for those who are breastfeeding
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- Due in August
- for those who are breastfeeding
19/8/08 17:03
19/8/08 11:40
Yeah, my MW said the same to me about expressing for night feeds, she said give it a couple of weeks first and I might find she settles into a bit more of a routine. All night all she wants is boobs and it's hard to even keep my eyes open while I'm feeding her!! My MW also said that she'sjust starting to get a taste for the milk and building up an appetite so that's why she seems to be feeding non stop. I had starting using Avent nipple shields but she told me not to use them coz baby might not be able get milk properly but I know she was coz you can see the milk in the shields but I only use them every couple of days now as opposed to every feed just to give my nipples a rest if they get too sore. I deffo recommend them if anyone has really sore nipples xxxx
19/8/08 08:09
i spoke to my mw yesterday about expressing and bf as during the night he seems to be more hungry than ever and i just cant stay awake (feel useless already) but when he;s had a feed at 10pm for 30 mins then wants another at 12,12.30 im just too exhausted.
She said i can express now but try not to do it too much as my body will think i need more mlk than actually needed and then end up getting mastitis (sp) and as for giving him the expressed milk she said try and bf for 2 weeks so that latching is established first of all.
to be honest the last two nights when he's had a feed at about 3 am ive given him a bottle. and then bf him the rest of the day and night and he seems to be ok with it.
not sure if thats really goin to help or not. we went to tescos sun (my first outing!!! i was well excited!!) and i ended up feeding him in the car park. i wasnt fazed one little bit,darren was trying to put stuff infront of the window so people couldnt see (i was in the front) didnt even think about goin in the back, i just dint really care if people looked, as they tunr away straight away. think it would be diff if i was in a cafe or summit.
but most m.care and baby shops have a place to feed baby.
18/8/08 20:25
If you want to do both, you really need to breastfeed exclusively for 6 weeks first.... I just posted on the breast bottle thread a second ago about this, check out that thread and see if it helps hun xx
18/8/08 20:24
My ds had thrush when i bf him and he would bring a lot of his feeds back up and have terrible tummy aches/wind, the Dr prescribed gel for his mouth and antibiotics for me.
I am now bf dd she is 10 days old today and its going really really well, to start with had a few problems she wouldnt sleep anywhere but on me and she was feeding constantly, i got very sore very quickly and had to send dh out to the shops on a mission for bottles, formula, nipple sheilds and cream ! We started giving Emily a bottle of formula milk about 10ish at night and i used the sheilds and cream for every feed and it seems to all be better now, she feeds every couple of hours during the day, but sometimes it can be every half hour ! At night time she tends to go to sleep for about 10ish and then wakes up at 2 for a feed and then again at about 5, then she will be asleep until 8 she is much more reasonable than her brother ever was, i was feeding non stop around the clock with him !
18/8/08 20:21
oh well - thats that thrown out of the window then isnt it, i really dont want to breast feed right the way thru the day and night, i wanted to do a bit of both, any suggestions or is it 1 or the other?
18/8/08 20:08
YES! didnt the dr prescribe cream? you will constantly be passing it back to each other. you need to get the cream for your nipplesit will be a real pain for a couple of weeks, but it gets there in the end!
18/8/08 20:05
Hi all, I'm breastfeeding my Neve is now 19days old, I'm finding it really hard with a nearly 4yr old who wants my attention! shes started bringing alot back up all the doctors can find wrong with her is that she has thrush in her mouth! Does any1 know can i catch this? Jill, Ellie + Neve 19days x
18/8/08 20:00
Hey girls, I had an awful time tryin to latch my boy on - he would just take my breast n sleep on it or refuse it all together...this was going on for 5 days and I had to try latch him on for about 15 mins, then he would cry like mad poor little thing so i would hand express as pump wasnt working for me until I had the real milk in and then would have to top him up with formula...I found it soul-destroying and each feed would take over an hour this way n my breasts were sooooo sore! But then a miracle happened - he latched on at 6 days and has been breast feeding since. So to theose that are losing hope - keep at it if you can, maybe ur baby is just like mine a little slow n a little lazy, midwife came today n couldnt believe she found him on my breast n eating!!!
good luck to you all and dont get disheartened xxx18/8/08 19:53
Oh and Ellie, if you are struggling with the pain, I really recommend nipple shields to help. I had to use them with my other 2 as the pain was so bad. I've not had to resort to them yet, but have them here on standby! They really help. xx
18/8/08 19:50
Agreed re waking bub charlclarke... for the first few days baby should be fed every 4 hours ish, so wake them if they don't wake themselves. Just cos if they get a tad of jaundice, they get sleepy and need to be fed regularly to get rid of the jaundice. 7 hours is def a bit too long to go without a feed. If not fed regularly, they will get even sleepier and not feed iykwim? As others have suggested, try bathing baby, or even just changing a nappy sometimes wakes them up.
And just to say that Emma... don't count your chickens yet hun!! Isabella was a textbook baby for around the first 10/11 days!! She's not now though, LOL! You never know you might be lucky and Tabetha might stay good, but don't bank on it
xx18/8/08 19:44
Lil man is really good. Only wakes every 3-4 hours for a feed.
But last night was a different matter all together. 3 times in less than an hour and was i was falling asleep with him in my arms. and my milk has just com ein so boobs are sooo sore. so ended up topping him up with formula milk.
Im trying soo hard to keep BF but him latching does kill me at the moment.
18/8/08 19:20
Charlclarke - Babies are generally shattered after their trip down the birth canal so are very sleepy for the 1st couple of days and don't feed as much. I just made sure I fed Ruby every 5 hours if she didn't wake. The way to do it is strip your baby right down, and make them cold that wakes them from the sleep so they'll take a feed.
18/8/08 19:14
I hate to say it, because I'm probably gonna get the wrath of all DI August bounty mummy's lol, but, me and Tabetha-Ann are finding bf'ing really easy. But then, I did struggle with my other 2. For some reason, Tabetha-ann has taken to it really well. By 5 days old she was only waking up once a night for a feed, at about 2am ish, feeding for 30 mins, and then back to bed. She feeds every 4- 5 hours during the day. Has a bath at 6pm, a feed then, goes to bed at about 8ish. Sleeps for 5 hours, feed, up at 7am, feed..... I have literally got a text book baby, and I love it, and now she's 9 days old.
God, now you're all gonna hate me
Love Emma xxx
18/8/08 18:52
Im still trying to bf my baby.........it is difficult though! Im still going through the colustrum bit as i only had him on saturday so my milk could come tomorrow.
Its confusing because my midwive has said to me bf babies should be fed on demand but its nearly 7pm now and i last bf him at 12pm, thats a long time without food.
18/8/08 17:45
sorry if that sounded condescending - it wasnt intentional xx
18/8/08 17:40
and.....lets be honest, for those with experience, what would you prefer?
to feed in public, or, to express in public??!!
i think i would choose to feed lol!
18/8/08 17:36
yup, bod is right, you'll stop producing enough milk to feed your wee one, unless you express throughout the day, but to be in a postion to do that you'll need to bf exclusively for at least a week.
18/8/08 17:29
rachel, dont like to be the one to break it to you hun, but i dont think that you got a hope in hell of achieving this!! you will find that your milk diminishes rapidly, you need to feed to be able to feed im afraid.
18/8/08 17:15
i havent had mine yet, but im thinking of bf irst thing on a morning and last thing at night, and bottle feed during the day - what is your opinions on this please? obviously baby might not take to 1 or the other, but thats what im planning to do
vstewart.....i had same problem with my second dd. she latched on the third day and got jaundice, but once she was on she wouldn't get off LOL. Mw said that some babies have to teach themselves to latch on and that they can't do it straight away, and that not to worry.
Sara gave me a hard time yesterday sge was latching on 2 to 3 times every hour from 12 noon til 1am (13hrs- thats got to be a record) and then she slept for 5 hrs and had a feed and then slept for another 3 hrs. she has more or less been asleep since. bet she'll be up all night now.