Anyone who has pumped and gone on to bf successfully? UPDATE pg2

[Mrs_T]

I'd love to hear any advise you have / uplifting comments lol!!!

So, the story... LO is 4 days old and is tongue tied. In the hospital we had a horrendous 5 hours of me trying to feed him and him getting increasingly hungry and frustrated cos he couldn't get enough out of me! So, we had to top up with some formula.

That day the lacation consultant came to see me and gave me some excellent advise, showed me how to hand express my colostrum, best position at the breast, compressions when feeding etc, which is all great, but... The main problem is baby boy still can't get anything much from me, certainly never enough to fill him up!

So I'm pumping around 4 times in 24 hours. For me this is realistic as I also have a toddler at home. If Joshua needs any more than that, we are using formula at the moment.

But, my biggest question is, what should I be doing about the feeding from the boob bit? Here's the background....
A) he gets soooo tired trying to feed from my boobs that he usually falls asleep
B) he doesn't actually seem to get anything (the consultant told me to look out for the difference between suckling and actual transfer of milk and I can tell by lack of swallowing that he's not actually get much)
C) due to the tongue tie, his latch is very restricted and my nipples are getting sore.I bought nipple shields, which make it better for me, but he doesn't seem to like them and finds them quite big for his little mouth so doesn't try very hard when feeding from me and I'm wearing them.

So should I continue to offer the breast? If so, with or without shields? How often? Or will I be able to successfully bf once the tongue tie is snipped without him having any 'practose:'?

Oh, and probably the most important bit of info I missed out...he is booked in to see the Dr about snipping on 2nd June, after which he should get the tongue tie snipped so that I can *hopefully* breastfeed successfully!

 

[leigh5tom]

Hi!
I can really relate to the struggles of having a tongue tied baby, my little boy was tongue tied too and my nipples were destroyed because he couldn't latch well enough. He couldn't get much from me either. What I done was I fed him first at the breast (I just struggled through the pain - whilst crying!!) then topped up with expressed milk and finally formula if he needed it. It's really important to pump as much as you possibly can to encourage your supply. My supply was low for a while because I didn't pump enough. I also have a toddler at home so understand it's not easy. But it's worth it in the long run. I carried on offering the breast at every feed and then topping up until he had his tongue snipped. The results are instant and I'm SO glad I stuck it out because we are now EBF. I took a week or so for my supply to catch up but it is doable. I would try to go without nipple shields if you can bear the pain. Plenty of lansinoh cream though! We used a syringe to give my lb expressed milk/formula to avoid any confusion, although he had his first bottle at 2 weeks and we've never had any confusion. Keep at it and food luck! xxxx

 

[leigh5tom]

Good*

 

[Mrs_T]

Thanks for your reply! It's really encouraging to hear you had success doing pretty much what I plan to! I think you're right about pumping as much as possible! I'm gonna aim for at least 4 times, and see any extra as a bonus! I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself as with my DD, I was a wreck by the time I managed to get her tongue tie snipped and we were really lucky to get her done when she was just 5 days old! But...difference was, although my nipples were destroyed by her, she was able to successfully feed without needing to top up.

How old was your LO when snipped leigh5tom?

 

[Desi's_lost]

My DD was so impatient when she was born, I ended up pumping and feeding her the expressed milk for a few feeds until she settled down. Then at around 6 weeks she had such bad reflux that she could hardly keep anything down and couldn't be laid down to sleep so I switched to exclusively pumping so I could thicken the milk.
I would up your pumping routine to 6x a day personally as I didn't know how to pump correctly (often enough) and my supply nose dived and it was very stressful. But it's totally possible to go from exclusively pumping to the breast again. At about six months, DD's reflux really subsided and she was able to go back to breast and continued to nurse until she was nearly 3.

Good luck!

 

[leigh5tom]

He was only 5 days too! The longest 5 days of my life though. I was pumping and topping up until he was about 3 1/2 weeks old though because he just wouldn't gain weight. I had to start taking domperidone for low supply, because I just didn't pump enough really and he couldn't drain my breasts well enough for the first 5 days. He finally got back to his birth weight at 3 weeks xxx

 

[Mrs_T]

My DD was so impatient when she was born, I ended up pumping and feeding her the expressed milk for a few feeds until she settled down. Then at around 6 weeks she had such bad reflux that she could hardly keep anything down and couldn't be laid down to sleep so I switched to exclusively pumping so I could thicken the milk.
I would up your pumping routine to 6x a day personally as I didn't know how to pump correctly (often enough) and my supply nose dived and it was very stressful. But it's totally possible to go from exclusively pumping to the breast again. At about six months, DD's reflux really subsided and she was able to go back to breast and continued to nurse until she was nearly 3.

Good luck!

Thanks for this! That's very good to hear your lo went back to the breast at 6 months, there's me worrying that at 4 weeks he won't want to!

I'm about to do my 3rd pump of the day and reckon I should fit at least 2 more in between now and the morning! I don't have my toddler here though, Nanny and Grandad have taken her off our hands!

I'm gonna try putting him to the breast at least 4 times in 24 hours I think, possibly without the shields, but coa I know I've got weeks of this I'm wary of damage! With my dd I was in aaony but at least it was only for maybe 10 days in total!

 

[noon_child]

That seems a long time to wait to get it snipped. Annoying

I used a syringe to feed my LO when she wouldn't latch but also switched to a bottle at around two weeks with no issues. I used to pump every feed where she wouldn't latch and was told to feed her every two hours so that is 12 pumps if she never latched! So on that basis I think you need to up the pumping a bit (although if you are doing both breasts at each session that's equivalent of 8 of mine as when she was first born I only ever pumped one breast and moved to both when she was about three weeks old and started taking both breasts when she would latch).

I'd say as far as possible try to do the breastfeeds (pain and latch position permitting) at night as your hormones and milk supply are best between approx 1am and 5am. If you can't latch for risk of destroying your nipples, do you have an OH who could do the night time expressed milk/formula feeds while you pump every 2 - 3 hrs?

 

[Mrs_T]

I Know! It's a hell of a long time! Tomorrow we're gonna phone around to see how much it'd be to get it done privately and also have a contact for someone about an hour away who might be able to see us sooner. Fingers crossed.

I'm up with Josh now and breastfeeding him for the second time over night. Not bothered with the shields as my nipples seem a bit better. He finds It so hard to latch though! But hopefully worth it for my supply.

I do pump from both breasts each time, so does that count as 8 pumps then?
I did also read about power pumping and thought if needed once he's snipped, I could do this to uP my supply.

 

[noon_child]

I do pump from both breasts each time, so does that count as 8 pumps then?
.

It would count as 8 of MY early pumping sessions but I don't think the number matters, you just need to pump as often as LO is bottle feeding. I found pumping one breast while she fed from the other worked for me in the early days (when she only took one boob every 2ish hours) as I was trapped feeding anyway I may as well get the pumping done too!!

 

[misspriss]

I pumped for 2.5 weeks while DS was in the NICU, then we had to feed with nipple shields for 9 weeks because my nipple was too big for his mouth. He needed the shields, not me!

I pumped every 3 hours, 'round the clock (even at night) to keep supply up, I was unwilling to supplement with formula. Luckily DS would nurse with the nipple shields. They come in different sizes and brands, perhaps you need a different one?

As for falling asleep while eating, we had that problem too - esp since he was a preemie. We had to undress him, change his diaper, feed him skin-to-skin, etc. We would even rub a wipe or a wet washcloth on his feet or back to keep him awake. It was a struggle.

 

[noon_child]

Luckily DS would nurse with the nipple shields. They come in different sizes and brands, perhaps you need a different one?

My LO struggled to open wide enough for my nipple so when I added the shield on top I couldn't see how she'd ever get it in her mouth! I realise now I probably had the wrong size, but there was absolutely no choice in all the shops I tried, so I gave up on them and went back to *toes curl remembering* trying to latch without them.

 

[misspriss]

Hm, my LO couldn't open his mouth wide enough to latch onto my nipple, but had no problem with the shields! The shields would kind of slide in and open his mouth.

Here is a pic: His first every time breastfeeding.

Spoiler

Check out that areola as big as his face, you should see the original with the boob bigger than his body! Beware: Shows a lot of breast.

Spoiler

 

[Mrs_T]

UPDATE...

He is getting his tongue tie snipped TOMORROW

Called the contact in Eastbourne (1 hr 45mins from here) and she cm see us right away! Makes me cross how it can be so different depending on where you live but ultimately it doesn't matter cos it's getting sorted! Cannot wait to breastfeed properly!!!

 

[harley81]

Yay! That's great news

I had to pump for the first 5.5 weeks as baby's tongue tie was so severe he couldn't latch at all. Once it was snipped I worried about nipple confusion but he latched first time I tried and we've breastfed ever since x

 

[leigh5tom]

You'll notice the difference straight away, it's amazing! I remember people telling me it is an immediate improvement but I didn't believe it until my little one latched on seconds after having it done good luck! Xx

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Hm, my LO couldn't open his mouth wide enough to latch onto my nipple, but had no problem with the shields! The shields would kind of slide in and open his mouth.

Here is a pic: His first every time breastfeeding.

Spoiler

Check out that areola as big as his face, you should see the original with the boob bigger than his body! Beware: Shows a lot of breast.

Spoiler

Beautiful!!

 

[leigh5tom]

How's it going?? Xxx

 

[Wants_A_Bump]

I'm really interested in this thread. Baby is only 10 days old, started having problems from day 1 - I thought because of my flat nipples / engorgement but we have since found out baby also has a 25% tongue tie.....which has been exacerbating the issue. We now have a referral to get it snipped.

However, baby just can't latch at all, well not for more than 5 minutes and when he is latched he can't draw down milk effectively.

So I have been expressing every 2 hours to keep up supply (tying in with his feeds) and feeding him using a medela calma teet.....it has been v stressful and heart breaking as I really wanted to breast feed. My worry now is that after he gets the tie snipped he won't take to the breast!

Just trying to stay positive that at least he is getting my breast milk and is thriving on it!

 

[misspriss]

When I went back to work, LO got nipple confusion (right after weaning off the shields...) and we switched to the calma and had no problems after. It's a bit pricey, but it was worth it for us.