Is there a breastfeeding while pregnant thread already?

[MummyBerryJuice]

If not would anyone like to join me?

Experienced and first time feeding while pregnant mums welcome. I'm almost 11 weeks with DC2 and am still feeding DS (15 months). We are currently working at night weaning him (although he is incredibly persistent) and he still feeds 3/4/5 time per day, although he is starting to eat more solids.

I don't know anyone in RL who has fed whilst pregnant or tandemed and it would be great to be able to share frustrations etc with others.

So please come and join me, or point me in the direction of the right thread

poppet your post brought tears to my eyes. The kangaroo care bit sounds so benefitial to her (and you) and it must be heartbreaking knowing she needs to go back in. Well done you for staying so strong and keeping up with the pumping (and then some!) Isn't there a suppliment they can add to bm to up the cals? I may have misremembered this!

Cherry kellymom is really well referenced so you will be able to check everything she says. As you aren't familiar with it or how crap hcps knowledge of bf is i'm gonna stick my neck out, assume you're new around here and say welcome to the mn bf/ff board.

Oh, poppet I'm so sorry, I missed your post. Thanks Moon for making me realise. How wonderful that you got another cuddle today p.

Yes, there is a BM fortified they can use to add to your milk instead of giving 'normal' formula, tiktok has posted about it before. I might start a thread asking about it. Hope you don't mind, p?

Poppet I have found www.northtrentneonatal.nhs.uk/uploaded_files/-1Fortifier_Guideline_-_PDF.pdf from asking about fortifiers on a thread here and this from the Bliss site.

Sorry if I'm giving information that you already have.

Poppet,

I have just had a good think about the information I've linked to and it seems to suggest that a preemie fed on EBM should be receiving the maximum volume of milk (180ml/kg) as breast milk, if possible of course but it seems like you're having no trouble with supply, but if still not gaining adequately, fortifier should be used to increase calorie density of the milk.

organiccarrotcake who runs the UKAMB website has suggested discussing it with Gillian Weaver from the NHS who is an expert in this field. I can PM her contact details on to you if you'd like.

Please tell me to butt out if you feel uncomfortable with this .

Hi all.

poppet pleased you got another cuddle. Your DD must be quite strong if she cried when she went back in the incubator. DD barely cried at all for about the first month of her life. I know it's not nice to hear it though for you. It sounds like the others have it covered with the breastmilk v formula chat. Just my own personal experience, but DD had pure breastmilk. (except once when the nurses forgot to look in the fridge overnight and gave her formula for one of her feeds - grr) but with the fortifier stuff if needed. I was like a cow and had just about enough expressed milk to feed the whole NNU. Unfortunately we don't have a milk bank so I ended up binning about seven litres of milk.

On virgin gut my understanding is that you can get back the virgin gut conditions by ebf-ing for a while. Can't remember how long now, but I did look into it when I was in a state about the formula feed DD had.

My news is that my sickness is better I think thanks to the tablets. But I'm still feeling grim and not eating that much at all. Only really bland foods. I'm gutted as with DD at this stage I was already craving fish and chips and taking full advantage of my pregnancy to eat what I liked. Hopefully the sickness will pass soon. I thought BFing was meant to improve/reduce morning sickness??

DD just seems generally unsettled at the mo. Maybe caused by my refusal to feed her yesterday pm. She was hard to get to bed last night and had to be taken out in the buggy for her afternoon nap despite me feeding her. so really I needn't have bothered!!

I think my milk is changing. When I hand express a little it looks more 'blue-ish'. Not sure if that will make sense to anybody else!

Hope you're all well and special loving wishes to baby poppet. I hope you don't mind but I added her to my prayers in church today. xx

Hello everyone, and congratulations Poppet, so glad you have been enjoying cuddles with your wonderful dd- and well done too, you sound very positive in a very difficult situation.

KD, I really hope you are back onto fish and chips soon

I seem to recall tiktok saying two weeks re virgin gut...well remembered kd.

Hope you feel better soon, imo eating a bit more is one of the perks of pregnancy. Ds was built from eclaires!

Not long to go now loopy, hope you are feeling ok.

Poppet and minipoppet, thinking of you.

Wave to mbj, hope you are well.

Morning all.

"MoonFaceMamaaaaargh Mon 05-Sep-11 03:30:44"

What on heart were you doing up, Moon?

Thinking about you and Willow, Poppet, hope you are both well and that your DS and DH are too.

KD I hated feeling sick. urgh

I haven't been on here for a while but I could do with some advice please.
DD is 2.8 and I am 32+weeks pg with DC2.

Since my colostrum came back she has increased her night feedings and will stay latched on for over an hour. I find this so amazingly painful that I just lie here angry, trying to roll away every few minutes and having her cry and chase me for more milk.

Will this get easier once the baby is born or am I going to be like this until she weans?

I can't sleep for the discomfort/anger and last night she woke me at 1:30am and fed on and off until 3:30am and again 5am until about 3 seconds ago. I've tried telling her no but she gets so upset and pulls at my clothes.

Anyone who has done this before, will it get easier? I am exhausted and have to work today.

oh poor you kelly.

I don't really know, but i am banking on nursing getting easier. Ds swaps sides every ten seconds for ages and i'm guessing that won't happen when i have a proper flow of milk rather than the dribble i have now. Maybe when your milk comes in your dd will be more quickly satisfied?

Mbj has night weaned her ds so maybe she would have advice if you wanted to in down that route.

When do you finish work?

Mbj, ds is still going through this developmental thing so having lots of night wakings.
I'm sure your baby (dd?) will wait till your dh is back. Do you have a friend who could help if you did go in to labour early? All mine have dc's now making it tricky. I take it your dh can't just pop back.

Hi Kelly. I understand exactly how you feel.DS went through a period like that at the beginning of my pregnancy and I was really starting to resent him. I HAD tonight wean. We used Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning method and it worked surprisingly quickly with DS, however, he still wakes at night. And we still co-sleep for most of the nights but now he tends to be able to settle easily with a cuddle. It is much, much better for me.

Choose a time (possibly of the weekend when you have DH around and you don't need to go to work so you can rest during the day) and be prepared for lots of crying and protesting . It is difficult but for me at least, it was definitely worth it.

Moon all my friends have kids too AND I don't have many locally anyway (only 2 really ) as I am not from here and there is a very insular 'small town' mentality that prevails. I might ask one of them if they'd be willing to be my emergency back up, she's quite free atm, as her DH can do childcare during the day if needs be.

Anyway on another note, while I was cleaning and tidying the kitchen this morning, DS was busy-ing himself playing in the sitting room (which ajoins the kitchen) and I could hear him happily pooling along when he suddenly burst into howls. He had been carrying the logs outnof the log basket and stacking them up to use as a step onto the sofa (God knows why as he can get on it without a step) but as they are obviously not stable, he slipped and in the process split his lip. Much screaming and bleeding

I fed him which helped calm him and stopped the bleeding but he was still very upset and so I've fed him to sleep for his nap this morning (haven't done so in ages as it usually irritates me). Am feeling really guilty for not supervising him properly and his top lip is terribly swollen and sore

oh mbj, there are so many 's in your post.

Don't feel bad about your ds, you simply can not watch them at all times and they are so quick. I regularly find ds on top of the tv, the dining table or window sill.

Are you worried that he'll want feeding to sleep again now? How does he normally drop off?

Nah, I'm not worried. He needed the comfort. He's much happier now that he's had a nap. Poor tot's lip is massive, he looks a bit like mike Tyson

I did realise that there was a million 's in my post after it loaded. Just a reflection of my feelings of guilt

I usually walk/drive him to sleep these days for a nap and DH does bed time reading and then cuddling him to sleep.

We're off to meet DH for lunch.

Thanks both of you. I feel really quite mean now that I'm at work and DD is with the CM - probably as tired and grumpy as me for the disturbed sleep.

I did consider night weaning and DH and I have discussed DD getting in with him at night for a while rather than me but he works away so much that I just think we'd struggle with consistency and she'd be even more upset.

I either need to do something about it or just accept it, don't it? Lying there going along with it but livid isn't doing either of us any good.

I feel like today is one of those weepy days, like it's just really dawned on me that I've got to give birth in a few weeks, I'll be at home, exhausted with two kids while DH stays in nice hotels, has full nights sleep and his meals cooked for him is working away and DC2 has turned posterior and is kicking the crap out of my belly button and making me feel sick.

I'll have a cry and come back in a better mood.

Thank you both for understanding, no one IRL understands.

realMBJ my DD did something similar with a side table a few weeks ago and I was distraught (she split her eyebrow - A&E visit and glue/steristrips). I felt so guilty that I wasn't in the room when she did it - although DH was and its not like he could have stopped it either. I hope your DSs lip is better soon and you had a lovely lunch with your DH.

Kelly I have definitely found that I'm better disposed towards DS now that he isn't hanging on to my nipple for hours on end during the night, even if I have to settle him (and it has to be me at night).

Joyful why don't you PM organiccarrotcake? She'll be able to give you some ideas about donation, I'd think.

kelly this may sound daft but the natal hypnotherapy cd i've been listening to has a "comfort dial" technique on it that i find myself using in all sorts of situations now, including those excruciating middle of the night feeds. If you do decide to try and ride it out maybe something like that might help. Along with some very early nights. Rock and roll...

Joyfull i live in leeds but chester milk bank used to come collect my milk...en route to a donor in hull . There is a bank closer but they weren't interested, so it's definatly worth "shopping around" ime. And bless your dd!

Scan is arranged for tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed.

What did I miss Moon? Why are you having a scan?

Moonface I used to live in Leeds. It's where my DD was born

I have the homebirth prep cd for natal hypno (started a thread on not "hearing" it because I fall asleep). Is the technique on that?

I don't recall having such sensitive nipples in my last pregnancy but then I also didn't allow anyone to go near them. I hope it passes. I also wonder if BF once full term is likely to bring on contractions - akin to nipple stimulation. If DD is feeding half the night.

Chester milk bank is my nearest, I just received the forms for donation this time. I had also heard that they will collect, I think the UKAMB site has a list of milk banking centres and a little symbol which tells you if they collect.

I am thinking of expressing colostrum antenatally this time, just in case I need to transfer for any reason (homebirth) and the baby needs milk (thinking if I tear again and need a repair in theatre). I have a LLL leaflet on it. Has anyone else done this?

Hi everybody
Hope you're all well
Kelly I hope you get your nights sorted soon. Being up all night feeding is bad enough without the 'agitation' feeling.
moon sorry you're feeling so try not to blame yourself. Thankfully DD hasn't had any major scrapes yet but she is so adventurous, she sounds like your DS. She makes herself steps to get to higher areas and is into everything. I don't follow her around the house all day, just wouldn't get anything done if I did.

Well today DH got DD up in the morning and gave her breakfast and so she didn't ask for her morning feed. Then we were out all day so she had her afternoon nap in the buggy. So I've not fed at all today. Going to offer her bedtime feed as normal. I just hope I don't do myself a mischief by missing two feeds in a row.

You should be ok KD unless you feel terribly engorged, but I have sent a whole day apart from DS and only fed him in the morning (when he'd normally have numerous feeds in the day) and I was fine.

Evening all
Hope you've all had better afternoons, and you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty for MBJ- although I know you just can't help it, part of being a mum I think! We probably even feel guilty for not feeling guilty enough!

Kelly, I've felt like you while feeding for pretty much the whole pregnancy - although night weaning helped massively, as it just cut down the time I was feeling like it, and night always seemed to be worse. But just never got round to full-on weaning and suddenly it was too late! And I still cringe when feeding dd now, at 37 weeks- really hoping it will be better after the birth too. I will let you know!

KD, I would just be vigilant as I got horrid infected mastitis when night-weaning dd, and I have to say I didn't notice any particular engorgement, it just sort of crept up and I suddenly had horrible pain and flu-like symptoms. But having said that, unpleasant as it was, I went straight to docs and antibiotics cleared it up within less than a day - that and feeding dd all day - she was in heaven! I'd never had mastitis before so perhaps didn't know what to look out for, it was very sudden. Well done though, it sounds like your doing well at cutting down- are you planning on total weaning?

kelly despite planning a hb i accidentally got the hospital cd (i'm being creative about imagining "going to the place where your baby

Sorry MBJ it was you whose DS split his lip not moon's

Well I am feeling a wee bit full on one side so I will need to keep an eye on it. DD doesn't go to bed till 9pm!

I'm still feeling fairly crappy and don't need mastitis on top. I'm not being sick any more but I just can't really force myself to eat much. I'm definitely not eating enough. I have bought some 'mum and bump' vitamin tablets but they're huge and I'm scared I'll be sick with them. But I will try to take one later. What a moan I am!!

loopy I don't really have a plan of whether to wean her. I'm going to speak to my doc at my first appointment with him/her (should be end sept I think) and see what they say.

Part of me wants to keep feeding her. And I love the thought of tandem feeding.
But a part of me wants a break before I'm constantly attached to another baby. And with my history of prem birth I feel a bit more anxious (really in spite of what facts I've found out).

I'd like to reduce her to one or two feeds a day and if she weans herself I won't make any huge efforts to keep her feeding. I think there's a story in 'adventures' about somebody whose dc weaned during pregnancy then started feeding again (not sure when) then weaned in their own time a few months later. I really must have a proper read.

kelly despite planning a hb i accidentally got the hospital cd (i'm being creative about imagining "going to the place where your baby will be born"...doh. Feels bit late to buy the correct cd now! The technique involves imagining a dial, and turning down the volume on any discomfort. I'm finding it really effective inspite of falling asleep. I chipped in to your thread at the end...have you managed to stay awake yet?
Why would you ever leave leeds?

I thought about expressing colostrum, but still don't have any! I'm just gonna put in my birth plan that they can hand express me or latch the baby on if i'm out of it.
Re bf and contractions, only if your uterus has switched on it's oxy receptors because labour is immenent. Frankly i'm banking on this to speed things up. Had days of latent labour last time.

I'll prob donate to chester again this time. Linda is so lovely...in contrast to the local bank.

Mbj i'm measuring small so they want to check all is ok as i'd be hb a-go-go come friday. Tbh their measurement are inaccurate so i'm trying to be optimistic. I've started a thread on it on pg.

Hope you all get a good nights sleep.