Relactating

He seems to be crying all the time ATM.....is this normal? Unless of cause he is on the breast!

Danni, have you tried carrying him around in a sling or HAB? Go for a walk (if it's not raining where you are) to clear your head.

It's normal for babies to have an unsettled day here and there. Could he be sick? Is anyone else in the family sick?

Could be a growth spurt - he's about the right age for one I think. At around 10-11 weeks DS fed every 1.5hrs during the day and 2-3 hourly overnight for about 3-4 days and then my supply caught up and things settled down again. He always cluster fed from around 4pm to 7pm also....

Aww thanks ladies. I rung the hospital yesterday to see if they have a LC and i went straight up there after getting off the phone, she told me to up my Motilium dosage to two tablets three times per day instead of one tablet three times per day. She seems to think i am doing everything else right although she thinks we need to try and get him away from wanting to snack constantly. The problem is when he feeds he only sucks for maybe 5-10minutes then decides to go to sleep and when i put him down he then wakes up and wants to be fed again :rolleyes: I think it is just going to be perserverence and he will slowly grow out of it. It isn't as though he is underweight or not putting weight on or anything.
I put my dosage of the Motilium upto two tablets from lunch time yesterday and i have already noticed a difference....filling up alot quicker. All in all i was pretty happy with what the LC had to say to me and was even happy for her to say i am pretty much doing every thing right....thanks to all you ladies of cause :D

Nearly forgot, when he had his 4pm bottle yesterday he only consumed 120mls and the same for his bedtime bottle as well, so he only had a total of 240mls of formula yesterday! So he is filling up on my gold juice quite well now isn't he?

Nothing much has changed, he is still wanting to snack heaps during the day but i am telling myself that is fine because he has been sleeping 9hrs overnight!
I reckon i must lose 100mls of milk in my breastpads overnight...quite leaky by the morning.

Sounds like things are continuing to go well, Danni. Is he having any formula bottles now?

He is still having one between 3-5pm and then one to go to bed with about 8pm and always offering the breast first before each bottle feed.

He is being a bit of a bugger atm with day time sleeping...well actually it is non existant! He might sleep if i lay him down in my bed with my boobie in his mouth, where as at night he self settles and puts himself to sleep after his last bottle. I don't know if it is that he isn't full enough to put himself to sleep of what?? My supply is good in the morning but then i don't seem to satisfy him after that...am i just being paranoid?? I feel soft during the day...i do start to fill up and then he feeds again, it kinda feels as though there just isn't enough there during the day IYKWIM, how do i pick up my supply during the day??

Your bbs not feeling 'full' is not an indication of your supply. Most mums don't feel full anymore after the first couple of months (I think for me it was 6-8 weeks). Some settle down more quickly.

As long as you are used to bfing him at a certain time, the milk will be there. Towards the end of the day a baby is more likely to be fussy and more difficult to settle for many reasons, and not usually your milk supply. I remember my DD would cluster feed in the evenings, three times in about 3 hrs and what seemed quick bfs. If I hadn't been told about this at a bfing class, I would have assumed I was not giving her enough milk, but actually, she was just filling herself up before bed. She would then sleep for a lot longer.

Don't worry about whether you have enough during the day - if you feed him, it will be there!

Thanks Jennifer! I have expressed tonight and i got 50mls off the left....what a shock!

So glad to see how well you're doing.
The day sleep problems could be from being overtired. Do you use a sling/carrier at all? they can be life savers during the daytimes.
DS also cluster fed between 4-7pm, roughly every 45-60mins or so, and was just generally very fussy at that time. I think he stopped doing that around 3.5-4months or so.
Like Jen said, if you feed him the milk will come. Your bbs feel softer cause you're emptying them more often, which actually means you're making more milk (you make more the emptier they are) - it just doesn't seem like it.

Thanks Marcellus! When you explain it like that it makes sense....me just being paranoid and all.
He tends only to like to nap as such during the day, half hour here and half hour there! I know he gets over tired but i have tried everything to get him to sleep and stay asleep and it just doesn't happen. I kinda figure though he sleeps so well overnight so i won't rock the system to much and just let him lead me. Today wasn't too bad, we were laying concrete and had a few ppl over and i could basically just sit and watch everyone work today LOL, while i sat there and BF as he wanted...no stress what so ever and it worked quite well. I fed when he needed and i would just put him in his pram when he started to grizzle a bit and rock him to sleep, actually it worked a treat. During the day normally i just lay down with him now for a few hours and at least he sleeps then. He only become real fussy at around 3.30pm and i gave him his normal bottle and to be honest i think he knew it was time for the bottle as. He does so well, doesn't care to be switched from breast to bottle and vise versa and doesn't have a preferred breast side to feed off either...i'm pretty lucky!

He has settled down a little over the last couple of days and my supply i think has picked up a bit, either that or i am a little more relaxed as well!
We went on an outing today and BFeeding was so much easier than taking a line up of bottles :p We went to a local waterhole and i just sat in the shade and bfed most of the day as it was pretty hot....a few ppl commented i had the boob out so much and i just told them "well you don't wait 3hrs between a drink...do you" they kinda figured it out then LOL! I didn't care anyway, my little man was happy, we even sat in the shallow part of the water and had a bfeed. We have definately bonded better since relactating and it is so nice.
Even if we didn't drop anymore bottles i am completely overjoyed with what we have acheived so far!

You should be overjoyed, you have done a BRILLIANT job!!!! So very happy for you Danni, it sounds like things are settling down for you. Isn't it easier when going out? ;) And good on you for making that very sensible remark re.drinking every three hours! :D You're a BFing pro now!!!!

You should be happy! Sounds like it's much easier to take an outing without all the extra equipment.

I thought i might just do an update as to how we have gone over the last few months.

We have made it to 6 months and still breastfeeding :dance: he is a happy and well adjusted little man and we finallly figured out each others needs around the 4.5-5 months. Now he is an absolute delight to be around.....the crying all day has gone and now i have this little man that smiles all day at me and even smiles and sticks his tongue at strangers to get a reaction!

I would like to thank all the ladies that helped me so much during my most difficult parenting time. You helped me more than you will ever realise.

:D

That's fantastic news Dannii :D I'm so proud, you should be too! Woohoo on making it to 6 months!!! :hug:

Your truely and inspiration! you have done a brilliant job!

Wow Danni!! You are awesome!!