Breast Feeding discussion

tee_pee_2

hi

Invest in a breast pump. I use to put a hot flannel on my breast before hand and the milk gushed. Also drink plenty of liquids and don't do too much breast can dry up if you are being too active.

Good Luck

Karnam

yea hot hot baths and flannels/gel packs work wonders on me. dont attempt this less than 1 hour after a baby feed though, otherwise it won't work as well.

looby75

wattapain wrote:

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.

:mad: sorry but it's exactly that advice (from my health visitor) that lead to me having problems bfing my son. I gave him the odd bottle here and there so I could have a break, and ended up bottle feeding my son from 12 weeks onwards. I was told it was ok as long as it wasn't more than once every few days. BAD BAD advice.

And anyway what law says that the only way daddy can get close to baby is if he feeds her?????

josephsunderraj

A boost to the breast milk:

As one said, garlic is a helpful ingredient to be added to your diet. ( to avoid smelly mouth) better to roast the garlic and then add with your food and munch. Also lots of greens, green vegetables, horlicks, oats, and also baby shark steaks just boiled and added with salt and pepper ( as per traditional indian diet), finally breast feed as often as you think, hope it helps.

wattapain

Hey Looby, please don't get angry - everyone is different you know - there is no 'right - one size fits all' answer here.
There are a lot of people - inc NCT, La Leche league who feel as you do - that 1 bottle = the end of breastfeeding. And I have to say, there are many midwives too who say a resounding 'NO' to even one bottle.
Well after 30 years midwifery experience, I feel I have some experience here and in MY experience, giving the odd bottle really has stopped some women from giving up.
Trust me, I do not recommend that staightaway and go down the route of trying to increase lactation using the usual means.
It is really only the last resort when all else doesn't seem to be working and often after only one night, the mum has had a good sleep, woken up refreshed (and with full breasts ) and carried on breast feeding.

I actually had to do this myself when I was breastfeeding my son ( a long time ago granted, but I remeber it well ) and susequently carried on for 6 months ( had to stop then though - too many teeth - OUCH )


As for dad's being close to baby - well there have been many instances of women giving a reason for bottlefeeding "so daddy can feed him/her"
Sad but that's how a lot do feel. Again I try to make them see that as a very poor reason for giving baby second best.

But if a baby has to have a formula feed in order to gime mum a break, then it makes sense for dad to do it surely and believe me they love it

I am as committed as you obviously are to increasing the pathetic rates of breastfeeding in this country and do everything I can to help women to cintinue as long as possible.

Crispy_Ambulance

To the OP - as everyone else has said, feed on demand and be led by your baby. Don't feel that because your baby wants to feed very often that you don't have enough milk. Her stomach is only the size of a walnut and often babies feed for comfort as well. If she is producing wet nappies and is contented then she is getting enough. Ignore the growth charts - they are based on formula fed babies and don't reflect how breastfed babies grow.

There are only abotu 1% of women who physically CAN'T breastfeed. You are doing really well and after about 6 weeks - it gets soooo much easier!

I do have to disagree with the one bottle of formula at night doing no harm. Breastfeeding is a supply and demand thing and every missed feed signals to your body that the demand is less. Also, formula milk will change the make up of your baby's gut. Plus you have to buy the milk, sterilise the bottles, make up the feed etc and it smells!

Oh, and the advice about your health visitor is probably spot on!

wattapain

:rolleyes: Actually I have to eat a large piece of humble pie here
Looking back over the thread, I realise that I did not read the OP properly and jumped straight in with the sort of advice i would give to a new mum - maybe in the first week , when she is often overwhelmed by the cocktail of hormones and the sheer exhaustion of it all.
but you guys are absolutely right in your advice to roadsidetree re coping with a month old baby.
Yes it's a growth spurt and the correct advice is to feed, feed , feed, and feed some more.
I usually tell them to totally devote themselves to the baby for 24-48 hours and thing usually get back on track after that.
Again, I tell them not to listen to any advice to top up and just put in the order to their body (like the milkman) that they need more milk - and next day, lo & behold, they have more milk , baby feeds and settles much better, and things often get back to normal.

This often happens again at around 3 months as well so be prepared. :rolleyes:

Again, apologies for my confusion - I have most contact with new mums and I make no apologies for stating that my original advice does work in this case.

Good luck :beer:
Terri

jellyhead

hi terri, my sister is breastfeeding her 6 day old baby and the midwives advised her to give a bottle of formula at night. she didn't, because she'd read that she shouldn't. advice is so conflicting isn't it.

i couldn't breastfeed so i know nothing about it really but i remember well the growth spurt he had at 4-5 weeks old, there wasn't enough formula in the world to satisfy him lol! it might take a couple of days for your body to adjust to the increased demand for milk but it will get there (i've read a lot about breastfeeding even if i haven't managed it lol!).

a friend found that lack of sleep was affecting her. she used a pump and expressed milk for her husband to feed to the baby in a bottle, and she went to bed at the same time as her other children for a few days, while her husband did one feed with the bottle. that worked really well for her, it doesn't have to be formula you put into a bottle.

when i was struggling i found the NCT breastfeeding counsellors really helpful.

Sweethays

Hi,
As a second time round mum recently (10/3) I am mix feeding my baby. Mixture of breast and formula. Mainly I breast feed during the day and night with a formula top up with expressed milk that I take when the littlun is sleeping or using a breast shell on the other breast whilst the baby is feeding on the other breast. I collect this breast milk throughout the day and use with formula last thing at night. (kept in the fridge).

I found then you get the best of both worlds with the benefits of both.
(I am actually expressing milk whilst writing this!!) (To keep my supply up)

Works for me and cannot see any reason not to do this.

looby75

wattapain wrote:

Looking back over the thread, I realise that I did not read the OP properly and jumped straight in with the sort of advice i would give to a new mum - maybe in the first week , when she is often overwhelmed by the cocktail of hormones and the sheer exhaustion of it all.
but you guys are absolutely right in your advice to roadsidetree re coping with a month old baby.

I am so pleased that I didn't have time to reply to your post when I first saw it this morning I did think that it was very strange that a MW with as much experience as yourself was advocating giving a baby a bottle during a growth spurt, and was trying to find a polite way to suggest you were wrong LOL

sorry that I came across quite aggressive in my first reply to your post, it's a bit of a sore point with me. I was so determined to bf my son but my health visitor gave me so much bad advice (he had refulx and she scared the pooh of me with her conflicting and uninformed advice) she was the only person I could turn to at the time. Since then I have done a lot of reading, both online and from books and spoken to some amazingly educated women on parenting sites about the issue. I just wish I had those contacts 5 years ago.