Babies Born February 16th-28th 2009 #1

[Kailani]

Hi everyone,

Sorry to hear of all the unsettled bubbas. Leon is seriously a dream baby at the moment, it's just my boobs getting me down. Anyone else having trouble with nipples? Mine are cracked, grazed and bleeding a bit and look like they have chunks missing I couldn't get Leon to attach early this morning as I was in agony, and also engorged so my midwife came to the rescue and got me to express the milk out while massaging the lumps. Anyway, gave him the expressed milk in a bottle and just cried while my grandma fed him. I really want to breastfeed and it's just getting me down not being able to. I think the best way to approach it is to keep expressing until my nipples heal a bit, but I'm worried he'll get used to the bottle and also it just really upsets me. Any other ideas of what I could do?

[Olive]

posting so i can read holly's post not sure whats happening there

[Olive]

holly i had attachement issues this time due to engorgmentm i too had to express off a little to make it easier but the damage was done, took a few days of getting the attachment perfects and my nipples healed just fine., key is to make sure your nipple is lines up with his nose, big mouth and chin on boob first, this make sure his head to tilted back slightly, hope i havent confused you, :hug; hang in there though

[OceanPrincess]

Holly

Isn't it frustrating, something that is supposed to be so natural being so difficult.

My nipples have been tender too - not to the extent of yours I think but still sore. Do you have any Lansinoh?? Has worked wonders for me in only a few applications.

Also, what bottles are you using? My sister was bottle feeding for 3 weeks and got my niece onto the boob - she used a "special needs" teat by Medela I think, it has a sucking mechanism that is apparently more similar to the nipple.

Stick with it...

[Olive]

OP how are your stitches going?

[lilima]

Holly - I assure you, your nipples will feel better in no time. Then you will feed for ages just like I did with J. We had so many issues to start with, with J, then he fed till he weaned himself at 14 months. So it will work. Just don't let it upset you.
E has basically slept all day, so I am a bit concerned that I will be in for a looooong night. Oh well. Mum is coming over tomorrow, and she is staying for 4 or 5 days so that will be nice.

[shellbell3]

Meg- wish you didn't live so far would be great to bring the girls over! Ikwym bout quiet with 1, I said to Df today how stressed we were with just Ash and now just one would seem so much easier! Thats great your mum is coming over for few days, did your hubby get some time off work?

OP- How did your day end up, she settle more as the day went on? Its so hard to know what is wrong and what to do! Just try everything and anything and even sometimes that doesn't seem to work.

Holly- My boobs are so sore at moment with engorgement, they never got this bad with Ash. Its hard to attach because of it and then it hurts to feed and have to keep re trying.

AJP- How long did it take for your engorgement to settle? Its really getting me down at the moment.

Em been unsettled for last few hours on and off the boob, starts crying 5 mins after we put her down. Hopefully she'll settle soon and get a good night sleep, guess it much prefer it now than in middle night again. We've even got dummy out this time which did settle but once she loses it starts crying so whatever we do she gets so upset once we stop!

Hopefully we all get more settled bubs soon.

[shellbell3]

I just thought to myself maybe Em hates being swaddled (cause Ash never liked it) and so I undid it and guess what she rolled her head to the side and went to sleep! Lets see if it lasts.

[Olive]

shell i was badly engorged from day 3-6ish,its settled though im pretty full now on one side and millie is due to feed the other side next feed and not onthe full side she only has one side.
apparently the engorgment is worse second time around

[OceanPrincess]

Fab, so I can expect engorgement next time round...

Got DD to sleep at about 3pm, awake again at 5pm.

Has been awake pretty much since then... feeding and crying...

AJP my stitches are ok, I'm on antibiotics, am now worried they are making Isabel sick...

[Olive]

id get both of you onto probiotics, you can take the capsules and you can get some kids powder stuff to put onto your nipples for isabel, go to your health food shop.
are your stitches falling out yet?? mine have started and it feels almost normal again !!

[OceanPrincess]

AJP what will the probiotics do??

And no I don't think they are falling out yet... I'm supposed to be having 2-3 salt baths a day but DD has not let me today... managed one while DH was here but that's it... sigh.

Thinking I should stop the antibiotics... worried they are giving me the runs (bad runs)... and possibly upsetting Isabel... I've had no appetite today, only eaten one piece of toast and a bit of mashed potato... might call my Obs tomorrow and ask her...

[Kailani]

AJP, the attachment was never an issue until he had the bottle and I started using lansinoh so I'm wondering if it has something to do with either of those two things: with the bottle the milk flows with little need for him to suck whereas on my boob he needs to put in some effort to get it flowing so maybe he's getting lazy and prefers the bottle? And with the lansinoh, it makes my nipples really slimey when he puts his mouth on them and I think it's hard for him to get a good grip and attach right even when I've tried to get as much of the stuff off first...sighhhh

OceanPrincess, that bottle sounds really good! I will defintely look out for something similar.

shellbell, how did DD sleep last night after being unwrapped? The engorgement has settled down here, I just have to keep massaging out the lumps to try prevent it. It's just my stupid nipples getting me down

Speaking of salt baths, I'm going to go have one now while Leon is asleep. I didn't need stitches but I do have some grazing/small tear which is pretty painful!!

Leon is sleeping SO well! He has a feed, burped, wait for poo, change nappy, on boob again until he's out of it, then swaddled and put in his snuggle bed where he'll sleep until the next feed. He is currently feeding every 4 hours like clock work! We have cuddles and play time while waiting for his poo! I just can't wait for my nipples and tear down there to heal and then it would be perfect...

[shellbell3]

Well my unswaddled trick worked for like 20mins only, we had a terrible night, she just would not settle til 1:15am, she was on and off the boob, we tried everything! Everything got her to sleep but nothing kept her asleep for longer than 10mins. I don't know how I'll cope once Df goes back to work. Won't be able to sleep in anymore.

Holly- Yeah could be the bottle, I have heard babies can get lazy cause bottles are so much easier to suck from. Are you back to the breast or still expressing? Is there a lactation person at the hospital you had him at you can call for advice?

AJP- Yep thats sure right, way worse this time round, after shower today I thought there was a porn star in my bathroom!

BBL the cow is being called to be milked again!

[OceanPrincess]

Well my unswaddled trick worked for like 20mins only, we had a terrible night, she just would not settle til 1:15am, she was on and off the boob, we tried everything! Everything got her to sleep but nothing kept her asleep for longer than 10mins.

Must have been the night for it... Isabel didn't sleep til 1am last night either. She's been unsettled again today... We're off to the MCHN soon so I'll see what she says.

Holly, sounds like you have dream baby, apart from the feeding! Keep persisting...

[Olive]

op the probiotics will put good bacteria back in to both your guts as the AB's kill both the good and bad bacteria. which is why you have the runs.

i worked out milllie likes her hands wrapped up near her face

[Malyna]

AJP - I wish Alex would be on and off the BBs in such a short time. He usually falls asleep and I have to tickle him to wake him up - usual settling time is the best part of an hour - but then he will sleep for 2-3 hours.

Shell - I hear you with the swaddling thing - Alex sometimes will just go down unswaddled and wake up calm, then if I swaddle him and he gets his arms loose, then he lets the whole world know how bad things are. The only time he seems really content is co-sleeping or in my arms sleeping, just after a feed. I know Alex wakes when he gets too hot.. Have you tried a warm deep bath?

Sorry don't get on here as often as I would like - I'm always going to sleep when Alex goes down for his naps - I just can't function on little sleep.

[Nai]

Holly, I got some grazing on the nipples early on and the lactation consultant at the hospital told me to do the following when feeding:

- With the hand the same side as the breast you are feeding from squeeze the areola in at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions
- With the opposite hand hold the back of the baby's head and get as much of the nipple in to the mouth as possible
- Hold this position while the baby feeds. You will look like you have one arm as a chicken wing and the other along the baby's spine.

I hope that makes sense but it really helped me get her attachment right and cleared up the grazes (and stopped her vomiting up the blood she was swallowing) really quickly. I was also using the lansinoh after each feed. I didn't stop breastfeeding at all so I don't know about the bottle affecting it at all.