Will be 37 due in April 2016 anyone else?

[Bekah78]

Does frankie fight you when you try and wind him too? Erik hates it. He's really easy to wind, but think he knows he might be sick and so puts up a fight. He's so strong too, sometimes I struggle to get him to sit forward.

 

[Qmama79]

Q fights me every time as well. His burps are loud. Very loud. So, I think it might be hurting when they come, but keeping the air in must even be worse. If he doesn't burp, he spits up a bit, but that doesn't seem to bother him...

 

[Bekah78]

Update on the lump. Been to see the nurse and I've been referred to the breast clinic. No words of reassurance, just lots of questions about family history. Just have to wait for the appointment to come through now. Hope it's quick.

 

[allforthegirl]

Arching or fighting to wind/burp is very characteristic of reflux. D does it as well when it is bothering him. Though now that the reflux seems to be so much less now I can just sit him there and he seems to do it himself now.

B~ When I went through my lump and exam and then mammogram, not one person seemed very optimistic either with me. Even though my just turned out to be a fibrous lump, a harder fatty tissue, they all seemed to be cautious that it very well could be something worse. They like to not to really go one way or the other. I will pray for the best for you.

 

[penelopejones]

Bekah, I hope whatever they find is benign. You've been through enough!

Yeah, Frankie often seems uncomfortable after a feeding, and I'm not sure if it is a need to burp or pass gas or what. Sometimes he will spit up, burp, and pass gas all at the same time.

He has had a rough couple of days with greenish poop and eczema returning all over his body. I ate some cookies with butter in them that my mom made, so maybe that is it? I wasn't thinking! Or maybe he is allergic to something else?

 

[allforthegirl]

P~ that is something that we have to play detectives about. It could very well be the butter if you have cut everything else out dairy.....or maybe just a bug. You could always take it away again for a week then try adding it to your diet again and see what happens.

We had a good trip for the wedding. D was so sleepy the whole time we were there. He was eating and sleeping and not much of anything else. The fresh air must have been so relaxing for him. It is certainly for me!!

 

[penelopejones]

I'm glad D cooperated for the wedding!

Yeah, I'm definitely going to keep up with the no dairy policy. I just didn't even think about the cookies, because I've been using margarine to make cookies myself! I'm going to stick with that and then worry about other things. Frankie has been projectile vomiting and then pooping a bunch this morning, and screaming, but he seems okay now. I'm hoping he's gotten whatever it was out of his system.

 

[Bekah78]

Thanks ladies, I hope so too. Fingers crossed an appointment comes through quickly.

Sounds like D was a dream wedding guest! Hope you all had a lovely time.

Hope you find what causes frankies reflux. Eriks seems to have eased a little. The amount he brings up after a feed has reduced. He still doesn't like to be winded, but think that's because he associates it with being sick now and tries to avoid it.

Hope things good with you Q. When are you next at the hospital? When is it your OH is on holiday with his family? You going to be ok with the boys on your own?

 

[penelopejones]

I decided to try giving Frankie some formula today. He was just miserable all day. My mom was here and she is usually very good with babies, and she just couldn't soothe him and he was screaming and arching and fighting a lot. So that gave me sort of a wake up call--he is really inconsolable a lot of the time, and the only thing that works is to be worn in the pouch and bounced on a swiss ball or walked around constantly. I thought I'd pump and try giving him a bottle with formula, just to see how he did. He definitely seemed more relaxed while taking the bottle, and after. (I gave him a sensitive formula for babies with milk intolerance). He got used to the bottle pretty quickly and wasn't screaming afterwards (which he often does during nursing), or grunting, and he didn't spit up.

So what is it about nursing or my milk? An allergy? Something else? When I pumped, I found that my right breast produced 4 ounces and my left just 2. He definitely prefers nursing on the right, except then he spits up more after nursing on that side. Today it was projectile vomiting. So is he getting too much on the right and not enough on the left?

Or should I just give up if the formula seems to help him? I'm all for breastfeeding, but this has been so stressful with him being uncomfortable all the time. I'm trying to decide now whether to nurse him overnight or continue pumping and give him formula.

 

[Bekah78]

We've had the same with formula too. Some evenings Erik has been screaming the house down, arching his back and pulling his knees up. Sometimes we'd have this go on for hours. Didn't matter what position I put him in. If I was rocking, bouncing, rubbing his back or tummy etc none of it seemed to work... But then it's stopped and we seem to have got through that phase. Last night was the first night he had two feeds when he wasn't sick during the feed and was able to be laid down in his cot straight after a feed without him being sick.

Is there a health visitor or breastfeeding nurse you could talk to before you decide what to do?

 

[allforthegirl]

P~ I honestly think 90% of his issues are due to your fast flow/oversupply. It could also be that right side had less because it shoots out faster, as you mentioned the vomiting. Do you think you would be up for trying to block feed a bit longer? Give it a couple days of doing that to see if he settles?

I don't want you to think that it is truly honestly your milk doing this. It really doesn't sound allergy related as he is pooping ok. (or at least you haven't mentioned it) I know we as moms never want to do anything to hurt them. The one reason he was probably feeling better after the bottle was the fact that it was probably a lot slower coming out of the bottle than you.

Like B mentioned, could you get in contact with someone? LLL is a free service, as they are all volunteers, and are doing this to help other bfing moms. A LC would also be helpful, but you do have to pay for their time.

You are great mom and doing everything you can, and I know you will do what is right for the both of you no matter what decision you make

D has changed his suckling. He has started almost chewing my nips while sleeping and I am getting very sore. Last night he latched and I almost screamed out it was so awful. I hope this is just a phase, OOOUCH!

 

[penelopejones]

I've been block feeding for days--just giving him one side at a time. He feeds about every 3 hours. Should I try going for longer? I'm not feeling engorged anymore unless he goes for longer than 3 hours between feeds, but when I pump I can see that the left side lets down a lot faster (and that's the side he clamps and gulps on) while the right side is an overproducer.

Poop wise, he usually has runny yellow poops, sometimes greenish, and he has eczema all over his body. With my daughter, I was able to get the eczema under control by eliminating dairy. So that's why I'm wondering if something else is bothering him.

I also think maybe his tongue tie grew back. It still seems tight to me. I don't know if I could make it to a LLL meeting though--are there LLL volunteers who will come to your house?

 

[allforthegirl]

I would go longer then per side. He is still struggling and it is after the 6-8 week mark so your milk is well established. So maybe you will have to go to six hours or 3 feeds to one side at a time until he seems more comfortable.

I still go one side per feed too, unless he keeps pulling off and wanting more then I offer the other side. But I don't got back to the same side any more. (unless I forget which side he was on last....but generally I can still feel which side he was on last)

You can call the LLL number for your area and you should be able to chat with someone on the phone instead of going to meetings. That is what I do for the most part. I still like to attend meetings, but like you I am very busy at home and makes it hard to get away. I actually am only in contact with the one member(I don't want to tell my story over and over and over again to a someone else, she knows my story and we just keep up with our bfing planning). She is amazing and has helped me so much. IE why I am able to give you so much advise, as we have already talked about most of this stuff. Why not try that? Still free to do so. May also make you feel more confident that you are doing the right things. That is one of things I like about contact with her

As for the tongue tie....are you doing the stretches? Is he able to stick his tongue out further? D's lip tie is still there a bit, he has never been able to really flange it out even after having it snipped. I just have to check that he isn't being lazy with his lip. Even checking his latch with your finger in his mouth to check to see if his tongue is going over his bottom gum line. You also can do certain tongue training exercises with your finger. One being pulling your finger out slowly and then placing your breast in his mouth with his tongue still curled. Another is to turn your finger over once in his mouth and gently pushing down on his tongue and you pull it out and do that over and over again can help train his tongue better.

 

[penelopejones]

Thanks for the advice, All! I've contacted a LLL leader in my area. Today Frankie is back to his usual self (refluxing and grunting in the pouch while taking a fitful nap), and that is after having formula. So yeah, it seems like it is not my milk per se causing his issues. But that means that maybe it isn't necessarily my letdown or supply either!?! He was sort of gulping quickly from the bottle so maybe that's why. I'm going to just go back to breastfeeding and see if tweaking his medication helps. (I spoke with his doctor and she suggested some slight dosing changes). I'm also going to try giving him some of the pumped milk from a bottle just to see if it makes a difference. I wouldn't be able to sustain pumping though--not with him being in the pouch half the time and my daughter running around!

I'm following up with the dentist who performed the tongue tie release on Friday, just to see if it has healed properly. I have slacked off on the stretches in the last week because I thought he was healed, and my instructions were to do the stretches for 2 weeks. I feel like his upper lip is flanging better but his tongue still looks heart shaped sometimes so maybe the tongue tie didn't heal properly.

Sorry you are dealing with the chomping/latch issues too! So frustrating (and painful)!

 

[allforthegirl]

You are doing all the right things, and you should be proud of yourself.

Did you find that your leader was helpful?

I'm glad your are following up with the dentist. Did he do just the anterior tie? Or the posterior?

 

[penelopejones]

I haven't heard back from the LLL person yet--I just emailed one of the leaders in my area. I'm just at my wits end--I've tried everything with Frankie and nothing seems to work. He is so unhappy and uncomfortable so much of the time! I'm sort of resigned to him just being cranky until he grows out of it.. Today he slept very little and was fussing almost all day long. Some days in the last week he has been able to sleep on his own for a couple of hours, but not today. My mom is holding him right now, and she is able to settle him by bouncing on the swiss ball, but as soon as she sits down in a rocker or stops bouncing, he starts fussing again.

 

[allforthegirl]

Could he be in a wonder week?

 

[penelopejones]

Maybe--he seemed better last night and this morning after doing a bunch of greenish/mucousy poops. I really think it must have been the butter in the cookies I ate or something, and then the formula didn't help. I'm also suspecting soy--maybe he has MSPI? The LC I am working with doesn't think it is oversupply based on the quantities I said I pumped, so she is going to come by tomorrow and see whether it is due to function. She says these kinds of symptoms are typical for babies recovering from the tongue tie revision. And I'm in touch with a "bodyworker" (who made up that term?) who is experienced with tongue tie and gut issues.

 

[Bekah78]

Sounds like you're doing all the right things p. Stay strong (and calm) through the tears/screaming. You'll get there in the end.

We had an evening of screaming here, but was then rewarded with a 6 hour sleep (him not me, I got 5) which was great. Meant I got to recharge a bit. Seems like we are coming out the other side of the bad reflux. Hope this happens for you too P.

 

[penelopejones]

6 hours is great! Frankie seems better today. He did sleep about 4 hours last night, which is long for him. I think he needed to get something out of his system. He's still not perfect, but better than he was. I'm taking probiotics and prebiotics more religiously to see if that will help.