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Janie..... i'll pm barb. thanku. As for TT she was checked for that and no probs there.....
If she doesnt have any dirty nappies by end of today...what should i do??
Mum went down to the beach and got some salt water. been putting that on nipples in between feeds. i think its helping healing process and toughen them up!!
..... so per feed should i offer both breasts or one? i did a BF class with ABA in nov but there is still so much to know!
Just keep on feeding hun ;) And definitely make sure you get in touch with an LC. They'll be able to help you recognise if and when you need to top up. Obviously you'll be wanting to get rid of the expressing (and any comp feeds) but it's best done under the guidance of an LC.
Wait til that poo comes, you'll be doing a happy dance LOL! Who would have thought we could rejoice so much about poo :lol:
ETA In your situation I would be offering both breasts at each feed, as I described in my earlier post :)
Hey Renstar, looks like you have a heap of advice here from everyone and I have no doubt things will get much better soon xx..my advice..Just take ONE feed at a time. And try not to get overwhelmed with thinking about how you are going to get through the whole day..just take one step at a time.
Also, please try not to feel guilty..Starting breastfeeding and caring for a new baby is just like starting a new job. It wouldn't be expected of you to know everything on your first day, weeks or even months and it would be acceptable to make a heap of mistakes..It's the same with breastfeeding! Things will fall into place very soon. Just try and feed often (if your nipples can handle it) and try and get as much help IRL as possible with attachment.
I also wanted to say Janie is right about the poos..A newborn should have quite a few poos and not go long stretches until they are a bit older (I think our paed. said the other day at around 5-8 weeks they start to go longer between dirty nappies).
We are all here supporting you hun xx
Ren, you've got loads of fantastic advice. Try it all & see what works best for you.
The only other thing I can add is to feed with different positions eg: laying down, football hold etc. I found this really helped with my sore nipples as the different angle gives the sore area a break, if that makes any sense.
As someone mentioned, I wouldn't rely on the MCHN at the local clinic. I recommend going to the one at the chemist at Tree Tops, she's there wed 10am - 2pm. She sorted out Ronan's attachment issues with Jayne. She reckons she's fantastic. She even went to her house to check up on her.
Big hugs, it does get better, slowly but surely.
BTW BJ feeds really well from the left side, now. It has taken me nearly 6 months to be confident with it. HTH
I even took this pic, in my ticker, while he was feeding off my left breast....... tee he he
xxx
Thank you everyone :D Sorry i don't have time to write back to each of you personally but you've all been wonderful and so helpful.
Janie - yep will PM barb. :D doing it as soon as i hit send here! We must have posted same time.
So if no poo today should I be worried??
Ok, last feed was 9am. as in, she went off the boob just after 9am after a 45min feed so I have tried to wake her now..... but the little monkey just keeps falling back to sleep. She's been asleep in my arms since her last feed. Have changed her nappy and outfit to wake her, blown on her face, tickled her.... no luck!!!! She is so sleepy..... what should I do to wake her? I know she will stay asleep for 2-3hrs if I don't wake her now and then i'll be feeding ALL arvo..... I want to try to get her waking every 3hrs. still demand feeding aswell.
Georgi - yep im gonna try the football hold next I think.... starbright also recommended to do this too. Helps sore nipples. :hug:
So is the Palm beach clinic no good? I was going to go Tues morning at 11:30. Maybe I should go to Treetops? or both? you are so helpful to chat to about BF. I'm looking forward to you and Byron visiting if you can still make it!!
Starbright - you're a champ - thanks for calling me hun :hug:
Ren, don't be worried, just be aware that it is something you need to deal with. You are NOT expected to deal with it on your own, that's where the LC comes in. Don't rely on your MCHN, they aren't always great with BFing stuff.
Also, make sure when you're timing feeds that you count from the START of the last feed (kinda like with contractions!).
Oh, and leave her undressed to feed, nappy only. Blow on her face, put cold water on her face (gently of course). It's okay to be a bit vigorous with waking her if it's really time she had a feed.
Gotta go out now, chat later xoxo
Ren, a baby that age would normally have at least two, runny poos a day if getting enough milk. What the poos like when they come? Other signs that she is getting enough are 5 heavily wet disposables (or 6 - 8 cloth) a day and her skin bouncing back when pinched. Weight gain etc needs to be taken into account over a 3 -4 week period.
Ren - im prob not the best person for advice as i failed in the BFing stakes, but while i was BFing i found the football hold and lying down was the easiest, and nipple shields when i had really bad cracked and sore nipples were a godsend.
I also had a cold washer nearby for when B fell asleep, sounds cruel but it worked, i also had her just in her nappy to feed.
I know what u mean about the hands tho - DH use to have to hold them back for me, while i got her attached! hehehe
Ur doing a great job tho - keep it up! alot of being a new first time mum i found was all about perservering - and if u have alot of support - u can do anything!!!
keep up the good work!
Hi,
Congratulation on your beautiful baby. It sounds like you've had some ups and downs in these first few weeks. It can be very difficult to learn to breastfeed and interpret what they are wanting.
Babies who are born normally are optimally primed to breastfeed - they are wide eyed and hone in on the nipple with their bright eyes - ready for their first feed. Unfortunatley, hospital practices and modern birth impact on this. Often, these days, days are born with some of the drugs given to their mother on board - making them sleepy. Sometimes they have been hurt by the birth process. Sometimes there is a separation of mother and baby - even the separation for the baby to be checked and weighed can have an impact. So breastfeeding gets off to a less than optimal start. It is common for hospital born babies to lose 10% of their birthweight. A little more is no big deal - it sounds from what you said she is back to her birthweight - which is a great thing. A big tick here!
Some-times babies, for all the reasons I have mentioned above - and more - are not really able to "demand" to be fed. They haven't quite got the hang of understanding their own appetite yet - so mum and dad have to help them out - ensuring they get fed at least 8 times in 24hrs. (8-12 times in 24 hours is the norm for babies this age) If they go too long between feeds, they tend to conserve energy by sleeping all the time. A few days of very frequent feeding (ie feed her everytime she looks sideways) will change everything.
The amount of milk you can express tells you nothing at all about how much milk you have (it might tell you how experienced you are with pumping, how good your breastpump is, and quite a lot about how stressed you are - but nothing about how much milk you have) The important thing with milk supply is - supply =demand. The more you feed your baby, the more milk you will make.
Re your sore nipples - keep them as dry as possible. With very clean hands, rub a little milk around your nipple at the end of a feed and allow to dry. It's great that the pain subsides during the feed. At the end of a feed, do your nipples look round and normal - or squashed or pinched or shaped like a new lipstick?
I have pm'd the name of an LC near you. Get in touch with her ASAP.
A word re baby poo for all of us, not particularly Ren! nearly every bit of breastmilk can be utilised by the baby's body. It is true that after 12 weeks or so, many babies just poo once a week. But, in a very young baby, there should be several soft, mustardy poos per day. If this is not the case, then your baby probably needs a little more milk. Those days where she slept for long periods - 5-8hrs is probably the reason for this. With feeds every 3 hours, you will notice a big difference in this. I wouldn't assume colic just yet - it might just mean she wants a little more feeding. Don't be afraid to feed her frequently. It is pretty normal for babies this age to feed for quite long periods - this changes quickly. You might find it helps to give her 20 mins on one side, take her off (yes - she will make a grab for it when you go to take her off) give her a burp and a nappy change and give her the other side. If she still wants more you can swap her again.
As she gets more milk, you will notice that (and this sounds contradictory - but you will know what I mean when it happens!) she sleeps better when she sleeps and she will be more alert when she is awake, and will feed better.
Good on you for sticking in and getting the help you need. Pretty soon this will be all over, and you will be feeding like a pro
Ren you are so determined and that is half the battle, in terms of the sleepiness, is she fully asleep in that she isn't sucking or are her eyes closed and she still sucking?
If she isn't sucking you could try taking her off the boob and burping - while lot's of people say you don't need to burb a bf baby sometimes they can take in air so it isn't going to hurt especially if it wakes her up ;)
Not sure about not pooing hopefully ask barb but it should be daily at this age, the others have answered the other q's,
Keep persisting you are doing well.
Oh Barb - u are such a wonderful helpful lady (along with everyone else) wish i had of chatted to you when i was trying to Breast Feed!!!!
Congratulations on your bub.
Everyone has given you such great advice so I will just add a couple of things.
I suffer from cracked nipples since Olive's birth 4 months ago and it took ages to sort out all the problems so it's really important to get onto the ABA or an LC ASAP. I unfortunatly ended up with thrush and staph so I can't stress enough the importance of getting good help early on, just keep ringing until you do.
If they say the attachment is good also get them to check your nipples after a feed and your baby's mouth again. Olive has a high palette and short fenulum which is what causes my cracks but she was over 2 months old by the time it was discovered. I express pretty much full time but still bf at least once a day even if just for comfort. I found expressing an enormous relief in those early weeks, I would express for a few days then go back to bf as I was cringing and dreading every bf and that isn't a healthy way to be with a new baby. I used a bottle but Olive has luckily had no trouble going between the two. The thought of her spilling some of the precious bm from a cup was way to scary for me. I agree with all the comments about drinking lots of water and also make sure you eat really well and sleep as much as possible. Invest in a good pump if thats what you want to do and don't worry if you don't get much, it's not an indicator of low supply, your baby drains the breast much more effeciantly.
* in regards to the possible fast flow maybe try lying down to feed, takes abit to get used to but I found this gentler on the nipples as the baby can approach the cracks from a different angle as well.
* Olive was very unsettled in the early weeks so in the end we took her to an osteopath. Turns out she had a compressed neck from labour which put everything out including her gut. We only had one session where the osteo did some gental excercises and from that day forward she was a different baby. She slept and fed much better and her wind pains seemed to all but disappear, much happier girl and a much happier family. I would highly recommend this.
* I also agree with airing the nipples as much as possible. Also if you can use washable cotton breast pads as they breathe alot better. Don't face towards the water in the shower as your nipples can get 'water logged' causing further damage. In the beginning I hated Lansinoh and thought that I was better off without it but I use it again now. I have also tried using apricot kernal oil which works well but you need to wash it off before a feed.
Good luck with your BFing journey and enjoy your new baby.
Ren, Barb has given you such wonderful advice :D I forgot to mention the whole burp/nappy change thing inbetween sides........it really does help, and gives her time to realise that she really wants to wake up for that second side! I second the advice of not being scared to feed her often......I was when DS was little, god only knows why, but things really looked up once I got over that.
Hang in there, and let us know how you go with the LC :D
YAY!!! We got a DIRTY nappy 30 mins ago after her feed!! I changed her and woops it was still coming out.... I'm so glad!! Must mean today she got more milk!!
Been feeding her consistently every 3hrs. I found she attached much better today too perhaps cos' she isn't so hungry when she is attaching?? I think that's why. Before she was going longer between feeds so she'd be sleepier and grumpier cos' she was hungry! Am i right saying that?
Janie - i left her just in a nappy for her last 2 feeds today and it went well!! I loved the skin to skin. Felt closer to her.
MR - her poo's are frothy and brown/caramel colour.
HJ - i don't think a cool facewasher is cruel, sounds like a great idea! I splashed gently some water on her eyes before to wake her and it didnt really help lol thanks for ur support!
Barb - thank you for taking the time to type all that for me. It sure helps. Ava attached after an hour of the birth.... had a few ppl in the room after the birth and stitching me up it was quite distracting (and painful) so focus wasnt on her feeding straight away as much as i would have liked. I didnt have any drugs not even gas cos' i didnt want her to be affected for that very reason. We did get her attached with a MW and she did suckle for a bit and the MW said she did well.... I think I just didnt feed her often enough in hospital because i had no idea what i was doing. (i have huge guilt over that but i know i have to get over that as im learning).
Is salt water (from the beach) okay to put on my nipples in between feeds? It sure feels like its healing my nipples.... they feel better. I've stayed away from lansinoh today because I don't think she likes the taste of it and seems to be fussy at the boob with it on.
Oh, and my nipples "most" of the time remain the right shape and not like a lipstick etc i know what you mean...cos in hospital that was happening at the beginning so we have definitely improved on the attachment for sure.
NJD - thank you. No, she is awake but eyes closed. She is always sucking if she stops longer than few secs (you know how they take those breaks in between sucks) then i will tickle her chin that gets her going again.
Olivesmummy - i've been advised about seeing an Osteopath - I might do that. Will look into it after i see LC. Thank you.
You are right about those disposable breast pads. My boobs stick to them! They arent very breathable are they? I have a few cotton one's... must get more.
Well she just fed for 20mins at L side, then came off so I burped her. Then she fed 20mins R side so i burped her as she pulled off. Then after 20mins in the sling she started crying again so i couldnt settle her so i thought okay out with the boob again, so i did and she took the R side again (figured i should try to finish that side) and she took it for 15mins just now. And is now crying again..... probably just wants a cuddle! And she has sooo much wind!!!!
Will let you know how it goes tomorrow - feeling more confident thank you ladies so so much.
So proud of you Ren!!!!!!!!! :hug:
Ren hang in there - you are doing an awesome job hun!!! :)
:hug:
Oh Ren, that's great. It sounds like things are already better. Well done hun.
I have the most beautiful image of you feeding DD with eyes asleep sucking away, truly contented. You are doing so well, keep at it.