MAY we all be blessed with baby!May '13 & beyond [Closed Parenting] 14 girls; 4 boys

[OurLilFlu]

With the medela some have a stimulation mode then after a few minutes it switches to let down mode which is a longer and slower ' suck '. That's how the hospital ones at work are. Not broken !

 

[melann13]

Yes that's correct. It is meant to mimic the baby with a fast let down phase and then slower once the milk is coming. You can switch it back and forth by pushing th button with the droplets next to it. If my milk lets down fast i switch it to slow sooner and if it's stopping I put it back to fast to cause another letdown. For nipple stimulation to brig on labor I think I'd keep kicking it back to fast mode.

 

[daddiesgift]

Okay! That's what I thought but oh said it sounded like it was dying. It does have the droplet button. I've pumped for five minutes last two days and not one contraction during! This baby is destined to never come out. I have contractions that cause pain or discomfort daily but then they die off to nothing. All the things that worked for my boys does NOTHING this time. Not even sex! Only pineapple juice never made it to my due date before but looks like I will this time!

 

[magicwhisper]

Hope everyone is ok!

We are very happy but. Exhausted here with our coliky little one

 

[daddiesgift]

Quite in here! How is everyone?

We are good. Breastfeeding could be better. If you had one tip to give to a mom about bfing what would it be? I had a horrible time with my boys, this time has bee better but in two short weeks I've had mastitis, a plugged duct, a milk blister AND thrush. I've seen two midwives, a la leche league leader, a doctor and a certified lactation consultant. No one ever tells me the same thing so we aren't really getting anywhere. We've worked on latch and positioning and it's still hurting every time and my nipples still look like "lip stick" when she's done. I was just waiting for them to toughen up but then I was told they never do! It's just that you and baby get the hang of it better. I haven't given myself the idea I can quit this time but I sure wish I could enjoy bfing. Tuesday I meet with lactation consultant again.

 

[magicwhisper]

I hope you work out bf soon

As for us we are good, ella has thrush through so she is on medicine for it

 

[OurLilFlu]

Daddies gift, have they assessed for lip tie or tongue ties? I would hope so... I didn't know 'lip stick' nipple was a thing, I have that problem but the pain isn't excruciating for me.. My dd does have a posterior tongue tie and a mild lip tie

 

[daddiesgift]

I thought it was suppose to look like lipstick I've had a midwife and IBCLC tell me she has a tie then I've had a midwife and doctor say she doesn't. I needed the doctor to refer us to a specialist but he won't because he doesn't think it's an issue. I personally don't think so bc the boys did and it was much different

We are still going strong though I have to talk myself into it most the time. She's now started un latching constantly. Hoping the boys behave tomorrow so I can go talk to IBCLC about it

 

[melann13]

So sorry to hear that daddiesgift. Hope you get some answers. I know it's supposed to still be round when LO comes off, that's why I got rid of the Nuk brand pacifiers, because they're lipstick shaped! Why would I want LO to think that was okay? I used Soothies early on, and now she loves Mam bottles and pacifiers, which have kind of a flat nipple, but that was after BFing was VERY well established. I know you've BF before, whereas I'm a FTM, but it hurt for me for a few weeks, then no more.

 

[Buttercup84]

daddiesgift, i'm sorry to hear breastfeeding is proving tough Good for you for hanging on in there though, a lot of others would have thrown in the towel by now! Hope the LC is helpful and you get to the bottom of why she's unlatching a lot.

 

[daddiesgift]

Thanks ladies. I sooo wish she'd take a pacifier!! We've tried the soothies and some other generic brand. She'll take a soothie for a few secs then it's spit back out. I'd never use it in place of nursing but if she's up she's on the boob. Even if she's drained both sides.

 

[melann13]

Will she take a pinkie finger? I know it doesn't free you up, but it would at least give your nips a break! I do know a lot of babies that would only take the Mam pacifiers I know it sucks to buy a bunch of different ones, but you never know!

 

[Ameli]

Yeah, I agree maybe try other brands of pacifiers. My girl will only take the Avent ones.

 

[OurLilFlu]

Daddies gift I'm not sure where you are but here in Canada, and the states I'm pretty sure. Dentists can revise tongue and lip ties with a laser without a referal. You clearly need to see someone who knows surely how to assess them. Royen cannot keep any pacifier in her mouth except nuks, like in latching its very common with ties. It sounds like it to me, I'm part of a local TT/ LT group and this is one of their resources https://www.kiddsteeth.com/nursingbookaugfc2011.pdf

Check it out and keep fighting to see a specialist!

 

[kksy9b]

Hi Ladies! Hope you all are doing well! I had a question for you. In the last couple days Charles has been acting like he is ready to transition to an earlier bedtime to start sleeping longer stretches. Since 2 months old he has consistently slept a 5-6 hour stretch at night and now in the last two days is fighting naps in the day and waking up every 2 hours at night. I want to start sleep training him but am not sure where to start! What methods have you found work best for your little ones?

 

[melann13]

I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" it's the Weissbluth book. Our little one is 6mos and since about 4mos (maybe earlier- I've already forgotten!) goes to bed between 6:30-7 and gets up between 6:30 and 7. She used to get up twice to eat- going straight back to sleep after nursing, now as of the last month or so it's only once, around midnight. Earlier bedtime was key for us. There are online summaries of the Weissbluth book, but basically I learned- sleep begets sleep. A well rested child sleeps more and sounder. Her naps were pretty unpredictable but we learned to just look for certain signs of tiredness before crying and 90% of the time there's no crying for naps. They also only lasted about 45min max (a single sleep cycle) but as she' hit 6mos they've lengthened to just over an hour. I recommend the book as long as you take the gist of things rather than taking them as cold hard fact. For example, he says most 6mos olds only need two naps. That may be true, but mine needs 3 (the lunchtime one tends to be short, like 30min) and I'm not going to try to change that.

 

[melann13]

Also beware of the 4mos sleep regression. If things get crazy it doesn't mean the earlier bedtime is wrong.

 

[kksy9b]

Thanks Melann! I will have to look for the book at the library this week. We have definitely hit the 4 mo the sleep regression and he is dropping from 5 naps down to 3-4 shorter ones. We have started an earlier bedtime routine as well. He was falling asleep 9-10 and now we do bath books etc as close to 6-6:30 as we can. Unfortunately he came down with his first cold this last week as well. I think its making the nighttimes even rougher because he is so congested and wakes himself up coughing. We are going to wait until he's better to start any sleep training. 1. Because I'm curious how often he will wake up once he can breathe and 2. He is nursing like crazy and hopefully will help him fight it off and keep from becoming anything worse.

I can't wait to get the long stretches back

 

[melann13]

The baby Saline drops are super helpful for congestion, as well as a humidifier.
We do still have difficult nights, last night she was up a lot between 3:30 and 5. Not sure what was going on. Usually she just wants her pacifier, but last night she was whiny. Maybe gas? I don't know. She's so rarely fussy that I refuse to do cry it out. Usually she just whines a bit and once she gets her pacifier back (she only uses it for sleeping) she's fine. If she's actually crying that's very rare and I take it more seriously. Sometimes she has a very messy diaper, or teething pain, or last night I'm guessing gas... but it's probably only once a week that she actually cries during the night.

 

[kksy9b]

That is great that she doesn't fuss a while lot! Charles is the same way- there was a day a couple weeks ago that he was super super fussy all day long (in middle of 3 month growth spurt) and I just cried along with him at one point. I've been blessed by such a content little guy that I don't know what to do when he's fussy! Lol

Poor baby with those gas pains! Its so hard on their little tummies. Charles spent 2 months having to come sleep on me around 4 every morning because of gas pain. Its hard watching them hurt and not be able to do anything

How many teeth does Felicity have? We haven't hit the teething stage yet

Charles is starting to feel better and the sleep is getting back to normal as well! Two nights ago he had a 4 hour stretch and last night had a 6. He's not really falling asleep any earlier but we are doing earlier bedtime routine and he will get there eventually!

Hope you have a wonderful week!