Breast Feeding discussion

sleepystar1975

I'll second the thumbs up to the Avent isis. I struggled for months with a Tommy Tippee, till it broke, then I got an Avent one, and I filled two large bottles, my freezer was well stocked with frozen booby-juice!!

ooobedoo

Thank you all!! I am trying to hard to be breezy about this, the MW has told me to feed off one side, keeping her awake(her name is Katherine Ella Louise btw!!!-the baby that is) for her feeds. and then drain the remaining milk and give itto her next feed when I change sides.

My husband came back today(has been away since Sunday) and he said he can see a massive difference in her weight. She seems happy enough but she does cry quite alot but I feed her whenever she wants I am woken up quite alot in the night with her wanting food.

I am using a avent isis and my friend has lent me a medela(sp?) so I will give that a go tomorrow.

My nipples aren't sore at all, there is no problem there. I really enjoy feeding her myself and feel really proud when she does a wee or poo as it's me that fed her.

The mw told me to eat more, so tonight I have eaten a large meal and some praline and cream ice cream...............

sleepystar1975

ooobedoo wrote:

the MW has told me to feed off one side.

You may find that Katherine (love her names btw) prefers the left side if she's being fussy, as it's the side closest to your heartbeat......I never found out why till Lottie was nearly 9 months into B'feeding!

Doozergirl

sleepystar1975 wrote:

You may find that Katherine (love her names btw) prefers the left side if she's being fussy, as it's the side closest to your heartbeat......I never found out why till Lottie was nearly 9 months into B'feeding!

I never knew that! Babydoozergirl was exactly the same!

:A

pookienoodle

Hi congratulations on the birth of your baby girl.
my baby was a large baby when born and I really struggled with breastfeeding (my son lost too much weight and had to be taken back to hospital for a check up . he was fine)
the consultant told me that big babies can sometimes loose quite a bit of weight because they carry a lot of water.
just relax! I know that sounds so hard to do but it will come.
when i was struggling I read a little mantra on a website that said
YESTERDAY I BREASTFED,TODAY I AM BREASTFEEDING,TOMMORROW WHO KNOWS?
If you are producing milk then things will work out.
2things worked for me
if you room is warm strip your baby off(except nappy) and take your top and bra off (cover yourselves with a blanket if you feel a bit exposed)
this is supposed to help you and your baby bond and relax.
as regards to breast pumps does the one you use have a petal massager? if so have you tried using it without? I found I got a lot more milk not using one.
anyway pm if you like.
REMEMBER you do not have to give your baby formula ,but if after trying your best you really cannot cope do not feel guilty .some women don't even try,and some women find breastfeeding really easy and so do not understand the hell you are going through.

tiff

I never had problems getting my babies to breastfeed but my daughter had a heart operation then got complications which meant she had to be starved for 2 weeks. All that time I expressed regularly using an electric pump borrowed from the hospital. That thing was so heavy and we lugged it everywhere with us, must have been from the dark ages but it worked really well and I produced bottles of milk for the hospital freezer. The day we went home the nurse went to collect our milk and came back with a massive bag full!

Go with your instinct but if you really feel you have to put the baby on the bottle (or combine breast with bottle feeding), dont worry its not the end of the world. You have done your best

sleepystar1975

I never knew that! Babydoozergirl was exactly the same!

I always assumed it was that my little one was just more comfortable, but when a Dr at the hospital I work told me that being against your left side makes your heartbeat close to them, therefore providing a "comfort" to baby, it all made sense, as Lottie would always fall asleep against her Daddys left side too...and he certainly wasn't lactating (If only!!).

Counting_Pennies_2

I haven't had a chance to read the other responses, as it is so late.

I just wanted to say that my success was the following (and I did have problems for the first month in breastfeeding and eventually cracked it and carried on until 7 mths)

I drank lots more than I used to.

I tried expressing in a warm bath whenever I had a problem (that isn't a sterile environment, so have one expresser for the bath and another all sterile, and obviously not using any milk that came from bath expressing) start off with boob in warm bath water and it eventually encourages more milk to come through.
Then when it is flowing get out of bath dry off with clean towel and pump away with the sterile pump

You do need to rest a lot, and try your hardest not to worry. (easier said than done!)

I would express every few hours, yes the first few days you will have just a little milk. I will always remember being so chuffed come day 4 in hospital that I had managed 10 ml, only to reach the hospital fridge and find Mrs Edwards with her full bottles!!! I had a c section and only a few complications to deal with, and it took me a month to be fully into feeding. It sounds like you have had a much more stressful time, so be easy on yourself.

I had to do top ups with my son until I got the expressing and then feeding down to a fine art. So if you are encouraged by the midwife to bottle feed, insist on cup feeding. That way baby will keep the sucking action for breastfeeding when your milk has sorted itself out. Then you can spend time sorting out the latching on. There are some great breastfeeding clinics about so do ask your midwife of details of drop in clinics near you, so that when the milk is there and flowing you can latch on properly. I used to feed my son through a sterile pill cup (the ones you get on the ward)

I met many people, professionals and family who all encouraged me to give in. Well done with your perseverence and keep going, you will know what is best for you and baby and when is the right time to give up trying, and that may be in a few days, or in several months down the road.

The one thing that kept me going as I fed my son out of the cup while seeing tiny amount of precious milk coming out of me was something a medical professional said to me. Before the days of formula you just had to persevere, there wasn't an endless supply of wet nurses and the vast majority got there in the end.

Good luck.

Good luck with everything.

Counting_Pennies_2

ooobedoo wrote:

My nipples aren't sore at all, there is no problem there.

If they do Lansinoh is great

pookienoodle

sorry me again.
just remembered you said you had a c section.
me too( there was no way big baby was coming out the other way!!)
my son had a lot of mucus the first couple of weeks I was told by the consultant this is common after a c section and can also cause a bit of weightloss.
do bear in mind if katherine was poorly the first couple of days she would have been a lower weight when she left the hospital.
was she weighed on the day of discharge?
how often is the h/v weighing her?
my H/V was a star and weighed baby Ieuan every 2 days to prove to me he was doing o.k .
once the weightloss stops and Katherine starts to put on weight it will be such a relief.
sorry to drone on but is has brought back how I felt 5 months ago and i am really feeling for you.