About to give up!! :(

[Angelica]

Wow mummyjogger quick response, guessing ur up feeding too?

Um no i couldnt really say that, they'd prob never come round again! Lol
They are coming round to see baby

So re: 2.45am feed, changed dd nappy, b/f for 40 mins@ which point she pushed herself off calmy & went sleep... Tried winding, no wind so put her down.
5 min later, crying so gave her 2oz of expressd milk
Drank it, went sleep, put her down... Few min later, crying!!
I hav given her a dummy now in the hope it'll help her sleep....

Dh snoring prob isnt helping matters!!!! :$

 

[optimistic1]

Sounds like a growth spurt? My daughter feeds constantly off and on during growth spurts and even continues to suck away when it seems my boobs are empty. They do this to build up our milk supply to support there growing bodies.

If you get her to fall asleep try holding her for awhile you might be laying her down while she's in her light sleep cycle (REM) when her eyes are shaking, her lips are twitching, she's making noises, and moving her hands and feet she's in a light sleep and that could be why she wakes up when you move her.

Also if your going to supplement you should pump even if nothing comes out to keep your supply going cause that's what babies do when they eat there telling your body that you need to produce this amount of milk.

Dont worry about not being able to pump anything a lot of woman can't and it has nothing to do with supply (as long as lo is making plenty of wet diapers everything is fine) my only advice is to let your lo nurse. You can get a sling for day time feeding so you can still move around and take care of your oldest while bfing your youngest. As for sleep around that time I slept when she slept cause I'm a sahm I didn't have anything better to do and definitely needed the sleep more than I needed to clean, shower, or even visit with family.

As for bfing in front of people I use a nursing cover but if people aren't comfortable with it they can look away or leave the room because my daughters need to eat is more important than there ill feelings about my breast exposure! Good luck things will be better before you know it

 

[Lauki]

Everything you described is 100% normal. In the early weeks my daughter would clusterfeed 7hours (!!!!) each night. She would also feed for 45 minutes-an hour in the day and then be hungry again half an hour later.

Topping up with formula is a slippery slope, she is nursing so often to work up your supply. It is blooming hard work and some babies nurse much more than others, but it really is best to just stick with it. It will decrease and she will get more efficient as she gets bigger. Please don't think you don't make enough milk, it works on supply and demand, you will always make enough if you just feed on demand. If she is gaining, has plenty wet nappies then you're good!

I could pump maybe 0.5oz in 45 minutes if I was lucky and here I am still nursing my 2 year old daughter and my baby!

 

[Angelica]

Omg!!!!! I Am in so much pain!!!
Nipples are killing & wen dd sucks its like someone is stabbing me with a knife!!!

Help

 

[Lauki]

Mmm. Could it be thrush? Are there any white spots in your babies mouth or on you? Worth a trip to the GP!

 

[optimistic1]

Mine feel that way when my daughter feeds for super long periods. When I pull my boob away my nipple is hot too. It wouldn't hurt to be checked for thrush but that wasn't the case with me it was just from her sucking and sucking and sucking!!!! If she'll let you set her down and take a short break let her nipples breath maybe put a cold wet cloth on them.

 

[Angelica]

Yes mine feel hot too!!
I dont have white spots anywhere where should i check dd for them?

 

[optimistic1]

Check inside of her mouth roof, tongue, and cheeks for white spots. If you don't see anything you could still be checked in your free time cause sometimes babies don't show obvious symptoms and if she ends up with it in her mouth it can get pretty painful for her to eat.

 

[Angelica]

Nothing in her mouth.....

 

[Angelica]

How do u eat, drink etc wen lo wants to b on breast 24/7??
I made lunch for myself & dd whilst lo was screaming her head off!!
Luckily i expressed abt 3oz earlier so am
Giving her that now to calm her down but wat if i didnt have that?? I tried putting her on breast again but she was pushing herself off!!

Really struggling & think im being unfair to dd as all im doing is either feeding lo or trying to pump

 

[MommyJogger]

If she's pushing herself off, it might be wise to consider that perhaps she's not hungry and is crying for some other reason. Does LLL have peer supporters in your area? It would be worth it to give them a call. They can talk you through some of your problems and if there's a peer group in your area, they can send over or set up a meeting with a breastfeeding mentor to check your latch again. If her latch is good and she's having a good # of wet diapers, I would drop the pumping. It takes a lot of time, is unnecessary, and a lot of the time it can just exacerbate any nipple pain you've got.
Is she crying when you hold her and walk around with her or just when you put her down? I still recommend a carrier for getting stuff done (see my post on the bottom of page 1). You can do pretty much everything you need to with lo snuggled into your chest taking a nap and stay hands-free for eating/drinking/playing with dd#1.

 

[Angelica]

She is hungry as shes sucking her hands & went for the bottle & then fell asleep!
She then woke up 45 mins later crying!!

Shes now on the breast, sucking & falling asleep...??

 

[MommyJogger]

She is hungry as shes sucking her hands & went for the bottle & then fell asleep!
She then woke up 45 mins later crying!!

Shes now on the breast, sucking & falling asleep...??

As has been said before, sucking hands doesn't necessarily mean hunger. A baby that age will pretty much suck on anything and some babies just have an extraordinary urge to suck. The problem with offering a bottle is that milk just flows out. They don't get to just suckle for the pleasure of suckling with a bottle, so it looks like they were hungry even if they weren't actually interested in the milk. Does she cry when you're walking around holding her or is it just that she cries and sucks on her hands when you put her down? How is she sleeping throughout the day? I know my son always had the urge to suckle when he was tired and if he didn't make it through a nap cycle, he would wake up upset if there wasn't still a nipple in his face. Having baby in a carrier could help with that, too. The rocking motion of you walking around and the restrictiveness of being in the carrier may soothe her through the sleep cycle or help her fall back asleep more easily.

 

[Angelica]

She was still crying wen i was carrying her but then i realised she had a dirty nappy!
Changed that then she was still crying so put her on breast for a bit & then she showed signs of tiredness... So i gently rocked her to
Sleep... So perhaps ur right about the hand sucking...

 

[Pielette]

It took me a while to figure my bub out in terms of tiredness and hunger and for the first couple of weeks I always thought he was hungry, actually not always, sometimes he was tired. He shows very similar cues for both but I can now tell the difference and when he's tired I pop him in his swaddle and cover his eyes (he can't handle the visual stimulation when he needs to go to sleep). I thought he was really fussy but it turns out I just wasn't reading him right.

If you listen to her cries you may be able to notice a difference. When my LO is tired he flails his legs and arms about. When he's hungry his mouth goes searching frantically. The sound is also a bit different, I can't quite explain it.

I second the suggestion of a wrap/carrier. If I really can't calm my baby down using the moby is my sure fire way of sorting him out. And then I have my hands free to look after my toddler It should send her to sleep all cosy against your chest and give you a little break too.

Have you tried swaddling? It is guaranteed to settle my LO when he's tired too.

Give yourself a break. Your LO is still really new and you're still figuring each other out. It's only been in the last week or so that I know him better and what he needs at various times. You're doing well, stick with it and I promise it will get easier!

 

[Angelica]

My nipples/breasts still really hurt so i gave dd formula just now!!
I have smothered myself with lansinoh cream now, hope that helps

 

[Angelica]

Ok so my nursing cover arrived today- love it! Thanks for the tip ladies
Nipples feel slightly better so have nursed lo today

However im finding that shes only settling for nap if she either has formula or expressed milk, so im still trying to express wenever i can.

Im going to a wedding on sun so will b out from home from 10am-10pm how will this work with b/f pumping etc??

 

[Angelica]

Bump
Anyone?

 

[TheNewMrs]

Angelica is your baby coming with you?

The baby will sleep well after excess amounts of milk the same way you will feel like you need to lay down after youve eaten too much. Its not a nice, contented feeling, its an "Oh my Goodness I am going to explode" feeling. When the bottle is in the babys mouth the cannot control the amount the take from the bottle unlike the breast, where they can decide very easily when they are done. So they keep on swallowing, overfeed, and then their wee bodies are exhausted from trying to digest too much milk.

I hope that explains why your baby is sleeping "better" after a bottle feed. A baby as young as your LO isn't designed to sleep for lengthy periods of time, they need to wake frequently to feed frequently to keep and increase your milk supply as needed.

Have an LC check out the Latch. You should not be having any pain. Pain is not a "normal" part of breastfeeding and indicates something isn't quite right.

Hope that helps.

 

[Angelica]

Yes lo is coming with me to the wedding.

Who can i contact to check latch? I have the number of breastfeeding support worker that visited before i was discharged from midwives, surely i can call her?

Also i hear wat ur saying about sleeping beter after ff bcoz of 'full' feeling but unless i do that she cries the min shes off the breast.. I mean i cant wven go toilet without her crying... Surely thats not right no matter how frequently she should feed??