Sometimes people don't get it! It's going so badly. - Page 3

[MarcyC]

Not only have a BTDT...I'm currently in the midst of it. I did it 2 years ago and now I'm doing it all over again...my son was born August 10th.

A few things that my help...drop the bottles and get an SNS. You may have to fiddle with it a few days and you'll end up with bleeding and scabs from the *gentle* (yeah, right!) paper tape, but it will eliminate the bottle step. You can nurse and supplement at the same time. I have the full size SNS which comes with different sized tubing and you can choose the tubing size you need based on what difficulties you are having. Some people prefer the lact-aid (I sold mine on ebay)...I'm an SNS person.

Get a good nursing pillow. I have the brest-friend. I can lay him on there and not have to fiddle with him too much.

Get a good footstool. Nursing stools can be expensive - I just use a rubbermaid step stool thing.

Get a mini-electric pump that doesn't have tubing (all in one). Get a single one. I have an Evenflo. I had heard bad things about "cheap" pumps and everyone says to get the top of the line most expensive but this was given to me for free. I was convinced it wouldn't work, but I can usually pump 1/2 oz. in 20 min. (a lot for me). I pump more with this little evenflo single electric than with my Medela PIS. Oh, make sure the pump can run on batteries so you're not tied to an electrical cord.

The set up this morning (and every feeding) is this:

Baby wakes and fusses - ends up crying by the time I have the SNS and have the tubing taped on - this doesn't take long because I've gotten so good at it and I don't worry about crying because then I know he's good and awake...All in all this takes less than 3 min.

Put baby on nursing pillow, get him latched on, have mini-single-electric pump nearby. Once I know he's nursing well, I pump the other side opposite his nursing. I usually get about 1/2 ounce per feeding while he takes about 1-2 oz. from the SNS.

It may take a few days to get all this down, but once you do, it's a life-saver and a time saver!

Be sure to drink lots of water, rest whenever you can (easier said than done around here), eat oats/oatmeal, eat lots of leafy leafy dark greens and take fenugreek.

[Electra375]

Just hugs b/c I do know it is hard to find time to pump and feed and meet the demands of being a mom to more than just the baby.
Funny, no one would blame me for quitting. There are days I want to, but I keep pumping and feeding him and nursing him some. My diet is severely restricted and yet I manage to still keep my extra 70 pounds, every one of them! I eat sugar, sugar is not off limits, but bread is, wheat, barley, rye, oats and dairy. And maybe corn, I don't eat enough to know for sure.

It is hard. It isn't always pop baby on breast and go, some have it easy, some have it hard. A breech birth does not help, the little one might have trauma to his head and neck making latching difficult.

Have you tried Cranio Facial Massage for the wee one? Chiropractic care? It might help. It certainly can't hurt when done be a certified person.

You are doing the best you can and when you look back you must remember you are doing the best you can with the information you have. I have a lot of regrets surrounding my first child's birth and bfing failed attempts. A wise mama told me I did the best I could with the inforamtion I had at the time - very true, 100% true. It does not make it necessarily easier, but it is a "comforting" thought.

And right now, I would on some days think I'd love to be able to quit. But I know I would have regrets, bm is too important to my baby. I also can't b/c he won't take the hypoallergenic formula, it's nasty smelling and tasting. I can't make him drink that!!! So it's hypoallergenic bm from mom w the unflavored Elecare for calorie upping, little guy is gaining weight now -- upping up and down...

Take it one hour at a time, one feeding, one pumping at a time, and before you know it you will have made it. My goal was month to month, he's 7 mo old. Each month is a milestone.

[turtlewomyn]

Can we get an update? How are things going? Have they gotten better? Have you found a solution that works for you?

I hope you are doing well.

[sanguine_speed]

mystery solved

Originally Posted by turtlewomyn

Can we get an update? How are things going? Have they gotten better? Have you found a solution that works for you?

I hope you are doing well.

Oh geez, where to start : .

Point form will have to do; I'm at the children's hospital.

-started figuring out that he wasn't hungry all the time while crying.
-discerned pain cry...didn't feed him when he wouldn't eat anymore.
-he started eating! Breastfeeding going reasonably well.
-lots of spit-up, arching, coughing, vomiting after feeds...tons of crying in pain.
-went to doctors early this week, diagnosed probable reflux, rx renitadine.
-all symptoms progressively worse in past weeks.
-yeseterday: vomiting 5x/hour, not eating, no pees, lethargic...to hospital...started vomiting some blood, then more then more then OMG more...send to children's hospital.
-xray showed very enlarged stomach...nothing passing through...all stomach fluids etc must come up...blood from irritation due to all of this.
-baby has "pyloric stenosis" and needs surgery tomorrow to correct it.

So, feeding issues. Tried all kinds of things...and this is probably to blame for much of it. The stomach is completely blocked now, but was getting there in the past weeks...causing a lot of the breastfeeding problems so many (midwife, LC, doctors, doula) attributed to a "tired preemie", "reflux", etc...and they really couldn't have known...but it was probably very much to do with this.

Wow...apparently this is 4x more common among firstborn males than any other of a family's children. And his kids have a 20% chance of having it.

I'm : .

Terrified of the general anasthesia for my 9lb baby. I can't even tell you.

[chlobo]

Thank goodness they found the problem.

Sorry it is so stressful for you. Big hugs and I hope the surgery goes well.

[Electra375]

I was reading through and just tears, going, yeah we just went through SOME of those sympotms - crying, arching, vomiting/ spitup, weight loss (FTT), not really hungry, stopped nursing as much, milk supply went way down, stay in children's hospital, followed by GI procedures/ tests under GA - he was at the time 13lbs.

I looked at the GA this way - 1)We are faithful Christians and I put my faith in God to see our LO through and 2)We were at Children's, a place that doctors do GA on infants and children daily, the chance of a stupid doc forgetting this is a child and giving adult doses was very slim.

If you have already been pumping, you are a thousand steps ahead of where I was on prodedure day. I started a pumping routine only the day before when a smart female GI realized I was not going to give him Formula as a first option (as well as the fact my LO was not going to take it b/c it tasted so bad and dairy formula was out due to his vomitting it up for them). She suggested that I pump and add the powder to my bm to add calories to get his weight back up. I did this, it had to be elemental formula (Elecare or Neocate) because of the food protein intolerances.

I eat a Gluten Free and Dairy Free diet and fortify EBM w Elemental formula. I would suggest doing the same for your LO until he has recovered. I know hospital food just isn't enough for a nursing mom either. I managed to so under eat, I got a migrane and was throwing up in the bathroom myself! The PEDI GI (nice lady) was just : in a light hearted manner said "mom you are not supposed to get sick". She dosed me up with Pedialyte solution and some meds - I was better by night fall. I also went and got more food and the hospital must have gotten instruction by the doc to give me more and make it GF and DF - that was the biggest issue, sending a container of milk, bread, butter, etc none of which I could eat.

HUGS, BIG HUGS... I was very depressed after leaving the PICU, so many children are so very sick and mine truly was the least sick (some around me don't think that). Thankfully, he is doing very well and is back up on the growth chart at the 10%. He loves solids which is probably from the reflux, less comes back up. BM he only takes 3oz still at almost 8 mo old and I think it is from the fact the liquid sloshes around and comes back up.

As for reflux, watch the meds. Do some reading. They cover the problem, not fix it. (given the surgery, follow docs orders first and formost at the start of the recovery period) I knew this but I gave my LO the meds anyway. Then a few days into the meds, he was not hungry, side effect of the meds. Well, a FTT baby can't not eat, he must eat. So, the long story short is I have been giving him supplements of Lactic Acid Yeast and Enzymes under the guidance of a nutrition chiropractor (who does not usually see infants) and within 36 hours I weaned my LO off the reflux meds -- he was also eating solids at this point. No problems since, so long as I take the supplements as dose he.

It is definitely not an easy road to be on. I have 4 children and truthfully the other 3 are not getting the attention they NEED. My dh also states he is not getting time from me and he is grumpy about it. I'm being pulled in every direction. My mother wonders when my breaking point it. I told her is was when I was lost in Baltimore with a Migraine with LO in the hospital w/o me there and my cell phone died (I didn't have anything with us, it was just wham in the hospital he goes and we live 2 1/2 hours away). And a mini melt down day before yesterday, I hit my arm and it hurt, but I just started to whale - my stupid new washing machine, our clothes, my lack of supply, out of Dom, it all just piles up and whammo, I cry.

[mama-a-llama]

I'm glad they found the problem, but sorry it means surgery for your babe. I've been there: my ds's feeding problems turned out to be due to a heart defect.

As Electra said re: GA, heck the whole surgery, I took a lot of comfort in the fact we were at a top Children's hospital where they are quite practiced at doing surgery on small babies with good outcomes.

Keep us updated when you can.

[meisterfrau]

How incredibly terrifying.

I will be thinking of your poor baby. I hope the surgery goes well. Please update when you can. I just went to Wikipedia to read about his condition, and see that it's very hopeful that there will be no long-term effects on his health...thank goodness for that at least.