Thankyou everyone for your support. I haven't replied earlier as I'm really struggling, I can't stop crying. I rang Rodney and he's away on holidays The lady I spoke to said that Rodney had ok'ed BF with the antibiotics I'm on before- but on half the dose I'm on and only for a week. She wanted to speak to him before saying anything either way. She tried to call him and couldn't get through, but said it'd 'probably be ok' but there's not alot of research and its a grey area. I didn't want to risk it, so I've been giving bub formula and expressing.
But now I'm losing supply in my left boob, I suspect I've got blocked ducts because when I express I can only seriously see milk coming out of one hole. The most I've gotten out of it is 40mls, and the last 2 times I've expressed I've only just covered the bottom of the bottle.
I can't stop crying, this is a nightmare!
yas. hopefully barb will pop in soon but remember that expressing isn't always a good indication of supply - i struggled to get 10ml when my DS was only a couple of weeks old but he still went on to feed until i weaned him at 20months. alot of people have success when they're expressing if they look at a photo of their baby or look at their baby while they're expressing. you may also not be in quite the right headspace at the moment - it's obviously a stressful time but maybe when things have calmed down a little, you may get some more milk. for the blocked duct - keep massaging the breast/s, i found in the shower was a good place because it was warm.
and you don't need to be a member of the ABA to ring their helpline - 1800 686 268 - they're very helpful & supportive. their website is also very informative & has lots of good suggestions for things like relieving blocked ducts.
You are having a horrible time. Can you PM me with the name of the drug and the dosage and I will see what I can find out for you.
what kind of pump are you using? Get a hospital grade medela symphony and express every 2 hours during the day. You will get through this. If it turns out you could have breastfed on the antibiotic your doctor needs a good smack. This is what health professionals so often don't understand - just how important it is to breastfeed for a mother, and how difficult expressing can be. And formula is regarded as having no risks at all - though the evidence tells us otherwise. Use icepacks on the affected part of the breast. Express every 3 hours in the night. YOur milk will come back when your baby is back on the breast.
And PS, why don't you put your little one back on the breast for a few feeds to clear the blockage? It will be less than the week the pharacist spoke about
Sorry you are having such a hard and stressful time. Getting your head around full time expressing, albeit temporary is stressful too. Once you get the hang of it it will be a bit easier and it sounds like it will be temporary in your case.
Yes, try and get a medela symphony they are the rolls royce of pumps. With this you can double pump if you are confident to try and would reduce the amount of time on the pump. The easiest way to do this is to just do your bra up around the flange. The low amount of milk could be because of the pump type. The other thing a LC showed me was to do a single pump doing the bra up around the flange and put bubs on my opposite side of my body and feed a bottle using some skin to skin. This could help if your body needs contact with bubs for a let down. At first it feels a bit awkward but like everything gets easier after a couple of goes.
If you've got a blocked duct you will get a lump in the breast and it will end up being painful. It will reduce the amount of milk whilst it is blocked. I'm a full time expresser and I get these several times a week. People find different methods that work for them to get rid of it. For me I warm up a heat bag in the microwave and hold it on the lump whilst I'm expressing. It's the only thing that works for me and for me I usually have to do this for two expresses in a row to get rid of it. I've heard of other people expressing after having a hot shower.
Last edited by Lisa B; November 4th, 2011 at 08:47 AM.
With respect to your DF, it's not his long-term health at stake here, it's your baby's, and if there are offers of EBM from other mamas, your baby will be much, much better off with that - a lot of women don't know how to access someone else's EBM, so you're in a very good position with offers.
Rodney's work is bothering to know which drugs ARE compatible with breastfeeding because the drug companies don't - they advise against BFing whilst taking the meds because they haven't bothered to actually find out what it is about BFing that could be incompatible with their drugs. It's not based on what they know, it's most definitely based on what they don't know. But guess what? Rodney DOES know - he's a chemist who uses his chemistry knowledge, rather than the marketing knowledge. And he CARES about breastfeeding, which is why he does this, so that mamas can keep doing a really important job at such a critical time of little people's lives. If you're still unsure who to believe about 'safe side', as your doc just what it is about the drug that makes it risky for babies having breastmilk. I bet he won't know - I also bet there'll be a pause and some guess about why that might be. Doctors advise as much on the basis of not knowing as they do on knowing (I'm being very generous here!), because they know how much we trust them and they know how much they have to pay in premiums to their insurers. That sounds cynical, it's also true. They are under a lot of pressure, not to get it right, but to not get it wrong!
Meanwhile, not having access to breastmilk poses risks that last over a lifespan, not just 5 years and "phew, not ill-effects, we're in the clear". Your DF doesn't have a natural right to make that kind of decision about your baby's life, especially if he's not done research into the benefits of donated BM (he's probably not even done much research into the negatives...cos there aren't many, and they won't apply to you!).
Definitely get that baby on your boob to remove the block - you're at least going by the minimum knowledge of Rodney's colleague
You can do it, you can do it, you can do it - please keep telling yourself this as a mantra. Many of us here have been through seemingly impossible starts and just stubbornly stuck to our guns, not taking 'no' for an answer - you can do it
Thankyou for your support, it's really helping. I just had the medela symphony delivers this morning- it's so much easier to use and I managed to get 30mls out of the left breast. I put bub on to suckle for 10 mins to try and stimulate that left side. I've got to go and express again bbl xx
You're doing a great job Yas, hang in there. Feeling so stressed and worried about it is bound to effect your ability to express, it probably isn't an indication of your supply. When you can feed your baby again you will get your supply back. I can only imagine how you're feeling. I hope you can get some answers about the antibiotics soon. And if you decide you want to use donated EBM just yell I'm sure you would get lots of offers of help.
Heaven- the reason i'm so worried about the left boob and the amount coming out is because im getting a good amount out of my right boob (i think? Im not really sure how much i should be getting)
Ok, iv'e been recording how much ive gotten and what time. So far iv'e expressed 4 times and am about to do the 5th after this post.
wow that pumping is impressive!!!! excuse the typing, im expressing myself... lol that sounds wrong, i think it needs a comma lol
hun, i think your supply is coping fine remember you will never be able to express as much as bub can get out. if i was expressing fulltime with the amount i get out she would be a screaming banshee and she would be very ill and not growing! my lefty is abit crap with supply too.. or i just cant express much out of it. the most i get out of lefty is 20 mls!
wow that pumping is impressive!!!! excuse the typing, im expressing myself... lol that sounds wrong, i think it needs a comma lol
hun, i think your supply is coping fine remember you will never be able to express as much as bub can get out. if i was expressing fulltime with the amount i get out she would be a screaming banshee and she would be very ill and not growing! my lefty is abit crap with supply too.. or i just cant express much out of it. the most i get out of lefty is 20 mls!
You're doing well Yas!!! My left boob is a low producer, has always been that way. My right makes at least double on a regular basis.
I'm not sure of how long you are expressing for and the intervals in between. I normally go for 20 minutes each side (but only 20 mins all up as I double pump) and in the first 6 months I was doing 8 times a day. To know if you are getting enough milk the main thing is to get enough to cover your bubs feeds. If you want more detailed information about expressing look up kellymom.com Scroll towards the bottom and there is a section on Pumping with heaps of information.
I'm glad you got the symphony it will be worth it.
I know it's hard but you are doing well. Hang in there.
You'll get there hun. Don't forget if you do have blocked ducts you can get physio ultrasound to help clear them. When I had mastitis badly the supply in one side dropped really low like that, but it eventually recovered.
You are doing an amazing job. Don't forget to keep the milk you're getting in case you find out later it's ok to give bubs. And don't forget to have a probiotic before bed each night. And dose yourself up on them once the abx are over.
When I was in hospital and Liebs was tube-fed (OK at 2wks not 6wks old), I would feed him from me, feed him the expressed milk from the last pump, then express again. I might manage 30ml all up if I were lucky!
I was advised to express the "bad" side first, then the "good", then back on the "bad" again. This would increase supply to the lower supply breast. Don't know how true that is, but that's what I did.
Many babies cope with bottle then back to breast - mine did. And that was without decent teats that mimicked the breast.
Reply With QuoteThe lady I spoke to said that Rodney had ok'ed BF with the antibiotics I'm on before- but on half the dose I'm on and only for a week. She wanted to speak to him before saying anything either way. She tried to call him and couldn't get through, but said it'd 'probably be ok' but there's not alot of research and its a grey area. I didn't want to risk it, so I've been giving bub formula
and expressing.
yas. hopefully barb will pop in soon but remember that expressing isn't always a good indication of supply - i struggled to get 10ml when my DS was only a couple of weeks old but he still went on to feed until i weaned him at 20months. alot of people have success when they're expressing if they look at a photo of their baby or look at their baby while they're expressing. you may also not be in quite the right headspace at the moment - it's obviously a stressful time but maybe when things have calmed down a little, you may get some more milk. for the blocked duct - keep massaging the breast/s, i found in the shower was a good place because it was warm. 
remember you will never be able to express as much as bub can get out. if i was expressing fulltime with the amount i get out she would be a screaming banshee and she would be very ill and not growing! my lefty is abit crap with supply too.. or i just cant express much out of it. the most i get out of lefty is 20 mls!
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