5lb 4oz at birth). For a while I was worried that he just wasn't getting enough or wasn't satisfied & that's why he eats so constantly.

Thanks for the side lying top boob trick! I'll try that tonight. I must say, nights are MUCH easier since we switched to the side lying method, though Cluadio usually loses his latch at some point and wakes me up squirming around. Beats trying to sit up and fighting off sleep though.

He's never thrown up, but milk squirts trough his nose sometimes which totally freaks me & dh out. Anyone have any experience with this? And is that what those nasal respirator thingies in the health care kits are for? TIA for any insight...

[mom2threenurslings]

Originally Posted by nolajen

He's never thrown up, but milk squirts trough his nose sometimes which totally freaks me & dh out. Anyone have any experience with this? And is that what those nasal respirator thingies in the health care kits are for? TIA for any insight...

This is more common than you would think. Does he do this while nursing, or after nursing? If it's while nursing, it could be that you have a strong letdown or that he can't cope well with the amount of milk flowing from your breasts at times. Some babies deal with this by letting some milk leak out of the side of their mouth - and some (for some unknown reason) push it out their nose. If it's afterwards, some babies just have that talent - a woman I once knew called it the "baby snarf" (have you ever started laughing while drinking something and had it spray out your nose?...same principle - when spit up reaches back of baby's throat, it somehow gets pushed up further and out their nose!).

Michelle...What kind of pain are you experiencing? Is it breast pain? Nipple pain? On the surface of the breast/nipple or IN the breast/nipple? If it's inside the breast, it could be thrush. Some moms get asymptomatic thrush and have the pain but no outward signs of having it (I know...I've BTDT!!!).

counterGOPI: I'm nursing my fourth child who is 3.5 weeks old and he still has latch issues at night (you'd think after 6.5+ years of nursing things would be a breeze! :LOL ). I think he's just too lazy to OPEN his mouth enough and just wants to suck (slurp - OUCH!) the nipple into his mouth. We're still working on it. That reminds me - I need to find a battery operated touch light to put next to the bed so I can actually move back into my bedroom - between helping Coren with his latch and ECing at night, I need light to see every once in a while! Currently we're sleeping in the spare room downstairs - just Coren and me (although I kinda like it that way ).

[curlyfry]

O.k...let's talk letdown...

I don't think I feel my letdown. Is this normal? When she first latches on, it's a bit painful, then the pain goes away. Is that the letdown? Never done this before, so I guess I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling. I"m never leaking and only feel engorged when I don't wear a bra. It's weird how much of a difference that makes. I'm wearing those tank tops to bed that have a built in shelf bra so that I don't get bricks on my chest!

I still hope she's getting enough. She's been a little fussy after feedings lately. I weighed her yesterday and she's 9.5 lbs. now. She was 7.5 lbs. at birth (3.5 wks ago) so I think that's a nice weight gain, right?