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[Sproglet]

To be honest, it sounds like you'll be fine, he must have been getting something in those first days to wee and poo like that. If he was born on Tuesday, and meconium passed by Thursday or Friday, that is fine! Robyn was born Thursday, on Sunday she was still passing meconium transition poops, on Monday she stopped going at all (wee or poo), and they gave me the rest of Monday to get her feeding, before insisting on top ups (I started expressing for her then). But she was term (37+6) so I don't know if that makes a difference with how long they'll leave a baby who is losing weight?

Like I said before, get stimulating your supply and work on dropping the top ups. If you have to top up because LO is hungry and frustrated at the breast, give just enough to calm him before putting him back to the breast. You should find that soon LO will feed for longer before needing a top up, and will need less top up to settle. It might help to keep a log of how much he's taking each time (and if you pump, how much you get) so you can see if the top ups are indeed getting less.

Good luck

 

[duckytwins]

I just let him go for an hour (he took himself off rather than me setting a timer) and then pumped for 15 minutes (I got 5ccs total). He got hungry again just after that, so DH is supplementing. Should I try putting him back on again even though at the end of pumping, there was no more coming out?

 

[Sproglet]

Yep! (So long as he's not frustrated) Baby can get milk out when a pump can't. And his presence will stimulate your supply. And possibly another let down.

 

[duckytwins]

I just let him go for another hour, then pumped again for 20 minutes, half an hour later and I barely got anything at all. Why can't I do this???

 

[Sproglet]

Some women just don't respond to pumps. Or respond better to one sort than another (I couldn't get anything out with my first pump, an Avent manual, but got on much better with a Lansinoh electric).

Did you look and listen for him swallowing? A usual pattern is rapid sucks once latched to get a letdown, then one suck per second, swallowing every couple of sucks. Towards the end they might take comfort breaks and either stop sucking, or switch to comfort sucking so they don't get any milk out.

But it's great that he will happily go on the boob for so long- that will really help your supply and even if you have to continue topping up for a while, with perseverance you will be able to EBF him!

Oh- you might want to look up cluster feeds, that is basically what your LO is doing at the moment to get your supply up.

 

[duckytwins]

I'll keep at it... I hope what I'm doing is working. I felt so helpless today.

 

[girl friday]

I'm not a champion either, but wanted to see if I could help.

In terms of his feeding patterns, bookmark info on wonder weeks/growth spurts. There are so many in the first few months and it's easy to doubt yourself.

In terms of nappies, which ones are you using? They are probably wetter than you realise, you could always put a cotton wool pad in to see how wet that gets? How frequently do you change his nappy?

In terms of feeding, do you offer both sides each time?

Good luck.
xx

 

[duckytwins]

It looks like my go at breast feeding is over. Christian lost weight again and he needs to be put on formula. The dr said he needs to be back at birthweight by two weeks, and he doesn't have much time left. I so wanted it to work this time.

 

[melany]

I desperately want to feel my baby feeding from me. She was born at 35 weeks and quickly went to the NICU where she was bottle fed formula until the pharmacist could approve my breast milk due to some medications i'm on.

3 days of formula, then bottle fed expressed milk for 4 really hurt the breastfeeding process. I came home and she is totally not interested in the nipple. She screams and cries when it even comes near her.

I have used a nipple shield and had a little bit of success twice. she only fed for maybe 5 minutes, but it was a start.

Anyone have any ideas how to help? My baby has a lip tie and doesnt seem to want to open her mouth all the way. I have large nipples and breasts and her little mouth is not able to latch on the correct way i.e. mouth around areola AND nipple.

Thank you

 

[Sproglet]

*hugs* for ducky. As you going to continue attempting to breastfeed while giving formula?

Melany- don't give up. Although Robyn was born at term, she has a lip tie and posterior tongue tie (has Amelia been checked, because 9/10 babies with lip tie also have ptt) but they were only discovered at 8 weeks old so we battled through all this time! And because they were discovered so late, they won't do anything about it but we DO breastfeed, I just have to express and bottle feed in the night as Robyn gets lazy and my nipples get sore!

Before you feed her, run your finger round the inside of her lips to encourage them to loosen up.

When Robyn was born she would attempt to feed but couldn't so we went to bottle feeding expressed milk. Then she was forced onto the breast by a midwife so we went through all the screaming at the sight of the breast too. Robyn first fed properly from the breast aged 2 weeks (which incidentally was her due date).

Lots of skin to skin contact, don't try to put Amelia to the breast if she's just going to scream, but cuddle her close where the breast is accessible if she chooses. Expressing a few drops out can encourage rooting, licking etc. It might take a few days for Amelia to relax enough for you to be able to attempt putting her to the breast. You could try having a warm bath together, lavender oil is relaxing and safe for both of you (a couple of drops into a glass of milk, then poured under the running taps).

When Amelia is relaxed around the breast you can try offering her the nipple as soon as she shows any cues. Express a little milk into her mouth to see if you can entice her to try to latch. If she shows any signs of distress, feed her a little expressed milk and try again later. Nipple shields can help bridge the gap between bottle and breast feeding, but make sure you keep expressing as she might not stimulate your supply as effectively with the shield.

Finally, don't give up! Like I said, Robyn didn't feed properly till her due date, so you have a while to go for your preemie! And even now I'm noticing improvements every day as she grows and gets stronger.

 

[duckytwins]

I pumped last night and got an ounce and a half! Now I don't know what to do! I'm so confused!

We gave him the milk first the next time he fed, then give him formula. I'm not sure if I should put him on the breast again now (and if I do, do I do it before or after he gets formula?) or should I just pump until my supply increases? And if I do that, how often should I pump? I'm excited that I got so much by pumping (I've never seen so much milk come from me!). But now I'm even more confused about where to go from here!

 

[Sproglet]

Well done! I would keep putting him to the breast, before his formula, as this will help keep your supply stimulated. But an ounce and a half is a decent amount, when Robyn was the same age as Christian a full feed was 1 1/2 to 2 ounces depending how hungry she was.

You should aim to pump 10-12 times a day to get your supply going. One of these should be in the early hours of the morning. So a reasonable schedule might be to offer the breast, then pump while LO gets his top up for every feed in the day, then before bed, middle of the night, and as soon as you get up. You could cut slits into an old sports bra to support the pump so you can do other stuff at the same time (even pump one side while you offer Christian the other).

You can try eating oats, and taking fenugreek as they can increase your supply too.

 

[Jokerette]

Ducky thats fantastic!!! Keep offering the breast before you give any formula and soon you may not have to supplement at all! even if you can get half of the feedings done with breastmilk thats amazing! Good job!

 

[duckytwins]

Since the ounce and a half, I've been getting 3/4 an ounce consistently at each pumping. DH bought me fenugreek that I started taking today. I hope all my efforts with soon!! Thank you for all the help! I appreciate it!!

 

[cacahuete]

Hey! I am still bf at 15 months, and have a lot of experience if I can help anyone let me know!

 

[loopy82]

Since the ounce and a half, I've been getting 3/4 an ounce consistently at each pumping. DH bought me fenugreek that I started taking today. I hope all my efforts with soon!! Thank you for all the help! I appreciate it!!

I've only just seen your posts, just wanted to say that my lo lost weight for 2 weeks before starting to gain, it took her over 4 weeks to regain birth weight and we are still bfing at 20 months. Really hope things are working out for you now and merry Christmas! x

 

[bbygurl719]

Hi my name is Amanda I had my baby girl Dec 22nd and doing really good breastfeeding but was wondering if its normal for my boobs to be sore an hour after feeding almost like they r full again . Alap when I'm feeding my nipples start to hurt. When she first latches it hurts but only for a second but about five mins into feeding they hurt.

 

[xSin]

I have a question for mums who bf through teething!!!

Ive been breastfeeding for 6months now (would love a badge too) & Aria is starting to get teeth coming in I think she has the red cheeks, shoves everything in her mouth and seems inclined to comfort suckle more often. Sometimes she will scrape/chomp on my nipples (this is a new development) and it HURTS!!!!! I am a bit worried though because no teeth have actually come through yet, I can feel the hard bumps under her gums and I guess my question is this, should I be prepared for even worse pain when that/those teeth come through or is this my chance to avoid getting my nipple bitten off by letting her know its wrong now?

Any suggestions/tips?

 

[calypso]

Xsin, I am nursing my 17month old right now (as I type) who has many teeth. Honestly, it's not painful after the teeth come in. They have to sort of learn to get their teeth out of the way, if that makes sense. The only times DD has scraped or bit me was right after getting the first tooth (learning to use it) and when she is dozing off and starts losing her latch before I take her off. Put some nipple cream on and make sure you take care of your nips, but you should be fine.

 

[xSin]

Okay I've got another question!!!

LO has always pushed on my breast with her hand or hands while feeding, something that I've always understood to be "normal" and part of the baby stimulating the milk glands to release the milk, similar to a massage?

However the last two days especially, she has been using her hand to push the boob away, using her mouth to pull the nipple as far out as possible, it REALLY is uncomfortable its like she's trying to drink her milk through a straw almost... ???? (I don't know if this makes sense...) Its like a game of "Lets see how far mommy's nipple will stretch"

If I remove her hand then she'll lurch her head back away from my boob as far as possible while keeping the nipple in her mouth... its quite odd.

Anyone experienced this before? Any ideas as to why she's doing this??? Any suggestions as to how to get her to just feed as normal again?