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Breasfeeding Advice?

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kaerbear

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Breasfeeding Advice? Posted: 08-12-07 04:16am


I'm posting this here because no one seems to read the other forums, so i hope it's okay. i'm having some problems with breastfeeding my girl. she is 6 days old today. she is gaining weight and seems to be having enough wet diapers and stools. she is really good at nursing, but she sleeps a lot. she wants to sleep for 4 or 5 hours at a time and when she wakes up she is so hungry that she tends to suck too hard and eat too much. so she ends up spitting up and i now have cracked nipples and the left one is actually bleeding now so i can't even give it to her. the public health nurse was here twice and said she has no problems but that I am getting so engorged that she can't latch well and that i need to wake her up every 2 hours. the problem is, i try. she will not be woken up to feed. I have done all the things the books tell me to do including putting a cold cloth to her chest and cheek and it bugs her and makes her squirm but she won't stay awake. i finally decided tonight to just keep at it until it worked and it took me two hours of torturing my poor baby just to wake her up 4 hours after i'd put her down, which is when she probably would have woken up anyway! i know about hand expressing milk and i have a breast pump, i'm just confused about what to do. right now i'm only giving her one side and doing my best to express the other side by hand as the pump does not help my nipple situation. has anyone else had this happen?

tinkinpink84

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Posted: 08-12-07 05:57am


I didnt have it happen quite so bad, but it helped alot to pump , sometimes i would pumpa bottle out then an hr or 2 later is when she would eat, i would breastfeed her then, refirdgerate the bottle until later. it seems like confusing lol but eh, you can always use what you pump when your out and about. Did you buy some stuff to put on your nipples? it helps alot and usually doesnt take to long to heal either.

Idony

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Posted: 08-12-07 09:16am


valkyrie did the same thing, she would sleep and sleep and when she woke up she was too hungry to take the boob because it didnt come fast enough that coupled with the mspi and the gerd is what made me stop, because she lost soo much weight and she couldnt tolerate my milk if shes gaining weight and shes tolerating the milk, i say keep trying, if you havent i suggest trying some lonolin cream, it really helps, and watch the engorgment, try to express some and then have her take that nipple (when its healed of course) until then just keep expressing by hand if you have any doubt about her weight though you should get it checked out, because if it is that shes not tolerating the milk apparently it can cause really bad gastrointestinal problems she SHOULD start to wake up more in the next week or so, hopefully things will be better then do what you can to keep at it, but remember if it doesnt work its not horrible, its not your fault (at least you tried), and you are NOT a failure (im still trying to remind myself of that every time i give valkyrie a bottle) good luck ~alicia~

my3kids

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Posted: 08-12-07 11:03am


Hi, I breastfed all three of my kids, and I had the same problems that you are having with my first. My nipples hurt so bad; they were cracked and bleeding and even the slightest touch caused the most ridiculous amount of pain. It will get better though. It's important not to let yourself get too engorged because not only is that painful, but you could end up getting mastitis (I ended up with that with each baby, but I had it 3 times with my first). My suggestion would be to try and feed your daughter on both breasts, even though your nipples probably hurt more than we could imagine. In doing that, you will "toughen" your nipples, increase your milk supply and you will prevent the engorgement and possibly mastitis. If you can't bear the pain of nursing on the sore side, then it might help to take a warm shower and massage your breasts under the water (The warmth will make it easier to express the milk). I hope things work out for you. You can PM me if you want. Your daughter is beautiful by the way. I love all of her hair. Christina

kaerbear

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Posted: 08-12-07 12:00pm


thanks ladies. i'm not at the point where i'm thinking about bottle feeding yet because the nurse has been out a couple of times and she's putting on weight really well. I tried expressing by hand in the shower and it worked really well, although it took forever and it hurt. I don't mind letting her take the breast that is sore it's just that it's bleeding and I can't let her drink my blood, lol. I'm just waiting for it to heal up enough so she can have it again. I don't knowwwww. I guess I'm just going to do my best to keep trying to wake her up at certain times and just try to keep on top of expressing and pumping so that she can latch better. I was just wondering if this is normal and if and when she would start to wake up more. I got some antibacterial and antifungal cream from the nurse that she told me to use instead of the lanolin stuff I have. Anyhoo, I guess I'll just grin and bear it for now and just keep trying to wake her.

Dannzibelle

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Posted: 08-12-07 12:02pm


If you haven't got a nipple cream already then get some asap and apply it after every feed. Have you tried having a warm bath before you feed or holding a warm cloth over your breasts before you feed because that can help engorgement. Believe me i know what the sore nipples are like, for the first two week sof Mika's life just changing my breast pads almost had me in tears infact i did actually cry a few times when i was changing them and when she was latching on but it does get better. All you can do is try and if it doesn't work out then you did your best

Mommy35

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Posted: 08-12-07 14:40pm


Jaylon was extremely difficult to wake up. What worked best was to lay him on my legs (face up) and put my hands under his back and supporting his neck and slowly lift him up to a sitting position. If she has plenty of wet diapers, seedy poops, and is gaining weight, I'm sure she's fine. It is so worth it! Lansinoh cream was a life saver for me when my nipples were cracked. Try freezing a wash cloth and putting it in a plastic baggie. The cold will feel great!!! Good luck to you Karen

AyaMiyaki

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Posted: 08-13-07 09:42am


Is she spitting up as she eats, or after she's done? The reason I ask is because a lot of new babies have under-developed digestive tracts and end up actually projectile-vomiting. Alyvia's pediatrician had us put a rolled-up towel under one end of her crib mattress to keep her head slightly elevated above the rest of her body. Or you could try letting her sleep in her carseat maybe. If you've tried everything and you still can't wake her, I'd probably try backing off a bit and playing it by ear. Maybe in the daytime keep a tv playing (low volume) and let some sunshine in - keep a bit of stimulation going on. Maybe pick her up and try to gently wake her, or see if she'll nurse in her sleep. But if you and her are both miserable with the wake-to-eat plan, it's probably not what's cut out for the two of you. But you'll find a happy alternative! It's all trial and error.

kaerbear

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Posted: 08-14-07 09:51am

AyaMiyaki wrote:

Is she spitting up as she eats, or after she's done?

The reason I ask is because a lot of new babies have under-developed digestive tracts and end up actually projectile-vomiting. Alyvia's pediatrician had us put a rolled-up towel under one end of her crib mattress to keep her head slightly elevated above the rest of her body. Or you could try letting her sleep in her carseat maybe.

If you've tried everything and you still can't wake her, I'd probably try backing off a bit and playing it by ear. Maybe in the daytime keep a tv playing (low volume) and let some sunshine in - keep a bit of stimulation going on. Maybe pick her up and try to gently wake her, or see if she'll nurse in her sleep. But if you and her are both miserable with the wake-to-eat plan, it's probably not what's cut out for the two of you. But you'll find a happy alternative! It's all trial and error.

You're right, of course. I talked to the public health nurse yesterday. She hasn't lost any weight, she was the same weight. But the nurse weighed her after she had been sleeping for 4 hours and had just had a poo and pee. She said that makes a lot of difference in a newborn baby's weight, so I shouldn't worry about her gaining. She said as long as I had tried to wake her and get her on a schedule, she was okay with me just letting her stick to the one she likes. She said Eadie looks really healthy and happy and that she was more worried about me getting enough fluids. So now, I have a baby who sleeps for four hours at a time then cluster feeds for about three or four. In between those feedings she pretty much just sits contentedly and looks around making cute faces then eventually starts rooting at her hands and mine, so I know she's ready to be put back on the breast. I really am too lucky. I get to sleep at night! Only problem is that I get pretty engorged, but that is easily solved with a little bit of pumping. It doesn't even hurt anymore when she latches on. Looks like the two of us are getting the hang of things already! Thanks everyone for the responses!

And, just for fun, here is a new pic that Rich took and I photoshopped a little. We liked it so much we are using it for her birth announcements. She has a strong little neck already and when I put her on my shoulder, she lifts her head and looks around. She was a week old already yesterday!!!

tinkinpink84

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Posted: 08-14-07 13:32pm


aww omg that picture is soooooooo cute, thats awesoem to use for your birth announcements i think everyone will love em!

jessesgirl

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Posted: 08-14-07 21:32pm


I didn't read any of the replies, so I don't know what people are saying, but I would pump to get the milk out and store it in the freezer for later. I wouldn't wake her to feed her, just pump. When I stopped giving Ava the breast I would get up every 3 hours and pump even though someone else was getting up to feed her. I had to get the milk out.

monkeygirl22

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Posted: 08-14-07 21:44pm


I absolutely love that pic!!!!

sillyakchick

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Posted: 08-15-07 09:27am


OH MY GOD KAREN!! She is absolutely adorable!!!! That picture is amazing!! About the brest feeding: I had pretty awful cracked nipples, but we kept at it and things resolved. I too was horribly frustrated when they wouldn't wake up and I became a C cup (for once in my life, yay!). I was bleeding from one side with Geneva for a few days, and I used Lansinoh. I kept her off that side for a few days and it healed pretty quickly. I absolutely love that stuff-it helped so much. The engorgement thing can be relieved by pumping, but in the end you are signling your brests to make more milk each time they are emptied. So, be careful about pumping. I did it though, because i wanted a good supply in my freezer for when I went back to work. Most lactation coaches suggest not giving a bottle to baby until nursing is well-established (at about 6 weeks), so you may want to hold off on that if you can. I invested in "breast shields", which are little plastic cups you can wear over your nipples to keep your clothing from touching them-I know how painful that is. They really helped, except they made me leak all the time, LOL. Good luck! I know that with perseverance and time, you will do fine. You are already doing great!

kaerbear

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Posted: 08-15-07 12:13pm


Thanks everyone. The breastfeeding is going really well now. It's amazing how fast your nipples can heal up. I kept her off that side for a day and it healed up nicely. Now I am hand expressing as much as I can rather than pumping for that exact reason, that I don't want to encourage them to keep making too much milk. I haven't had to give her a bottle once, so I'm happy about that. It's like everyone says, sometimes just a little patience is all it takes. And a little bonus on the side, I've already lost 25 pounds! That's almost half the baby weight, and believe me, I was huuuge. I am feeling really hopeful that I will be able to get all or most of it off and that makes me pretty happy.

Bridget

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Posted: 08-15-07 12:17pm


that picture is adorable!!! she just seems older than she is.