Breastfeeding support thread

[Maud]

There was a support thread around a few months ago that I found helpful for airing stresses and worries, venting and sharing successes of breastfeeding. I thought it might be nice for newer breastfeeding mums to have something similar as I see there are a few of you around at the moment. Hopefully it won't just be me talking to myself...lol.

To introduce myself, my daughter is nearly 7 months old and, although we have started baby led weaning, she is otherwise exclusively breastfed. I believe strongly that there should be much more support out there for breastfeeding mums as it is a bit of a forgotten skill and so not everyone knows someone who has been through it to ask for help.

So anyway, I hope to chat to other breastfeeding mums (of any age babies) soon x

 

[HL28]

This is a fab idea! My daughter is 19 months and still has one feed in the morning mainly for comfort! I have BF all three of my children. I have breastfed through a pregnancy but had to introduce formula at 7 months with first because she wasn't getting milk due to me being pregnant. (This isn't always the case but felt she wasn't getting enough she was mainly comfort feeding eventually) and on solids. Hopefully with my 3 nearly four years of breastfeeding in total, over 3 babies I can offer some advice! I love feeding and was the thing I was most looking forward to having a third. It is incredibly hard in the beginning with your first (second and third a lot easier) but so rewarding xxx

 

[Jajis]

Hello Lovely idea for a thread

My son is 26 months and still has a feed before he goes to bed and when he wakes up in the morning Occasionally he'll have a random feed during the day as well, but that tends to be if he's not feeling very well or during the very hot weather we had a while back.

We had a horrible time for the first eight or so weeks (including expressing for the first two weeks as he wouldn't latch and a couple of bouts of mastitis) but I'm so glad we kept going, it has been so worth it

 

[SR35]

Hi this is a great idea. My lo is only five weeks so I am new to all this. Have just started giving her one expressed bottle before bed as this seems to send her to sleep quicker, otherwise it takes hours as she wants to comfort suck. Not sure if it's a good idea though as she didn't latch on so well today so not sure if it is confusing her. What do you guys think?

 

[HL28]

They do advise to not introduce a bottle until after 6 weeks and feeding established. Maybe try again tonight but if it's not helping her latchi g and feeding give it another week then try again maybe? I've tried bottles when they were young but was never consistent and enede up being quicker to feed! And I've tried formula top ups and they fed straight after so was completely pointless lol. Xxx

 

[SR35]

It's hard to know what to do isn't it? I almost feel like just expressing and bottle feeding her from now on as she takes sooo long to feed and is always falling asleep etc whereas with a bottle it's so much quicker. But then I would feel sad not breastfeeding her plus it's a hassle with the sterilising and everything. Do they get quicker at feeding eventually?

 

[Maud]

They really do. In the early weeks our feeds could easily take 40 minutes just on one breast. Now she drains both in about 15 minutes! You do get more confident about removing them when they are no longer feeding too. I didn't like to do it in the early days as if she was comfort sucking she wasn't crying and I believe it does also help supply, but now I just stick a finger in once she's stopped drinking (although at night I do let her suck for a bit longer as it keeps her nice and sleepy).

I don't know what to suggest about the bottles as we only expressed and bottle fed for a short time as I couldn't express enough to satisfy her and I really didn't enjoy it. We did it at 4 weeks and it didn't effect her latch, but then her latch was appalling at that point anyway! If her latch is otherwise ok she will probably be fine. Are you using breastfeeding friendly bottles?

 

[MrsHttc]

Hi everyone! This is a great idea...hope you don't mind if I join in.
My little girl is 2 weeks and 5 days old. She is my 4th, but this is the first time I've breast fed. We had a few problems initially as she had tongue tie and had to have it clipped (poor baby) but she is feeding well now.
She's feeding every 2 hours for approx 50 minutes. Did anyone else's lo's feed this often in the early days? Xx

 

[SR35]

Thanks Maud, it's nice to know there is light at the end of the tunnel! How long does it roughly take for them to start being a bit quicker? The bottles we have are Tommee Tippee so not sure if they are the best ones to use? I guess any bottle is easier for them as they have to work harder for it at the breast? I have also noticed that my left breast is never as full as the right. I just expressed from the left and only got about an ounce from it. Is that likely to affect anything?

Hi Mrs H, my lo had tongue tie too. Yes it's very normal for them to feed often, they are building up the supply and gradually they do go longer in between feeds.

 

[Maud]

Tommee Tippee are meant to be good. It's what we used too. Bottles are easier than breast which is why it's recommended that you wait until they are well and truly established on the breast. I believe there is a make of bottle that apparently doesn't drip at all so baby has to suckle to get milk, but I can't remember what it was and they were pretty expensive.

I think it's pretty normal for one breast to have a better supply than the other. My right flows much faster in let down and also leaks a lot more than my left. My little one couldn't latch onto my left for the first few days though so that might be why.

MrsH it is very normal for them to feed frequently at first. My little one fed every 90 minutes to 2 hours for quite a while but eventually settled on 3 hourly.

 

[MrsHttc]

Thanks girls...as long as I know it's normal then I'll soldier on. No one prepares you for how hard breastfeeding is do they...
Very much worth it, but very hard work at the same time and not all plain sailing. You have all done so well with how old your lo's are...I'm even feeling proud of myself and I'm not at the 3 week mark yet lol. Xx

 

[Maud]

You should feel proud!

she takes sooo long to feed and is always falling asleep

You might already be doing these, but we did a lot of face stroking, ear rubbing, arm pumping, foot ticking and palm pressing to keep ours more awake and actively feeding.

 

[SR35]

Yes I try lots of things but she's a little monkey!

 

[Sprk]

Fantastic thread! Bf is so hard in the beginning...and tiring.

Our lo is 6 weeks tomorrow and it's been rough the last few weeks. In the day, if she's awake she has to be attached to me or she will scream. Yesterday and today though, I've been trying to play with her on the floor, to keep her distracted. It seems to be helping. I'm also going to make an extreme effort to express in the morning (too tired at night) so that dh can help with feeding her.
I'm struggling with feeling bad about wanting her to nap a lot so I can rest. Then I prep a bit stupid because when she does nap, I do housework (dh used to help with cleaning, but he's developed a chronic pain condition so during the pregnancy I need up becoming his carer).. I'm currently only four loads of laundry behind lol. I can't wait for some sort of routine to present itself back I to our lives. So far, the only routine is putting Emily to bed around 9-10ish at night. She feeds to sleep (of course) and has to be listening to Molly Malone by the dubliners. About three or four songs in and she's out lol.

 

[SR35]

Hi sprk, my lo is a week younger than yours, she naps quite well in the day but becomes so grouchy every evening from about 6-7pm. She is okay if feeding but otherwise continuously cries. How long does your lo feed for before sleep in the evening and how often does she wake in the night? My lo would want to be attached for a good couple of hours before bed, think it was a comfort thing, so we have introduced a bottle of expressed milk before bed instead which seems to send her to sleep sooner. I know what you mean about when they're sleeping in the day, I always think I will have a nap too but there's always things to be done and it never quite happens!

 

[Sprk]

In the evening she will start to feed around 7 or 8 and by 9 I take her upstairs to get her to sleep. She's far to awake to try before 9 (although I've had a little success around 8:30), but it takes anywhere from 30 min to an hour to get her to sleep. She will then sleep until around 2 am. Then it's a new nappy, feed, burp and cuddle. (I try avoiding the nappy change because it really wakes her, but she usually ends up pooing) this used to take about an hour to an hour and a half but the last few nights has taken till 4 to get her to sleep. Last night I was so tired, I almost fell asleep feeding her. Dh tried to settle her, but we ended up using the music at the same time as feeding to lull her back down. She then will sleep until 6 or 7.

I managed to express two ounces a few nights ago. The next night she started feeding around half six. At 8:30 I had dh give her the bottle (I know it's not enough for a feed, but thought it would be a top off after what shed eaten already) She devoured it in no time and started yelling for more! Yikes!! I've now got 2 oz frozen, 1 fresh in the fridge to get frozen. How much do you put in a bottle for a feed? I can't wait for the day that I can express enough to produce a full bottle so dh can give me a break.

 

[SR35]

Oh so you just let her feed from 7 or 8 for as long as she likes before taking her up and giving her a bottle? Maybe I should try that instead of feeding her at 7 or whatever time and then have her crying all evening until we go up at 10. I just thought give her time to get hungry and be awake so there's more chance of her sleeping, but it is really stressful. We normally bath her before bed too but maybe we should start doing this earlier too.

Well it's funny you say about the expressing, I had the same problem last night. I had expressed an oz in the day and then when we went up to bed I expressed again but only managed to get 2 oz. I knew it wouldn't be enough. She gulped it all down and was then screaming for more. I felt so bad that there wasn't any more but put her to the breast anyway. Luckily this calmed her down and she did fall asleep shortly after and then woke again at 2.30am. I fed and put her back down but then she woke a again at 3.50am, not sure if she had wind or something (as she isn't burping much at the mo since I stopped the infacol) but she wouldn't settle again so I brought her into my bed and managed to feed her laying down as I was so tired. After that she stayed asleep next to me until 7am. I don't really like doing that but she was fine, just don't want her getting into bad habits!

I think I will try expressing more throughout the day today so that we don't have the same problem again tonight!

How was your night?

 

[julianne]

Great idea for a thread Maud.
My first child was FF from day 10 as we were unable to BF. He is a very happy and healthy little boy. My second baby is 3 weeks old and we have been lucky enough to BF this time and I do enjoy it some of the time. But i'm finding the constant feeding hard. So hard.

I had a post up a few nights ago listing a few of my worries and concerns so i won't repeat them all in this thread.

Last night he pretty much fed from 7am-midnight, dozed for 45 mins then hopped on and off the breast again until 0530 (sometimes feeding sometimes comfort). This morning I am in bits and shattered. He had 5.5oz of expressed milk last night about 10pm but it obviously didn't even touch the sides! Panicking about how I am going to cope looking after a toddler and breast feeding the baby when DH goes back to work - I cannot function today. I believe there is growth spurt about now but this is pretty unpleasant.

Sorry for the negative post - very tired - everything is always worse on no sleep.

 

[Sprk]

My night was exhausting! She was up from 1:45 to 4!! She then woke up at 6 I was so tired I was practically delirious lol Poor dh couldn't understand a word I was saying.

I feed her on demand, so whatever time she wants to start feeding at night is when she starts. It not nice feeding for so long at one time and I really prefer her to start at half 8, but I don't want her to howl if she is hungry earlier. Over noticed that it seems to help her settle easier for bed too, as she's more relaxed. I want to start night time baths, but I'm just too tired at the end of the day. Also, dh wants to help with baths and it's hard for him to go up and down the stairs, so we try to limit the number of trips he has to make. We've been doing morning baths instead and it's been going fine. I think when we get more sleep at night, I'll have the energy for night time baths instead.

Had to clean the house this morning as people were coming over so didn't express yet, but will try to before evening comes and I end up exhausted.

Julianne - I feel like I'm always posting negative things. No sleep is really a drag!

 

[julianne]

These little feeders- keeping us up at all hours for many hours x.

Let's give our selves a good pat on the back xx

There is no pattern to the feeding in this house..... Looking forward to some semblance if a routine. Sprk- if bathing in the morn gives hubby the chance to be involved with the baths that's lovely.

Hope your visitors don't take to much out of you today