June Bundles of Joy - 2016

I'm having breast feeding issues. Any words of advice? I'm clueless so sorry if my post seems stupid.

Hannah lost more than 10% of her birth weight by discharge. She latches great but won't suck much even after stimulation. She will either latch, suck a few, then stop and fall asleep. Or she will latch, suck, unlatch, cry/ be frustrated. I saw 4 lactation consultations at the hospital and they all said latch looked great, just keep to keep her awake. That's been very difficult and frustrating to us both.

I decided to try pumping Friday. I barely got anything out. Is that normal? It was white so I think my milk had come in.

Since I didn't have anything to feed her after pumping, we started supplementing formula Friday. She did gain 2 oz from Friday to Saturday and has started having poopy diapers. We have continued using formula and now only bf occasionally because I feel like I can't trust bf to give her enough to gain weight. Usually I attempt bfing then give the formula.

The pediatrician was useless when I asked about supplementing. She was really pushing the bf and now I feel like I can't just go to formula. I want to bf but it's causing a lot of stress :(.

I'm still pumping, but with both breasts combined, I only express maybe 20 ml each 20 min pumping session. Is that typical? It doesn't seem like a lot.
 
Starlight you have to do what you feel right with. Bfing is not easy. At all. It's a pain in the ass esp in the beginning. I know a girl who tried for so long and her dh gave her such a hard time but finally she gave up it made her so depressed and poor thing didn't need to feel that way!!! Ignore the ped and go with your gut. If it's not making you happy and you're feeling stressed then your body is telling you something I think.

Angel I love her name!!!!

I'm so jealous. I lost some brown looking tinged plug last night had some stronger contractions then nothing. So still here. And I'm miserable. I could cry over everything right now I'm so depressed.
 
Starlight it's really difficult - supplementing with formula is what I had to do to keep Arthurs blood sugars up when he was premature and wasn't latching well. He did eventually latch a bit better and I supplemented with expressed milk in a bottle for a while. He wasn't gaining weight with just breastfeeding and lost 9%. Eventually I didn't need to supplement any more and could just BF but i still chose to give a bottle of formula each evening. His weight gain has been pretty poor and he still looks tiny and quite skinny!

Supplementing with formula will affect your breast milk supply unless you sit and pump every single time you give a bottle which isn't for everyone and is super hard! It's a bit of a rock and a hard place!

If you want to breastfeed get support from lactation consultants and professionals who know how to overcome almost every single problem from lack of weight gain to tongue tie to poor latch etc. I think dory might be able to give advice on all that too

If you decide BF isn't for you don't feel bad. Sometimes doing a mix of both works well for people. It's an extremely emotional time as it is and trying to do something to please other people just isn't the best thing!

Good luck :hugs:
 
Also - I only ever got sort of 2oz when I pumped for about 20 mins. I think some people Can get loads but not me!
 
I've been having backache and stabbing pains all day and have just started having period like cramps along with tightening... I don't want to take too much from this but at least my body seems to be thinking things over. I haven't had any kind of show yet though, just increased discharge. :shrug:
 
Starlight - you have to do whatever is best for your family. A stressed out mama is no good for anyone. Don't let the doctor or anyone else pressure you into something that you don't want to do.

Just got back from the doctor with my son and he has another ear infection. I'm glad I took him in because I knew he wasn't acting normal and don't want him to be sick especially since I'm having the section Friday
 
Not long for you now Geralyn, sorry to hear your little boy isnt well :( I hope hes better soon.

Lavochain, all sounds promising, like your body is getting ready :)

Starlight, i cant offer any support or advice on BF as i have never done it, but just want to say i hope you don't feel too pressured and you make a decision you are happy with in regards to feeding. Poppy has had formula from day one is is thriving, she gained 3oz now since birth, its not all bad <3
 
Sounds like good signs lavochain :)

Hope your son is better soon geralyn :hugs:

Im breastfeeding Henry but he only feeds for a few minutes and isn't interested after that. They said really should be looking at ten minute feeds minimum so I am hoping they will start lasting longer. He just sleeps all the time and never really opens his eyes when he is awake. I also can't get him to burp afterwards? Just hoping it's newborn sleepiness and he'll be properly feeding soon.

Hope things pick up with feeding starlight and you get the right help and advice and find whatever suits you both x
 
Starlight- I remember being told that how much you express is not a reflection of much breast milk you produce so don't be disheartened by how much you're getting, some will get loads and others will get drops but still be able to feed perfectly well. Check for wet nappies and bowel movements which will all indicate she's getting enough.

I would suggest seeing a consultant again but mentioning that it's impossible to keep baby awake (we had this problem even with formula feeding) don't let the doctors put you off, there will be a solution to your problem and I'm sure it will be one many women have experienced the same worries and they should reassure you. Have you tried speaking with la leche league? I've heard they've got great phone advisers and might point you in the way of someone.


Also post in the breastfeeding section , there are quite a few breastfeeding support ladies on here.
 
Thanks ladies. I don't know what to think :(

My milk supply seems really low based in pumping, even before we started formula. Before starting formula, I got less than 10ml (which is about 0.34 oz) from both breasts combined in a 30 min pumping session. Doesn't that seem low?
 
Juniper is being fed on a glucose drip, I am expressing colostrum as an extra but only getting 0.5ml each time. :( I hope my milk comes in tomorrow. She is off the oxygen and high flow air and in a normal cot wearing proper clothes, but tests show it is definitely some sort of infection, they have done a lumbar puncture this afternoon to test for meningitis. We should get the result tonight. It is very scary.
 
Thanks ladies. I don't know what to think :(

My milk supply seems really low based in pumping, even before we started formula. Before starting formula, I got less than 10ml (which is about 0.34 oz) from both breasts combined in a 30 min pumping session. Doesn't that seem low?

believe it or not around half an oz can be normal, especially in the earlier days.

A lot of things will have an impact - how often you are expressing, if you're using massage/warm compress before, which type of pump you're using. Do your breasts feel full after pumping? the pump may not be efficient at emptying them.

I would aim to pump for a minimum of 15 minutes but an absolute maximum of 30 as it'll just make you sore otherwise.

Don't feel guilty or feel that you have to pump, it's very stressful and doesn't work for everyone, I would focus more on getting baby to breastfeed as it will be easier in the long run if that is what you want.

Is she sleepy after every feed? if she's more awake after formula I would try on formula first and then switch to breastfeeding for the rest of the feed until she starts to stay on for longer if possible.


this is the la leche league site https://www.lllusa.org/locator/

Juniper is being fed on a glucose drip, I am expressing colostrum as an extra but only getting 0.5ml each time. :( I hope my milk comes in tomorrow. She is off the oxygen and high flow air and in a normal cot wearing proper clothes, but tests show it is definitely some sort of infection, they have done a lumbar puncture this afternoon to test for meningitis. We should get the result tonight. It is very scary.

I'm really sorry to hear that it's an infection, hopefully it'll be something that can treated easily with antibiotics I hope the results come back asap :hugs:
 
I'm really sorry for a super quick post but my eldest isn't well (2 days after surgery) and I'm home alone.

Starlight- please don't worry about the volume you express. It has absolutely so indication of actual supply. Baby is much more efficient at feeding and this is reason most mums who chose to exclusively express end up quitting; because their supply dries up due to not enough stimulation.

Get your gorgeous baby and have skin to skin (no such thing as too much). Keep offering breast before formula and let her suckle. Even if she gets no nutritional value from it she will be stimulating your milk production. You should aim to offer at 3 hourly intervals.

Don't feel bad about the formula. I told myself it was medicine which would help her to get well. The most important thing is that your little girl is fed!

Definitely Google La Leche League and get in touch with them. I have had heavy support from them which each of my children and it's all free.

Best piece of advice I can give is to be wary of anyone that calls themselves a Lactation Consultant. Check that they are IBCLC certified. Most who make the claim have simply done a short course a d are no more knowledgeable than you or I. There are ALWAYS ways to improve latch. IBCLC consultants are also properly trained to assess the hardest to spot tongue tie which can have huge impacts on milk transfer we hence weight gain.
 
Angel- I hope everything is ok with Juniper. That's definitely scary
 
Oh and strip off Hannah and change her nappy before EVERY feed. I was encouraged to do this in SCBU and still have to do it now. Wind her on your knee too, not over your shoulder because babies love that and just go to sleep lol.

Angel - sorry you're going through this. In my experience, if she's improving already its unlikely to be meningitis but what matters is that they will have started the treatment regardless. I think meningitis is the first infection they screen for in neonates. I know it was the first screen they did when Georgia was rushed back to SCBU and when Aaron was unwell (but he had classic symptoms too). As you know Aaron did have late onset meningitis and has no residual effects now. Consider me virtually holding you hand via the web. We're all here to listen.
 
Angel, did they tell you what her CRP is? That will have been the infection marker that made them decide to do a lumbar puncture.
 
Thinking of juniper and hoping she is back with you soon xx don't worry about your milk day 3/4 is common for it to come in x
 
Angel, did they tell you what her CRP is? That will have been the infection marker that made them decide to do a lumbar puncture.

Thank you :hugs: her CRP was 5 yesterday but jumped to 44 today.
 
Angel, did they tell you what her CRP is? That will have been the infection marker that made them decide to do a lumbar puncture.

Thank you :hugs: her CRP was 5 yesterday but jumped to 44 today.

I'm sorry :-( that is a huge jump for a baby. Let us know how things go because I'm sure we're all checking in. I wish you were local - I feel like I need to bring you things!
 

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