Breast Feeding discussion

looby75

Make sure you are drinking plenty of water, rest when ever you can (stupid thing to say when you have a 1 month old baby I know lol) nurse on demand and try not to stress.

Oh and by the way your baby is going through her first growth spurt right now, I know it seems like you haven't got enough milk, but you have. It's just that your body takes a little bit of time to catch up with the baby. Nurse Nurse Nurse and Nurse some more, it is the BEST way to tell your body to produce more milk. And what ever you do DON'T top your little one up with a bottle, if you want to keep bfing that's the worst thing you can do right now while your milk supply is adjusting.

Keep up the good work, you are doing something amazing for your little one.


OH and congrats on her birth

Mamabear

Don't be afraid to use the national helplines, i.e. La Leche League, ABM or British Breastfeeding Network.

Trust your body, as long as baby is producing wet nappies, you are doing fine.

Try a babymoon, go to bed and stay there, together. Lots of skin on skin contact help too.

Garlic is a natural appetite stimulant, my daughter always fed more when I ate garlic.

It will probably pay you to look at the breast feeding forums over at Mumsnet or UKParents or even Honeybeez - pM me if you need links.

Finally, and my top piece of advice (worked in my case anyway) if you see a health visitor, run like the wind with your fingers in your ears shouting lalala.
If you should accidently hear anything she says do exactly the opposite, if you are planning on breastfeeding, anyway.

Congratulations and enjoy the biggest rollercoaster life will ever deliver.


Anne

£Ronnie

Congrats and well done for breastfeeding this far,

One thing I learned too late was the value of protein in the diet. When you get advice that says have plenty of snacks it dosent mean biscuits cakes or chocolate,;) apparently by having protein snacks frequently through the day it really helps milk production. Try things like slices of cheese, egg mayo on a cracker, slice of cooked meat, etc, if you are veggie, sorry I am a true carnivore and cant think of any veggie protein snacks of the top of my head.

Good luck with it and whatever the outcome well done on one month, it is hard going. :T

HTH
Ronnie

moggins

And try drinking Fenugreek Tea, you can buy the fenugreek seeds from any asian grocery. Steep about 10 seeds in boiling water, allow to cool, remove the seeds and drink the tea.

Bigbump_2

Oats increase milk supply, so a bowl of porridge for breakfast each morning will work. Also helpful are apricots, asparagus,green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, and all leafy greens. Plenty fluid and lots of rest and letting baby nurse as often as possible (as has already been mentioned but im just reinforcing that!!) And remember that your body will produce enough milk to feed your baby, even if it feels that its not during growth spurts. Have faith in yourself!!! Oh and IMO, Mamabears advice is great especially regarding health visitors

Maia_3

Congratulations for coping with the first month and hope everything is going well! I found that my little one went through a growth spurt and I thought I didn't have enough milk, but very quickly your body will start producing enough. Drink lots and lots of liquid! I also found it was really helpful to use an electric breast pump which not only helped produce lots, but any spare expressed milk was put in the freezer for those growth spurt times! I just never got the hang of expressing by hand or manual pump, but the electric thing did the trick. They are quite expensive but a friend leant me one. I think hospitals can lend or hire them out - perhaps your local NCT or La Leche might be able to lend you one?

Good luck!

CharleneUK

Congrats!! Already mentioned but great adive:

Water, lots of it
Expressing after each feed
Some herbal tea, fengueek or something like that

BF on demand too.

x

Capyboppy

Congratulations on the birth roadsidetree.

I must disagree to some point of trying to persevere. Despite having big boobs and thinking I would have no problems breast feeding this wasn't to be. I had a bad pregnancy (hyperemesis all the way through) and an even worse childbirth. (I won't go into it here as it would take too much space up) I was told the usual, don't give baby a bottle, persevere and so on. I struggled on with all and sundry trying to help with advice etc, I was in hospital for three weeks after the birth. In the end it was an auxillary nurse who had the common sense to spot my breasts were not like they should be for a nursing mother, i.e. when ready to feed very swollen, leaking, hard, hot. Although sore and bigger than ever, they certainly weren't as the nurse described. My baby was none stop crying unless I was trying to feed her, and she could be there for an hour and a half at a time, come off, and then screaming again to be fed. I just wasn't producing. In the end the sister agreed with the auxillary nurse, and that I had tried my best and given it the best shot I could. She said my baby should have been at the stage of having plumped out cheeks but that wasn't happening. The medical staff thought this had happened due to the trauma probably of the childbirth, and possibly the whole pregnancy. Even they had noticed that she was a non stop screaming baby unless being attempted to be fed. Once she was having a bottle and being fed proper nutrition there was no problems at all. I felt very sad I couldn't continue, but at least she had the important colostrum at the beginning and a little breast milk.

Maybe if you had problems roadside tree, this is why it is happening.

wattapain

To roadsidetree, as ahs been said several times, congrats on coping so far, and good on you for realising you need help here.
I am a midwife and understand that breastfeeding, whilst great when it's going well , but can be a BIG problem when it's not.
I agree with earlier posters that you should be aware of your fluid intake - I always recommend that nursing mums drink AT LEAST 2 litres of water daily. You also need to eat regularly and take at least 1500 -2000 calories - little and often is best rather than big fill up meals.
You will probably need to 'graze' through the day (and night too if you're up - & you probably are ).
Rest is also reallly important so do try to get your head down when baby's asleep - rather than using this time to do non essential things (like housework :rotfl: :rotfl: )
I always tell the dads that the mum's priorities are themselves and the baby and anything else (like daddy's meals and housework/ cooking/ironing etc) are a real bonus only to be attempted when mum'n' babe are 100% .
Do you have anyone ie mum , mum in law :eek: or a good friend ( pref one who has breast fed herself) who could come and take over the domestic stuff and leave you to concentrate on just increasing the milk supply for a few days?

So
1, increase fluids
2. express after (and between if poss) feeds
3 rest as much as you can

4 If baby is unsettled at night, I don't feel there is any great harm in giving the odd bottle of formula. If it gives you a break, great and it also means that daddy can get close to junior and feed her.
As long as it's only one feed it won't be a problem. not too many though or it could begin to affect the milk supply.
If you need to discuss options, pm me and I will try to help get you through this.
Breast feeding WHEN IT'S GOING WELL is the easiest way to go
and you cannot do anything better for your baby :T :A

Terri

amosworks

Mamabear wrote:

Finally, and my top piece of advice (worked in my case anyway) if you see a health visitor, run like the wind with your fingers in your ears shouting lalala.
If you should accidently hear anything she says do exactly the opposite, if you are planning on breastfeeding, anyway.

Fantastic advice Being a mother, you should do what comes naturally to you. Mothers have been around a lot longer than health visitors and have been doing great without them for, oooh, a few million years

Congratulations on your new arrival!