Breastfeeding Difficulties... Anyone Else? - Page 3

[eilonwy]

My older kids played that game from birth, but I don't think that Bella can see very well (a whole different issue). I've tried sticking my tongue out at her, though (I do this whenever I play with babies-- a habit, I suppose ); she doesn't seem to notice and prefers when I talk or sing.

I'll take her to LLL next week and see if I can get some help... crappy latches totally blow!

[Citykid]

Jenny G, I'm in the low supply club - although I would be so grateful to be able to pump enough to make up half of Akiva's food. I may have gotten bad advice in the beginning. He wouldn't latch at first and got pretty jaundiced and I had to give him formula to keep him out of the NICU. Now he latches great but it's been over 2 weeks and I still can only pump about a teaspoonful. I'm seeing a lactation consultant who put me on mother's milk drops and fenugreek and I'm either pumping or nursing once an hour (I was actually getting more milk in the pump before I started all this, btw). But even the LC is starting to sound less than confident that I'll be able to do this.

I nurse him and then fill him up with formula from a cup. So I can't really leave the house because there's no portable way to feed him. So that's one reason why I haven't been to LLL, but the real reason is I'm afraid they'll yell at me for giving him formula.

Jenny G, I haven't heard of all the medications you're on but I'd be willing to try anything. I'm totally stressed out and distraught over this and I know that isn't helping my milk come down! Any advice from anyone would be welcome.

[adtake]

Originally Posted by Citykid

So that's one reason why I haven't been to LLL, but the real reason is I'm afraid they'll yell at me for giving him formula.

Oh Citykid!! if they yell at you you call and tell me!! The most important thing is babys health. It does sound like you got some bad advise at the first, but do not give up! You can nurse him exculsively!! Go to your LLL meeting and get some support! There are many many moms who have supply issues due to bad doctoring/hosital info. The moms there will have some great ideas!

Hang in there and keep asking for help and information! We are here for you and quite a few have nursed lots of combined babies!

[eilonwy]

CityKid-- Oatmeal really helps. The other thing is staying relaxed; I know it's difficult, but when you tense up you pump less. I've had sucess with Rescue Remedy in the past, just to help me calm down. A beer can help, too; beer is not only good for your supply (seriously!) but it can help you to relax, which aids your letdown reflex. Leave the baby on your breast for as long as you can manage; this is easier if you can nurse with a sling.

What kind of pump are you using?

I actually broke my Harmony yesterday; I'm really using it a lot more than handpumps are meant to be used. I know that I can get another one from WIC, but it's still functional so I'm still using it. It's very comfortable.

As to pump washing-- you really only need to wash a pump once a day. Breastmilk is not only fabulously healthy, but it has antibacterial properties. As long as nothing but milk is touching the parts of the pump that touch milk, and you cover the horn (the part that holds your boob) when you're not using it, it'll be fine. I wash mine at least once a day, but only more often than that if BooBah touches the pump, because she'll stick her fingers in there. I cover the horn with aluminum foil, though, and it's fine.

[kyle98sean02]

to all with bf issues. Reece literally nurses all day long. My poor nipples are so sore. it doesnt help that he erupts at least half of it back up all the time. He seems so miserable most of the time.

[boingo82]

Originally Posted by kyle98sean02

:..it doesnt help that he erupts at least half of it back up all the time. He seems so miserable most of the time.

Isn't that frustrating? It's like, darnit, I just spent 3 hours making that and 30 minutes feeding it to you!

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by kyle98sean02

to all with bf issues. Reece literally nurses all day long. My poor nipples are so sore. it doesnt help that he erupts at least half of it back up all the time. He seems so miserable most of the time.

: That's Bella, too. On the up side, they grow really quickly when they keep nursing like that. It's depressing to know why (they learn quickly that actively nursing holds the pain at bay), but Bella is my biggest 2 month old, despite being my smallest baby at birth.

[kyle98sean02]

I know it makes me sad hes hurting. Hes a whopping 10 lbs 6 oz. We saw the ped. today and they dont want to ido anything for him because he is not failure to thrive. Rhen she tells me he should be eating less often to only feed him every 2-3 hours that he is comfort nursing. ummm OK, lets make him a failure to thrive baby and take away his comforting activity . Time to find a new dr.

[jenny-g]

Originally Posted by Citykid

Jenny G, I'm in the low supply club - although I would be so grateful to be able to pump enough to make up half of Akiva's food. I may have gotten bad advice in the beginning. He wouldn't latch at first and got pretty jaundiced and I had to give him formula to keep him out of the NICU. Now he latches great but it's been over 2 weeks and I still can only pump about a teaspoonful. I'm seeing a lactation consultant who put me on mother's milk drops and fenugreek and I'm either pumping or nursing once an hour (I was actually getting more milk in the pump before I started all this, btw). But even the LC is starting to sound less than confident that I'll be able to do this.

I nurse him and then fill him up with formula from a cup. So I can't really leave the house because there's no portable way to feed him. So that's one reason why I haven't been to LLL, but the real reason is I'm afraid they'll yell at me for giving him formula.

Jenny G, I haven't heard of all the medications you're on but I'd be willing to try anything. I'm totally stressed out and distraught over this and I know that isn't helping my milk come down! Any advice from anyone would be welcome.

There is a LOT of info on the "low supply tribe" thread in the breastfeeding forum: I suggest reading the entire thing.

You MUST get your thyroid and your prolactin tested. I'm on both synthroid (a higher dose than earlier) and domperidone to try to increase prolactin. I'm also taking my metformin, which I should probably have taken throughout pregancy. The advice from the midwives, to REDUCE both the thyroid and metformin medications, was DEAD WRONG. The thryoid issue could have made me and the baby ill, in particular. Even if your "TSH" is still in the normal range. (I have both mild hypothyroidism and PCOS). When they test thyroid, ask them to test total T4, free T3, free T4, and TSH. Also, you can aim to be in the middle of the "normal" ranges. I tested "normal" which I then found out was the BOTTOM of the ranges, and increasing my meds anyway decreased my symptoms (I had hypothyroid symptoms other than lactation problems).

Oatmeal, tea, etc, .. none of that is going to help a seriously bad supply problem, I think. If your prolactin isn't working, you won't lactate. So see a real doctor and get that all checked out, first thing!!

Also, I assume you're using a double electric pump? If not, it's time to get one.

Don't feel bad- ALL YOU CAN DO is what you are doing. I was a freaking wreck about this initially, a total crying basket case. It's much better now, even though we still have to give her 1/2 formula. My milk supply has increased a bit, but also, she's eating more!!

One nurse said something to me that made me feel a lot better. "At least you're lucky enough to have formula". And you know what? She's right. If this were before formula days, it would be dextrose water. So at least they can get a suppliment that is WAY BETTER than what they used to get!

p.s. I'm handsfree pumping RIGHT NOW

[eilonwy]

nak

Originally Posted by kyle98sean02

I know it makes me sad hes hurting. Hes a whopping 10 lbs 6 oz. We saw the ped. today and they dont want to ido anything for him because he is not failure to thrive. Rhen she tells me he should be eating less often to only feed him every 2-3 hours that he is comfort nursing. ummm OK, lets make him a failure to thrive baby and take away his comforting activity . Time to find a new dr.

: ask for a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist; your doc is totally *wrong* to think that the only problems reflux can cause in an infant involve FTT. when boobah had her pnuemogram done, the woman who set the test up said that she rarely sees the sick, ftt babies, especially among breastfeeders. the ones with the worst reflux are more likely to be the gigantic, 22 pound 4 month olds, even if they only weighed 6 pounds at birth. they still need help; all that acid can damage their little throats and set the stage for major feeding issues down the line. my nine year old niece had severe reflux as an infant (and was, in fact, ftt for a while) and to this day is picky about her food. she is very, very skinny (about the length of a ten, the waist of a 4 slim), and when she's ill or the slightest bit upset, she stops eating entirely. she's actually spent her entire life either anorexic or on the border, because she learned to associate eating with pain very early on. it's horribly depressing to look at her sometimes.

anyway; it's more common for a breastfed baby to be among the moose because even in the ten minutes it takes for them to toss it back, some of the milk is digested. bella is up to at least ten pounds now; it may not seem that big, but she was just 5lbs 10oz when she came home 8 weeks ago. she is, like I said, my biggest 2 month old despite being my smallest baby at birth; my kids generally take the scenic route when it comes to growth. right now, she's puking all over my shirt; as soon as that calms down, she'll try to nurse again. I don't feel at all badly about asking the doctor for zantac; if it means we have to do the pneumogram, we have to do it. hopefully he'll either just prescribe it or make her an appointment to see the p.g. so that *he* can prescribe it, because with two older children I really don't have the energy for a pneumogram. i'm debating about not discussing her puketastic apnea with him.... if i mention that, we'll almost definately have to do the test. I dunno yet, we'll see.

[KKmama]

I just wanted to mention that everything Rynna says about reflux is spot on. Things can get much worse and more complicated to fix. If your ped is being clueless, then YES, find someone else who takes it seriously and can offer some real help. There's a thread on infant reflux right now in Life with a Babe, FWIW...

[aweynsayl]

i dont dare try to read all this-- brady gets fussy if i am online too much-- irony of ironies-- but i thoght i'd shoot out a couple things that helped me---

i'm alergic to echinecha, which means i'm alergic to mother's milk tea. great.

1. AVOCADO. B's ped prescribed me one a day, and since then, knock on wood, we've been great.

2. cranial sacral therapy-- i've heard it can help with reflux. B didnt have that, but he did pitch fits on the boob-- cry like mad, and pop on and off-- which can also be a sign of alergies, acording to our ped-- but the cs helped with that.

3. gripe water. when he's not nursing well, i dropper one or two drops on my boob, and he sucks like mad.

4. schnuggeling while nursing. if i try to do too much while hes nursing, he gets fussy-- but if i stroke him and talk to him, he's great.

HUGE HUGS TO ALL!!!!!

[Citykid]

How on earth did the human race survive if breastfeeding is this hard??

[Wittyone]

Originally Posted by Citykid

How on earth did the human race survive if breastfeeding is this hard??

No kidding!! But in reality there are a lot of subtle things that can create stumbling blocks in bf. In traditional cultures where girls grow up seeing other women bf a lot of the hand skills and positioning tricks become second nature...they are very prepared to nurse a baby in a physically skilled way that most of us are not. Also, the are many, many ways that we mess with labor and birth that impact bf...difficult births, very long or very short labors, inductions, meds, c/s, assisted deliveries, early separation (even just breaking that skin to skin contact bet'n mom and babe for a few minutes before the first feed), bright lights, loud noises, not allowing/encouraging mom and babe to just take each other in and learn from each other, suctioning babe, etc, etc, etc.

Please know that I am NOT trying to blame anyone here for their difficulties (I've had plenty of my own and my birth was in a birth center that is very aware of practices to support optimal bf), but to make the comment that when we mess with birth we mess with bf too. There's a book that goes into great detail about this subject called "The Impact of Birth Practices on Breastfeeding."

Now, having said all that I realize that a lot of times interventions are necessary for the safety of mom or babe, and bf is also a learned skill so we can overcome most of the bumps in the road Thank goodness!

[ZenMamaJen]

Originally Posted by Wittyone

No kidding!! But in reality there are a lot of subtle things that can create stumbling blocks in bf. In traditional cultures where girls grow up seeing other women bf a lot of the hand skills and positioning tricks become second nature...they are very prepared to nurse a baby in a physically skilled way that most of us are not. Also, the are many, many ways that we mess with labor and birth that impact bf...difficult births, very long or very short labors, inductions, meds, c/s, assisted deliveries, early separation (even just breaking that skin to skin contact bet'n mom and babe for a few minutes before the first feed), bright lights, loud noises, not allowing/encouraging mom and babe to just take each other in and learn from each other, suctioning babe, etc, etc, etc.

Please know that I am NOT trying to blame anyone here for their difficulties (I've had plenty of my own and my birth was in a birth center that is very aware of practices to support optimal bf), but to make the comment that when we mess with birth we mess with bf too. There's a book that goes into great detail about this subject called "The Impact of Birth Practices on Breastfeeding."

Now, having said all that I realize that a lot of times interventions are necessary for the safety of mom or babe, and bf is also a learned skill so we can overcome most of the bumps in the road Thank goodness!

:

I've been thinking about this recently. I think I'd be doing much better if my LC could have come and lived with me for 3 days or so and help me get dd (when she was born) and ds latched on every time. I'd probably have it by now! But as it is, most of us are doing this by ourselves, with no day to day help, kwim? And no one in my family breastfed. I have friends who did, but they struggled in the beginning, too. Oh well.

[eilonwy]

BeanBean and I got off to a rocky start nursing; his birth was very, very difficult. BooBah was born by emergency c-section, but she was the "latest" of my babies (39w1d) and the surgery was easy, fast, and uneventful; nursing her was a breeze. Bella's birth was between BooBah's and BeanBeans as far as difficulty and recovery, but nursing her has been so difficult. I think that it may have to do with her being a bit earlier than the other two, as well as the tongue tie; she just seemed so undercooked.

Which makes me wonder if it doesn't have a lot to do with gestational age. Bella wasn't that early, but 50 years ago she may have been thought of as premature. I don't know; what I do know is that my "oldest" baby was by far the easiest to nurse.