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[Nervous_1]

that's fab hun, it all counts

 

[MissRoc]

Would love a breast feeding champion

Just a little bit about me, I'm 23 and this is my first child, I'm not enjoying bfing as much as I thought I would but as LO is a preemie i'd like to continue!

I expressed for 3weeks whilst LO was in nicu, he's been home a week now and is feeding with nipple shields, I'd really like to wean him off these so I can feed him public, happy to do it, but not with slapping a shield on first! I'd also like to combi feed as I have to give him vitamins and iron due to LO being preterm each night and it would be much easier to give these in a bottle of milk either formula or ebm rather than by syringe as most dribbles out, but not sure where to start!

Thanks!


Mel xx

 

[Nervous_1]

Ideally hun you shouldn't give a bottle til around 4-6 weeks as it may cause nipple confusion. However as you use shields this may already be an issue, so using the bottle will only make it harder to wean LO from them.

Oh, and I replied to your other thread re weaning off of the shields

 

[Katt]

Hi MissRoc! I don't have any experience with preemies so one of the other ladies might be better to help. Just wanted to say well done for getting this far under difficult circumstances! Also it is totally normal not to enjoy it lots at the start! It takes a while to get used to!

Have a look at the list at the start of this thread and pm some of the ladies with experience with preemies just in case they don't seer your post.

Good luck!

 

[roonsma]

well I know I'm not exclusively expressing but I'm pleased that I've got this far combi feeding I think she probably only gets about 10-20% of her food from me but it's better than nothing and I'm refusing to give that up!

Coming from a fenugreek/milk thistle taking, pumping, stout drinking BF'der I say well done!! I don't want to give it up either

 

[gertrude]

OK another question! I'm averaging about 3 expresses a day getting about 1oz each time - sometimes 2 sometimes 1/2. I can create a EBM feed a day which is great and that's on top of the breast first at most feeds

Now, my question is how long should I be expressing for? I've noticed that when she was feeding better off me she would take 7 1/2 mins on each side before she got frustrated and when pumping it also seems to be 7 mins before the flow stops so I've been using 7 mins as my guide.

Normally I only do 1 round of each breast but should I be doing more?

 

[caro103]

i'd up it to 10mins on each side so your boobs get the cue more milk is needed, otherwise they think they're producing enough so wont make more x

 

[gertrude]

yeah that's what I wondered to be honest - wasn't sure whether upping the time or increasing the repeats would be better

man it's boring though isn't it

 

[bky]

You get the most milk out, on average, after 7 minutes, so your time is spot on. To increase you should be doing an extra 5 minutes or more. You might try doing your 7-10 minutes then hand expressing after to get a little more out than the pump would.

 

[gertrude]

I'm beyond useless at hand expressing

I shall up the time to 10-12 mins then and see how I get on

cheers ladies x

 

[kmac625]

Would love a breast feeding champion

Just a little bit about me, I'm 23 and this is my first child, I'm not enjoying bfing as much as I thought I would but as LO is a preemie i'd like to continue!

I expressed for 3weeks whilst LO was in nicu, he's been home a week now and is feeding with nipple shields, I'd really like to wean him off these so I can feed him public, happy to do it, but not with slapping a shield on first! I'd also like to combi feed as I have to give him vitamins and iron due to LO being preterm each night and it would be much easier to give these in a bottle of milk either formula or ebm rather than by syringe as most dribbles out, but not sure where to start!

Thanks!

Hi hun. I don't have experience with a preemie (Clara was born at 42 weeks) or using nipple shields, but we had huge issues in the beginning and I had to give her top up bottles so I do have experience with bottle feeding a bf baby. How preemie was your baby? (I'm just curious, it doesn't change my advice) Are you pumping still every day? How did they feed him your ebm in the NICU? With a bottle or feeding tube? If it wasn't with a bottle, now that he's already 4 weeks old you should be ok to introduce a bottle daily without the fear of nipple confusion, and as you said you use shields anyhow, that shouldn't be as much of an issue for you guys anyways. I would personally try to give the bottle with the vitamins in it with ebm instead of formula, but if you have trouble expressing enough to give a bottle daily there is nothing wrong with using formula. The only advice I'd give if you use formula is to pump afterwards so that your body knows to produce milk at that time in case you don't always have to continue giving the vitamins/bottle. I was giving a top up bottle of ebm to Clara until we started solids because of her slow weight gain, so if you want advice on expressing enough for that on top of feeding on demand I can help with that. Sounds like you've been doing a great job so far with such a difficult time of things.

 

[gertrude]

urgh my supply doesn't seem to be increasing - still will have made it to my 3 month milestone

 

[maybebaby3]

you have done all you can gertrude when most would have given up! that's the most you can do

 

[gertrude]

thanks love I am trying not to dwell on the things I maybe could have done differently - I am going to ring the ace BFing midwife tomorrow to see if I can go and see her to check if there is anything I can do (hold etc) to help pickle be better feeding off me and then if not I know there isn't anything else I can do

I'm expressing 3 times a day and getting maybe 4oz in total which isn't a lot but is much more than I was getting (as I feed her too) so she gets that too

*fights on*

 

[Jo5040]

Hi there

I am hoping someone can give me some advice as I am so confused and I'm going round and round in circles!

I have been BF my LO now for 11 weeks which I have loved and still do. At 5 weeks we decided to introduce an EBM at night so it would give me a break but more importantly give my husband a chance to feed his daughter - which he really wanted to do.

Bottle feeding has never been a great success with some nights her taking it and some nights refusing it point blank. We have tried various bottles (with the Breastflow bottles being best) and in different positions inc being in bouncy chair.

She has now completely stopped and either allows us to put it in her mouth and she chews it or she screams the house down.

I really want her to take a bottle as eventually I want a night out (I hope that doesn't sound selfish) and (please don't judge me) I think I want to stop feeding at 6 months.

So what do we do next? My mum has suggested that I don't offer the breast for the day and only the bottle and she will take it when she's hungry but we can't do that every day and even writing it makes me think that I am a bad mother.

Plus if i am weaning at 5 / 6 months would she then start taking a cup rather than a bottle so am I wasting my time anyway?????!!!!

As you can see I am confused and not sure what to do next!

Any advice would be welcome!

 

[bky]

Have you tried having someone else give her the bottle? We had big issues with that and for a while only OH or nursery workers could give my LO a bottle. Once she became used to it I was able to do it again (until recently but that's a whole other thing), but at first she associated me with breast so bottles just made her mad.
You might also try bottle latching with your LO. Put the base of the teat on the lower lip and bring the teat down across the nose and top lip like you do when latching on with a breast.

 

[Roffey82]

Can I have some help please as I really don't want to do the wrong thing and create issues later on
I've just been reading some other posts and I'm not sure what to do to get LO to go down earlier in the evening. Other mummies on here seem to have their LOs which are the same age in a routine and I'm nowhere near that yet. I'm breast feeding my LO and he is 10weeks. At the moment we bath every other evening as didn't want to dry his skin out. I then cluster feed for about 2 hours before he eventually goes to sleep at about 9pm then he wakes a couple of hours later or we wake him for DH to give DS bottle of EBM. He doesn't always take a lot of EBM maybe 1-2ozs then he goes to sleep til 4-5am. Does this seem like a bad plan? I can't see how I can get him to take more milk at his last feed if he is too full from cluster feeding. He doesn't have a dummy so it's not like a can just stop feeding so he sleeps I have to feed to get him to sleep?
Help me please

 

[summer rain]

Hun I wouldn't worry too much; none of mine were ever in a routine at that age (unless you count feeding of their own initiative every 2-3 hours in the day a routine); and my LO now will only go to sleep at 10pm or later, my LO at your LO's age would only go to sleep at 1am after cluster feeding from about 10pm til then. At 12 weeks a lot of things just fell into place of their own accord; LO started sucking his thumb (he would get furious with a dummy, work himself up and get terrible wind so we had to bin them) and he was able to self settle a lot earlier. xx

 

[MamaBird]

Can I have some help please as I really don't want to do the wrong thing and create issues later on
I've just been reading some other posts and I'm not sure what to do to get LO to go down earlier in the evening. Other mummies on here seem to have their LOs which are the same age in a routine and I'm nowhere near that yet. I'm breast feeding my LO and he is 10weeks. At the moment we bath every other evening as didn't want to dry his skin out. I then cluster feed for about 2 hours before he eventually goes to sleep at about 9pm then he wakes a couple of hours later or we wake him for DH to give DS bottle of EBM. He doesn't always take a lot of EBM maybe 1-2ozs then he goes to sleep til 4-5am. Does this seem like a bad plan? I can't see how I can get him to take more milk at his last feed if he is too full from cluster feeding. He doesn't have a dummy so it's not like a can just stop feeding so he sleeps I have to feed to get him to sleep?
Help me please

At that age my LO didn't have an overall routine either. We did have a bedtime routine though. First bath (we only used soap once or twice a week, otherwise it was pretty much a soak, we just wanted the same thing each night) then lotion, in her PJ and then I nursed her. Sometimes she'd go to sleep sometimes not (more often not) when we first started this routine it was at 10pm and she usually slept by 11 or 12 then 9pm and she slept by 11pm and now finally at 8pm and she usually sleeps by 9 or 10. Truthfully it sounds like you are doing wonderfully and to be honest I don't think there is anything wrong with how you are doing things. We also have friends who's LO are in bed by 6:30pm...but that's not us. As long as our LO is in bed around 9 or 9:30 we're happy. Your LO will give you cues and if you see he seems tired then try to get him done earlier, but don't feel pressured by what the other mamas are doing. Keep up the good work

 

[kmac625]

Clara never went to bed earlier than 10:30pm for me until she was about 4 months old and then it slowly moved up to 8pm. Now at 11 months she is usually in bed between 7:30 and 8:30pm.