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[gertrude]

I put her on the boob, 4mins later she's eyes closed in my arms after coming off my boob - who knows what this girl wants!

 

[JellyBeann]

My LO was constantly on the boob when he was birth-3.5months, because he had a tongue tie and couldn't suck properly, he found it so hard, if I wasn't feeding him I was expressing! I swear I hrdly left the sofa in the first two months! He would fall asleep on the boob and wake crying if I moved him!

If your LO seems hungry when off the boob put her back on the opposite boob to which you just fed from, otherwise, it could either be wind, or comfort, another way I used to tell was to rub (lightly) my finger on her top lip, if she took it like a nipple and sucked, I'd feed him!

HTH x

 

[muddles]

Rockell
The watery milk is the foremilk which quenches your baby's thirst and the creamier, fatty milk is the hindmilk. You can tell when the baby has reached the hindmilk as their sucking changes to long slow sucks rather than the quick short ones. It is the hindmilk that helps the baby to gain weight, which is why it is important not to swap breasts too soon.

braijackava
Have you checked your LO's latch is ok as this can cause nipple pain. I would recommend using lots of Lansinoh before a feed and then I'd put more on after too.

Gertrude
Even if she has just come off the boob all sleepy if she appears to want to feed some more then offer the boob again. From what you said it sounded like she wanted just a bit more milk seeing as she was sleep 4 minutes later! Maybe she was just having a little break before finishing her dinner. Oliver used to feed so much, and he always cluster fed in the evenings, he was no sooner finished feeding than he would want another.

 

[Rockell8788]

Rockell
The watery milk is the foremilk which quenches your baby's thirst and the creamier, fatty milk is the hindmilk. You can tell when the baby has reached the hindmilk as their sucking changes to long slow sucks rather than the quick short ones. It is the hindmilk that helps the baby to gain weight, which is why it is important not to swap breasts too soon.

My ds never ever does long sucks they are always about 4 quick sucks and a swallow or 4 quick sucks then a pause for a while then quick sucks again. Sometimes he pauses so long he looses his latch and makes clicking noises so I have to take him of to start again. I aslo don't swap breasts during a feed unless he get really fussy and won't latch back on. maybe he never gets to the hind milk despite me feeding for average of 15-20mins

 

[Nervous_1]

Rockell
The watery milk is the foremilk which quenches your baby's thirst and the creamier, fatty milk is the hindmilk. You can tell when the baby has reached the hindmilk as their sucking changes to long slow sucks rather than the quick short ones. It is the hindmilk that helps the baby to gain weight, which is why it is important not to swap breasts too soon.

My ds never ever does long sucks they are always about 4 quick sucks and a swallow or 4 quick sucks then a pause for a while then quick sucks again. Sometimes he pauses so long he looses his latch and makes clicking noises so I have to take him of to start again. I aslo don't swap breasts during a feed unless he get really fussy and won't latch back on. maybe he never gets to the hind milk despite me feeding for average of 15-20mins

I'd say your LO is getting the hind milk if he's taking 15-20 min feeds. My LO never sucks slowly either - he's in a hurry to get his milk

 

[summer rain]

My LO feeds pretty much the same speed of sucks throughout the feed, aside from a couple of weeks when his weight gain faltered due to other reasons he has consistently gained 10oz a week from 2 weeks old; and then 6oz a week from about 12 weeks old which is at the higher end of average. You could always try offering the other side when LO seems totally finished regardless of whether he seems to want it or not; just to make sure he is totally full up xx

 

[muddles]

Rockell
The watery milk is the foremilk which quenches your baby's thirst and the creamier, fatty milk is the hindmilk. You can tell when the baby has reached the hindmilk as their sucking changes to long slow sucks rather than the quick short ones. It is the hindmilk that helps the baby to gain weight, which is why it is important not to swap breasts too soon.

My ds never ever does long sucks they are always about 4 quick sucks and a swallow or 4 quick sucks then a pause for a while then quick sucks again. Sometimes he pauses so long he looses his latch and makes clicking noises so I have to take him of to start again. I aslo don't swap breasts during a feed unless he get really fussy and won't latch back on. maybe he never gets to the hind milk despite me feeding for average of 15-20mins

Well every baby is different, maybe your baby is doing 4 quick sucks and when his mouth is full of milk then he swallows. If you are feeding for 15-20 mins then I am sure he is getting the hind milk. It sounds like you are doing the right thing, I always do the same as you with regard to swapping breasts, and from what you said about your expressed milk your milk sounds normal too.

 

[Mystique26]

I was wondering if I can be paired with someone. Im having low milk supply especially since i got back to work. I can only now feed lo at night. when i pump i only get an ouce of milk, sometimes less. i feel that im losing my supply already. is there any way for me to re-lactate?

 

[bky]

Hi there. It's tricky when you are away from your baby. I also only get around 1oz each time I express and I was never able to replace any feeds with what I had pumped. I went back to work when my LO was around 4 months old. I made sure to express 3x a day while I was at work (so from 8-5 or so). At 6 months I dropped that down to twice a day and at 8 months I dropped it down to once per day. I was fine with expressing on average 1x less than we had feeds during the time I was away from my baby (probably as i only worked 3 days in a row), but if you do that and you find you are losing your supply, you should express at least as many times as your baby feeds in the time you are apart--they don't need to be 30 minute expressing sessions. With a decent double pump you should be removing 70% of the milk you are able to within 7 minutes. Not so say that's indicative of what a baby can get out, or your supply overall, but just that pumping after 7 minutes often doesn't get people that much more. 7-10 minutes is the most efficient amount of time to pump. So, more frequent pumpings for shorter.
In addition you may want to try out a middle of the night (between 1-4am) expressing session. Our bodies often take milk production signals for the day from how much milk we need to produce at night.

 

[Mystique26]

Thanks bky. I have been having low supply ever since so i top up with formula otherwise lo will starve. But it just got lower when I got back to work. I hope i can be able to pump as often when im at work though.

 

[MrsKTB]

Hello lovely BF ladies!

My baby isn't here yet, but Im hoping I can get some advice!

I am hoping to BF my boy for the first few months, before moving on to expressing (not sure how easy that will be), but my concern is, I used to have my left nipple pierced both vertically and horizontally, so I have a big 'cross' of scar tissue, also, just like my old belly button piercing, where the hole has not fully closed, I sometimes get clumps of dead skin cells build up. Will the have an impact on my ability to feed? Will it cause the baby any problems? Anyone with old piercing? Its it likey to be (more) uncomfortable? Any advice or tips?

Thanks ladies xx

 

[gertrude]

slightly OT here but I wanted to say thank you to those that have helped me so much over the last couple of weeks - if I knew you in person I'd give you these in person too but here is the virtual version!

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3644/3294744087_ce100efbb4.jpg

Help yourselves!

 

[maybebaby3]

yum!

 

[gertrude]

OK just as I was feeling better I have a new question

I've fed LO twice today where she fell asleep (a lovely deep sleep too) just from BM. But, after being asleep for about 15mins, she's woken up screaming at me again. My OH gave her her bottle as she's gulping it like she's never eaten for days. I'm in tears again and I just don't see the point of carrying on BFing tbh. I'm not getting anywhere with it.

All she's done today is scream at me. She was on the boob from 9am until 12noon when OH took her out for a bit as I was getting really stressed (all she did was half heartedly suck or scream at me, and I mean scream). She came back asleep then woke up for a feed, which I did and that's when she went to sleep only to wake up screaming.

When she fell asleep I really thought we were getting somewhere but it feels like I'm not even treading water now I really want to either get this sorted or just give up with the BFing completely

I feel like she hates me, once upon a time Mummy cuddles made things better - now all I do is make her scream at me with hatred

 

[summer rain]

Hun thats normal and common for any young baby I'm afraid, to seem completely full and contented and then fall asleep for only 15 to 30 minutes and wake up screaming (and she is not screaming at you with hatred at all) often very young babies cannot keep themselves asleep for long so when they come out of a deep sleep phase; they wake up; but are still very tired so understandably they are livid with frustration. Nothing to do with BF at all; some babies are just like that I'm afraid. My son was like this until he was maybe 11 or 12 weeks then he totally calmed down, learned to self settle and settle himself back to sleep when he wakes up after 30 mins or so.

 

[brunettebimbo]

I had that in the beginning it's completely normal. Has she maybe got wind? We struggle with wind a lot in the beginning.

 

[OpheliaX]

Hello lovely BF ladies!

My baby isn't here yet, but Im hoping I can get some advice!

I am hoping to BF my boy for the first few months, before moving on to expressing (not sure how easy that will be), but my concern is, I used to have my left nipple pierced both vertically and horizontally, so I have a big 'cross' of scar tissue, also, just like my old belly button piercing, where the hole has not fully closed, I sometimes get clumps of dead skin cells build up. Will the have an impact on my ability to feed? Will it cause the baby any problems? Anyone with old piercing? Its it likey to be (more) uncomfortable? Any advice or tips?

Thanks ladies xx

I was pierced in both one was deeper than the other (idiot piercer) and caused a lot more scar tissue. If anything I would say it has healed better now even though it was years ago that I took them out. In the beginning I would get milk coming out the side of the nipple where the hole was but as I said it seemed to cause my body to repair itself after a while. I have been nursing for almost 19 months now and except for the normal adjustment period in the beginning I have had no other complications.

PM me if you have other questions.

 

[kmac625]

I had both nipples pierced and took them out when I was 13 weeks pregnant and have had no issues from them. If anything it makes bf easier because baby gets more milk with the extra holes.

 

[maybebaby3]

gertrude - as the others say young babies don't sleep very long. my almost one year old still has major issues sleepwise and wakes about 10 times at night and i know that's not hunger. perhaps it is wind or it could be a growth spurt as they will feed constantly to up your milk supply. if you give a bottle at this point then your boobs will think they do not need to produce more and then it becomes a vicious circle i'm afraid. trust your body to do what it is designed to do if LO is gaining weight and has plenty of wet/dirty nappies then she's getting what she needs.

 

[gertrude]

Today's question After yesterdays nightmare, that didn't end until this morning (who needs sleep anyway) she's much more relaxed again today

My question is - would a 4 week old baby wake up if they were hungry? After nearly all day on the boob yesterday, today I'm having to wake her for her feeds (every 3 hours) but she's not feeding for long at all - she is sucking but slowly. I offer multiple boobs (we're switch nursing atm) but then falls asleep totally (like now) having refused the boob and bottle (though I think the bottle was refused because the teat had picked up the smell of burning plastic a dummy melted in the steriliser) I'm trying to get the smell out before I go to the shops to get new teats - a real pain I didn't bloody need

Anyway - will she wake up if she's hungry? She made like she was rooting for a few seconds then zonked out asleep but I'm worried she's still hungry

Thanks x