Get your own personal BnB BF Champion and one-on-one BF support here!

[Lawhra]

I failed with my first due to lack of support and info and have been successful second time round, largely down to here! The support here is brilliant and the information is priceless.

Get as much help in hospital as you can. Follow baby's lead with hunger cues, you'll soon learn them.

I agree with the above advice and can't really add to it. Good luck

 

[cranberry987]

Hi

Anyone wanna be my champion? Been a hard journey and keep having more issues crop up. Had a sleepy baby for a week who wouldn't feed so did most feeds by syringe. Then diagnosed with a mild tt and told they could snip it if I wanted (but was given no info about if it would help etc, left to research that myself... Thanks Nhs). Started nipple shields as he was too little for my massive boobs and couldn't suck enough in to trigger the suck reflex.

Cut his tt at 3w and improvement but he's so used to the shields now. Weaning him off them and he can do the suck but doesn't seem to like the milk squirting. And can't get a seal, I just have to squish the boob into his mouth

I had been taking a small amount of fenugreek to keepmy supply going due to being on the shields. Now have oversupply and over active let down I think. Colicky baby, fusses and chokes. I'm block feeding for now.

But.... Gah! Seems I sort one thing and something else breaks.

He has a lip tie which I'm not sure if it's causing problems, he can get a good latch on the shields but not on my boob.

!

 

[Maid Marian]

Hi Cranberry, Just wanted to say be very proud of yourself, you're hitting a lot of obstacles and sounds like you're knocking them well out of your way Also, just try and keep going strong, baby is very young yet, and breastfeeding can sometimes just be a labour of love for the first 2/3 months, but once you've got it down it'll be second nature, and the best thing you've ever done

 

[Lilly12]

Hi

Anyone wanna be my champion? Been a hard journey and keep having more issues crop up. Had a sleepy baby for a week who wouldn't feed so did most feeds by syringe. Then diagnosed with a mild tt and told they could snip it if I wanted (but was given no info about if it would help etc, left to research that myself... Thanks Nhs). Started nipple shields as he was too little for my massive boobs and couldn't suck enough in to trigger the suck reflex.

Cut his tt at 3w and improvement but he's so used to the shields now. Weaning him off them and he can do the suck but doesn't seem to like the milk squirting. And can't get a seal, I just have to squish the boob into his mouth

I had been taking a small amount of fenugreek to keepmy supply going due to being on the shields. Now have oversupply and over active let down I think. Colicky baby, fusses and chokes. I'm block feeding for now.

But.... Gah! Seems I sort one thing and something else breaks.

He has a lip tie which I'm not sure if it's causing problems, he can get a good latch on the shields but not on my boob.

!

Wow you've been through a lot already.
I agree with the above, be very proud of yourself!!

As for weaning off nipple shields, I think you may just need to get rid of them so baby gets used to the real nipple again..
I've dealt with oversupply and oald as well, block feeding worked.
And as far as oald, most of the time your LO will get used to this over time!

 

[lisaf]

Aidan's mummy - watch lots of videos on youtube on how to latch a baby on, what a good latch looks like. Also look up several different nursing positions you can try, what works for some doesn't work for others or if you have a c-section some holds may not be easy for you etc.
You may not have any issues at all with your 2nd child. Your first could have had an undiagnosed tongue tie that made it hard to latch and your 2nd may not have it. So don't be too anxious, just arm yourself with lots of info and see how it goes and know where to get help if you're struggling.

cranberry - I agree with trying to stop the nipple shields altogether, they were the only way my son would latch for a while, but I just stopped them cold-turkey once I knew I could get him on the bare breast. I too felt like I was getting hit by one thing after another with breastfeeding... everyone I knew hit that turning point at 6 weeks where things got easier, but I was really just beginning at 6 weeks when we got the TT snipped. We continued to have trouble getting a good seal until we had his lip-tie clipped. Have you seen the video on how to flick the upper lip out? If the lip tie is causing problems that may help... do you have the choice to have the lip-tie clipped in your area? It was a tough choice for me to make, but it was really the right thing for us because I couldn't have kept up BFing...after the tongue tie was clipped latching was no longer extremely painful and it was just a huge relief... but in all honesty it was still uncomfortable, but so bearable compared to the pain before that I didn't want to complain. Then when he became a more active feeder, it started to go from uncomfortable to painful which is when we discovered and decided to clip his liptie. Feel free to PM me if you need support or have questions about what I went through, I'd be happy to be your champion.
(once we got all our issues sorted out, I finally 'got' what everyone meant about the bond from BFing, prior to that it was all just stress/pain etc... and before the lip-tie it was just something I endured... after there was no more discomfort it was actually a joy to feed him, I felt my let-down for the first time since the discomfort had actually masked the sensation... it was a whole new world of breastfeeding for me... I'd love to help support you until you can experience the same thing )

 

[Leopard]

I'd like a bfing champion. I'm 18, first timer, daughter is nearly 10 weeks. Weight gan problems, kidney issues, formula tops ups, expressing all the time, latching trouble, oral thrush in her and nipple thrush with me, clogged ducts, low supply.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

I'd like a bfing champion. I'm 18, first timer, daughter is nearly 10 weeks. Weight gan problems, kidney issues, formula tops ups, expressing all the time, latching trouble, oral thrush in her and nipple thrush with me, clogged ducts, low supply.

What kinds of latching issues are you having? How are things going now?

I think your low supply is coming from the formula top ups. Your breasts need to be stimulated in order to know to produce enough milk for LO. I would advise trying to get her on the breast each time and expressing every two hours to bring your supply up, if you're exclusively expressing. Drink loads of water and eat oats (oatmeal, etc).

 

[Leopard]

I'd like a bfing champion. I'm 18, first timer, daughter is nearly 10 weeks. Weight gan problems, kidney issues, formula tops ups, expressing all the time, latching trouble, oral thrush in her and nipple thrush with me, clogged ducts, low supply.

What kinds of latching issues are you having? How are things going now?

I think your low supply is coming from the formula top ups. Your breasts need to be stimulated in order to know to produce enough milk for LO. I would advise trying to get her on the breast each time and expressing every two hours to bring your supply up, if you're exclusively expressing. Drink loads of water and eat oats (oatmeal, etc).

Stuck in hospital at the moment, so I eat what I'm given
I'm breastfeeding before expressing, though this is where the latch issue comes in. Because she has to be given bottles (and the hospital gave her fast flow nipples before I was able to bring my bottles in) because of her slow weight gain (EBM and formula), so she gets very frustrated when I BF her and screams and screams and screams, sucks for like 1-2mins then screams some more, which just defeats the purpose of feeding because she burns all the energy straight away. I'm expressing every 2-3 hours (as is her feeding schedule here) plus drinking lots of water, I've also been put on Motillium to help increase supply.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Damn hospital!

I think you just have to hang in there! Your supply won't go up with formula top ups because they keep her fuller longer and your body doesn't see the demand there. Try feeding her BEFORE she gets hungry. Fussy? On the boob. Awake? On the boob.

 

[ablacketer]

it has to be hard with your baby in the hospital. can you offer to feed before your baby gets hungry? soemtimes they get so worked up because we wait till they are super hungry.

 

[skye2010]

Heeelp! I have a 3 week old first baby. She's been having feeding issues ever since she was born (2 weeks early with cx). She was oo sleepy the first week + got jaundiced+ my boobs got too big and she couldn't latch properly. So she lost too much weight and we were admitted back to the hospital. The paediatricians insisted that I supplemented her with formula. I had a gruelling 2,3 hourly regime for 3-4 days. I breast fed, pumped and supplemented and got her back on track. Nice mustard colour poohs and wet nappies, weaned off the formula and she was a happy baby.
After a week I had a slight throat infection that's been going on for a more than 5 weeks. My dr prescribed me with antibiotics. I used 3 doses of 5 mg peniciline within 18 hrs on thursday. She had diorrhea and green stools straight away so I stopped. The stools are still green since Friday and a bit hardish. I was breast feeding and pumping but I thought she might be missing the hind milk so I didn't pump yesterday morning. I ran out of milk last evening again and had to give her more than 100 mg formula. I feel my milk supply isn't enough to carry her going. She has a beautiful latch and I let her suck as much as she wants but ever since the antibiotics she wants more food and I can't satisfy her hunger. She would sleep long hours (3-4 hrs) Than feed for a n hr or so, on and off changing nappies and feeding once or twice in between. I don't know how to keep up my breast milk especially in the evenings. Should I carry on pumping and scheduling her feeds ? what should I do about green stools?

 

[cheese lover]

At her age your LO is going to feed like crazy! Especially in the evenings. Think of it as her stocking up on food before bed. You never actually run out of milk in your breasts. Humans don't store much milk in their breasts. We don't manage our milk supply like cows. We make most of it on demand. Of course as you know in the beginning we tend to make too much to store. As you continue to feed over the next few months your body will get used to the amount of milk your LO needs so you won't store as much milk.
So for now I would stop pumping-unless you need the milk for something like going back to work soon or something like that-and just keep feeding your baby every time she asks for it. She may cry and protest because the milk isn't coming out as fast but there will be milk there. One thing I did at that stage is I would squeeze my nipple and make milk come out. That would reassure me that there was milk, then I would relatch LO and keep going. Right now your LO's tummy is very small so she needs to be fed often and she's growing like crazy. She's also establishing your supply.

 

[caro103]

toally agree with above, plus stop giving her the formula as your body won't get the message it needs to keep producing the milk.

what you can pump isn't any indication on what your LO is actually getting, baby's are way better at getting the milk out.

Some people block feed (feed from same boob first twice in a row before switching) to ensure LO is getting more hind milk and that should help her get yellow poos back again.

Keep going hun, your doing amazingly well! xx

 

[Rainbowpea]

Hey everyone! I have just trained as a peer supporter for my local breastfeeding group and am happy to sign up to be a 'champion' if I am needed?! x

 

[Lilly12]

Agree with the advice already given .

Give baby a probiotic to heal her gut from your antibiotics!!

 

[cranberry987]

I was wondering about that, if I take anti biotics does it affect the babys bacteria? have ordered some biogia stuff anyway as he has awful gas and griping pains but wasnt sure if the anti biotics in me could do anything with him?

 

[Lilly12]

Yep they mess babies gut up and poop can turn green cause of them!
Probiotics will def help with that!

 

[TigerLady]

Also, if you are antibiotics you both are more likely to get thrush. If you haven't been through that, it's not fun. Very painful.

 

[xsadiex]

I was just readign some breastfeeding tips and I noticed that apparently the baby's lips should look like fish lips and they shouldn't be folded in!
My baby's lips are never visable when feeding. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Leopard]

From what I understand, they should be folded in, I've never heard of fish lips being a correct latch.