Breastfeeding General Chatter #14

[HotI]

Have been BF DD for the last hour and every time I take her off she cries and wakes. I honestly feel like throwing her against the wall. I obviously wouldnt but this whole BF while pregnant is hard sometimes. I just want to scream at her get off! Gosh how mean does that sound. Any tips of getting rid of this feeling it's horrible. Day time feeds seem to be better but the night time ones are horrendous!

Oh Em, i remember those feelings all too well. And the guilt for feeling like that. It is ok to set boundaries for yourself and DD. Can you give her to DH for awhile?

I used the Pantley method to stop the all night sucking, but you need to hsve the energy to work through it. Does DD take a bottle, sippy cup or drink bottle? can you offer her water? it might not work at first but if you keep offfering, she might take you up on the offer one day.

i also had to do a countdown with DD. count from 10 to 1, then she had to come off. i would practise during the day, and then even when she was asleep i would whisper the numbers and she would come off much easier.

the countdown has also come in handy now that baby is here. sometimes if i am feeing DD, but DS really needs me, i can do a quick countdown and tell DD that i have to do x,y,z but then she can have another feed . sometimes she still cracks it, but therre is more understanding and acceptance than if i just cut her off with no warning.

have you thought about night weaning DD before baby arrives?

take care

[Eenee]

Thanks for those tips HotI, yeah she does take a cup or sippy cup but not a bottle and she prefers water than anything else. She does have rice milk mixed with some goats milk formula (only way she will drink the goats milk) just before bed. Her weight gain has been poor (she was just over 7kg at 12mths) so that's why he gets the formula with the rice milk due to dairy intolerance also. And if DH gets up to her she will generally resettle until about 3am for him. But he only does this on days he doesn't work and at the moment he works 6-7 days a week. To be honest I hadn't even thought about the night weaning I guess I just thought she miraculously just stop but no sign of that at the moment. But would be good if I wasn't so reliant on it getting her back to sleep.

[*TripleJ*]

still going here and i asked hubby if i should stop soon and he said we might think about it when shes closer to 2yrs i love my hubby

[Arcadia]

Yay!

Ds is almost one and I *think* I'm finally over the thrush! Here's to another year of breastfeeding!!!

[HotI]

My almost 2 year old has recently got her 4 pointy (canine?) teeth. For most of her feeds i now have to reattach her a few times and then finally have to take her off due to pain. I think it is the teeth that are sitting on my skin. is there anything i can do?

[Jennifer13]

Yay Arcadia! After 12 mths with DD1 I finally found a way to manage/beat mastitis. I had three more years of almost incident free bfing. Hope you have as long as you both want now!

I'm dealing with blocked ducts again this time and was pretty sick last night. Seems to be okay now so fx it's over for this bout.

Apart from that bfing is great! I'm hoping for another long bfing journey.

[Arcadia]

Thanks Jen

HotI both mine seem to bite down on the nipple while they're teething. It should improve when the teeth pop through, but in the meantime you could try altering the feeding position so the same part of your nipple isn't being hurt. Is it worse when you're feeding to sleep?

[TeniBear]

A year (and two days) breastfeeding!

[Sterla]

Yay!!! That is awesome Teni .

[*TripleJ*]

yeah the teeth get me too jazzy's molar on one side has come through she is cross cutting really bad it hurts at night in bed its just really sharp

[starangelk]

Gooo Teni! That's awesome.

We are still going really well here other than my little man getting very easily distracted and finishing before he's had enough. If I can get him to focus, he'll take a really good full feed but sometimes he just has a snack feed and I know from the feel and also the quick time (less than a minute at times) that he's only had a snack. Other than the sit in a quiet room etc, does anyone have any suggestions for how to combat this? BFing a baby is difficult when my toddler is around as my baby thinks she is so much more exciting than milk

[Jennifer13]

Hot1 I had a couple of months of issues when DD1 was that age. You can try a slightly diff position (a challenge!), I also used pawpaw to help it heal, both with limited success. In the end, time and advanced wound healing bandaids did the trick.

[UntoldAngel]

Starangelk - we have that same issue too sometimes, although Mr P tends to try and put Miss P on when she is upset, or pull her off if he wants it. No real suggestions sorry hun, maybe give X something special to do while you're feeding??

Well, Miss P has been feeding really well for the last 18weeks, and have still managed to feed Mr P occasionally - he essentially self weaned at the start of Feb, but got sick and has gone back to one feed a day

[Jellyfish]

DD1 turned 3 over the weekend so we are now over 3yrs of breastfeeding with 2months being tandemly!

[Jennifer13]

Woohoo Jellyfish!! That's a fantastic effort.

My woohoo for the day is that I managed to get DD1's old nanny back starting next week. She'll be coming in with me to the city one day a week during school time to take DD2 while I work and bring her back so that I can bf her when she needs it. Big weight off my mind, because apart from sorting out the logistics, I really needed someone I can trust since bub is still so little. It'll make bfing easier for the next few months too, until she's old enough to spend the time at home with me leaving some ebm.

My letdown is much more intense this time around and DD2 gets frustrated if it's not instant, really fussing around until I feel it happen and then it's all she can do to keep swallowing fast enough. Lazy baby! Blocked ducts are still happening from time to time (another reason I didn't want to have to deal with expressing for a while), but so far only turned into fever, etc once. Fx it doesn't happen again.

[Ladylove]

Can I ask forum breastfeeders about dreamfeeding? I can't seem to do it - if she is asleep there is no way she's sucking on a nipple as she won't even open her mouth a tiny bit, even if I tease her lips with milk on the end of my nipple. I want to dreamfeed to try and keep her night routine somewhat consistent. Eg usually I give her first 'night' feed around 6.30 or 7pm even if it's just a top up after her bath and massage. Usually she's awake but today she fell asleep straight after her bath and massage and wouldn't take the extra boob- she last fed at 5pm. I know it sounds selfish but I don't want her waking earlier than usual for the rest of the night as this possibly means she will wake up to start the day at 4 in the morning or something like that. She's only 5 weeks but fell into an approximate night routine fairly quickly which is a godsend for me as the day is another story- catnaps and cluster feeding and unsettled behaviour most of the day so I cherish our calm nights.

[onthefly]

Ladylove, some kids just don't do it. There's no way to force feed
The truth is they change rapidly and constantly at this age, so there's often little point in trying to enforce a routine or anything. If it works, it works, if it doesn't, you try something else, you know? It sounds like you're doing pretty well, in any event!
The cluster feeding may well be part of the reason she sleeps so well at night Do you have a sling or wrap to carry her? That often helps with the cat napping. Most babies like to snuggle up with mum and will sleep better that way. And it can certainly help when they're unsettled.

[Jennifer13]

Hi Ladylove, I can't really help with dream feeding as it isn't something I've ever done. At five weeks she will change what she does from day to day and a routine is probably not yet achievable. How is breastfeeding going otherwise? How are you feeling about it all?

My DD2 is 10 weeks old now and to get as much sleep as possible when she wakes during the night/early morning I bring her into bed with us to feed. We then cosleep for the remainder of the night, I know I feed her again, but I'm not waking fully. I feel much more rested this time around. I don't know whether something like that might work for you, or how much support you get during the day.

If you can get the support and rest you need then you'll be more flexible and able to go with the flow as your baby's needs change.