Cautiously Pregnant After A Loss. PMA, But Not Taking It For Granted.

[ginny83]

I'm going to be taking in all the bfing advice you ladies give out. It's something I really want to to do. I did notice a sign at the maternity unit yesterday that said they give 24 hour bfing support which is good to know. I've also told DH that we won't be buying any bottles etc because if we decide to change to formula I don't want it to be a panicked decision in the middle of the night, I'd rather make it rationally in the cold light of Dayan that makes sense. Plus I'm so grippy, I'd rather not spend the money unless we need to lol!

I would recommend buying a pump of some kind. Just so if for some reason you do have trouble and you can't see someone til the next morning for example you can always express milk to give to the baby. So maybe have one bottle for that or you can use a little medicine cup/syringe if you want to stay away from the bottles.

The first night we had M at home was horrible because I just could not get him to attach and I was panicking because he was crying out of hunger. I did have a couple of bottles just in case and I ended up manually expressing into one of those and that got us through the night until Chris was able to go out and hire a breast pump.

I think what my problem was, was that my boobs was soo engorged that he couldn't attach. So I think I should have just expressed a little bit then tried to attach him. Easy to say now, but it was probably the most stressful thing I had to ever go through at the time and I was paranoid about making sure he had enough because of the jaundice and just because!

Next time I won't be leaving the hospital until I have the breastfeeding down pat. Hopefully you'll be one of those ladies that just find it super natural

 

[ickle pand]

Thanks for that advice. I think I'll stay at the maternity unit until I'm confident with bfing. I'm going to figure out what support groups there are locally so that if I need help I know where to look.

 

[pinksmarties]

ickle - I agree totally with ginny. I would buy a couple of bottles. I was like you, not wanting any temptations but I too ended up giving him some formula the first night he was home. There were were at 4am with him screaming, and us you tubing how to use the steriliser my sister bought us! I can laugh now but not at the time. I have the medela swing pump that I might be selling later on once I stop bf if you are interested closer to the time.

Ginny - if I was to stay at the hospital till I had bf down pat (or at least manageable!) I'd have been there at least 6 weeks!!

Kelly - happy 38 weeks. I hope your family visit goes okay, I know what its like to dread them coming but usually it isn't as bad as you think it will bee. I hope they look after you and not the other way around.

ts -love the new avatar, he is just gorgeous. Is the bf getting a bit better?

Mrsmig - aww poor Edie and Louis (and you!). I hope you all settle back into your routines. I know the mpve will be unsettling but I am sure once you are in and able to relax in your new home things will be great again. As for Mark, I have had to do the same with OH and ask him to take B a few times. He is getting better about it now but still.

Hi to everyone!!

afm - Benjamin slept till 2.30 last night so big yay after waking up so often recently. I hope he continues doing that but you never know and that is a bit frustrating. I am still not sleeping well though. My Dad and step mum are coming up next week so I am really looking forward to that.

 

[ginny83]

sounds like a great plan

I saw a lactation consultant when M was 10 days old and managed to bf with her, but found it so hard at home and the expressing seemed so easy since I had a lot of milk. I think we had too many visitors in the first couple of weeks too!!


This might sound a bit strange, but my milk came in after my loss in October and I actually thought maybe I could have another go at bfing M... but he was around 22 months then and it seemed too weird!

 

[ginny83]

Pink - maybe not completely down pat but maybe semi confident?

 

[too_scared]

I agree with the others about having some bottle and a pump on hand. You never know what is going to happen. Expressed breast milk in a bottle is better than formula.

The bfing is better, pink, thanks for asking. Yay for Ben sleeping so we'll last night. I hope you sleep better soon.

 

[Ummi2boyz]

Ickle: after failing bf'ing with ds1 (and I had loads of bottles, sterilisers and the hospital recommend us to always have formula at home "just in case", well, bad advice). Anyway, for ds2 i just did like the other ladies have juste said. I bought 3 bottles only (the kind that ate self-sterilisable in the microwave, just fill the cap with little water water, put the bottle in the microwave on its head, 1 min and it's done, and a breastpump. It turned out that ds2 only used one of those bottles, only a couple of times). I'm sure if you know in advance who to turn to if you have some problems then you'll be ok.

Mrsmig: poor lil kiddos. And poor you! Just like pink said, once you have moved and settled down, you'll be all back into a nice routine.

Hope: sorry for your sister.

Hi everyone, sorry if I missed anyone, I feel exhausted today, can't manage to eat much though. Sadness has started to kick in, but hoepfully will go away quickly. However i made myself a nice milkshake with frozen strwberries. Went down nicely ;-)

 

[LoraLoo]

I'm going to go against the grain and agree with Ickle- breastfeeding is really tricky to start with, and if you are determined that you definitely want to breastfeed, bottles can be too much of a temptation, especially when you are tired. I find the hospitals offer so much support now, and they wont discharge you until you are comfortable the latch etc is correct. Everywhere sells bottles, pumps and formula so its no hard task to buy some if breastfeeding isnt successful. Pumping can effect your supply too so i would avoid it, if possible, until breastfeeding is established.

 

[kelly1973]

hey ladies,
Miggins so sorry your routine is all muddled really hope it settles down soon moving house is one of the most stressful times ever so I really do feel for you,recon my oh will be exactly the same as yours there a nitemare sometimes arnt they.
Hey mindy how are you? no signs here D hasn't even dropped yet my parents are coming tomorrow so trying to get the house straight wat a task!!!
Ummi sorry you are feeling sad we are here for you xx
Ginny how are you feeling?
Pink be nice for your folk to visit will give you a nice break hopefully I am looking forward to my parents coming but just if D doesn't come soon there be forever and feeding 4 people costs a hell of a lot gosh I sound so selfish.
Ickle so sorry about the dream it can be cruel at times xx
Hope hows your lil fellas
hi to everyone else xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[ickle pand]

We have a supermarket here that's open until midnight and opens at 6am. So it wouldn't be too much of a chore to send DH out for formula and bottles if we decided we need them. I will get a doidy cup though so that I could always hand express a feed and not cause nipple confusion while we're both learning.

I am little concerned the baby might have a tongue tie though since my mum, me and my brother all have them, although my brother snipped his own with a pair of wire snips when he was a teenager lol! I'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it though.

 

[Lozdi]

Mmm: just read your journal. Hope everything is going to be ok and you go home quickly.

Update: Just had my scan at the epau. It's not good news I'm afraid. The sac has grown to 6 weeks but it's still empty. And anyway I'm 9+5 weeks. So it's defo a mmc. The sonograppher could see the areas of bleeding around the sac. She offered me 4 options: natural management, medical, erpc or mva. I choose the last one. They can do it today under local aneasthetic, I just took the medicines, wait for them to work and they'll do the procedure.
Thanks again all of you for all the support. I hope to be back soon on this thread with sticky good news!
I'll be stalking you all for your rainbows. xxx

I'm so sorry Ummi.

 

[Lozdi]

I'm going to go against the grain and agree with Ickle- breastfeeding is really tricky to start with, and if you are determined that you definitely want to breastfeed, bottles can be too much of a temptation, especially when you are tired. I find the hospitals offer so much support now, and they wont discharge you until you are comfortable the latch etc is correct. Everywhere sells bottles, pumps and formula so its no hard task to buy some if breastfeeding isnt successful. Pumping can effect your supply too so i would avoid it, if possible, until breastfeeding is established.

I totally agree. Babies can be cup fed expressed milk if needs be so you cant certainly get by without having bottles around. Everyone has to do what they personally feel the most comfortable with.

Sorry for being mostly in lurk mode lately, its getting damn near impossible to actually read through posts, remember what I have read, then post accordingly all in the same sitting. The process takes days!

 

[pinksmarties]

In some way I agree, I did express/cup feed as well at the beginning and that itself is not an easy option either. Having bottles (and formula) in the house did not deter me or lead me to give up (despite the many times I thought about it when crying in pain and knowing how much weight he lost) but having them there as a back up, if needed, in the very early days was a comfort. I suppose it depends on the personality type and if having something like that around will mean you stop bf early then not having them around is for the best.

 

[pinksmarties]

Great to see you Loz, can't believe lil fella is 6 months already!

 

[ickle pand]

I think it's just that I'm of the mind set that if we find we need it we can buy it. Our flat isn't huge and I'm already wondering where were going to put all the junk that's in the spare room at the moment to make room for the baby, so I don't want to buy anything that's not needed.

 

[LoraLoo]

I think alot depends on your OH/DH's too. I remember with Amy crying everytime i fed her, my nipple split right open and every time she latched on it felt like i was being cut with glass, he was begging me to give her a bottle. I was 100% determined not to, and didnt, but if he'd caught me on a day when i was absolutely shattered my answer may have been different, and I would have regretted it.

 

[ickle pand]

Omg that sounds so sore and I've had my nipples pierced lol!

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I sort of agree with everyone here. With Edie I decided on pain of death I was going to breast feed. I found it so hard to start with, fortunately we had to spend 3 days in hospital so I had lots of support. It took me a full week to get the hang of it and Edie lost half a pound. Once I got the latch right we were away. I didn't bother getting any formula in though we had some bottles somebody had given us and a steriliser. I had had a go at expressing but was always really crap at it. I was so adamant that not a drop of formula would pass her lips. This time, like Ginny I wanted to make sure I had feeding down pat before I left the hospital. Fortunately for me as there was virtually no staff it was much easier. I had heard that it can be just as hard second time around, but it was like second nature. However this time I have bought a couple of cartons of formula for the cupboard. I have no intention of using them, it's just in case I die or something.
The latch is really hard when you are engorged. You have to position their mouth just right and squeeze your boob, and basically attach yourself to them every moment you can to relieve the pressure. I still get the odd day where I will get engorged if he has a sleepy day.
Ickle I cannot believe your brother cut his own tongue tie. That's horrific.

 

[ickle pand]

I know, it's amazing he didn't nick a blood vessel. He didn't tell my parents until after it had healed. I dread to think what his reason for doing it was lol! It was around the time he let one of his friends pierce his ear. Silly boy.

Did you have those premixed cartons of formula? That might be a better idea that a full tin of powder.

 

[too_scared]

I worry about aspirating (is that spelled right, I'm half asleep ) baby when cup feeding. It is so easy for milk to get into their lungs. The nurses wouldn't let Shawn or I do it. Finn cup fed expressed milk once at the hospital. He also had bottles of expressed milk since he was so sick. He has no problem whatsoever going back and forth between bottle and breast. But, I have to use a shield so far so I'm not sure if that makes any difference.

Quick question. When Finn starts to stir, do I get him up right away or do I let him wake more? Last night we got him up when he was starting to stir and ended up awake with him trying to get him to wake up enough to eat for 2 hours now he is stirring and drifting off again but I don't want a repeat of last night. What should I do?

Hope you are all having a good day.