Newborn breastfeeding support thread (plus support for people planning to BF)

[smk84]

Hi all, I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where we can discuss the questions we have about breastfeeding in preparation for our babies being born. We could also post questions here once our babies are born, share our experiences and support one another. I will post some links that people might find useful (thank you to wormshuffler, Albrecht,bertiebotts and crikeybadger for these). Any more suggestions would be welcome.

The Best Beginnings Website here
Kellymom is a great website. There is a link to their newborn page here
Information on co-sleeping on the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative website here.There is also lots more info on this site.
Biological Nurturing website here
Thought it would also be nice to post our due dates/baby born dates here

Smk84, DC2 due 5/6/11, DS1 born 1/5/09

Hi Love, long time no see! Am fine, thanks. Hope you're doing well.

FatherBartimas, I am going to tell DH that and hope it works! My MIL, DM and stepmum all BF successfully, so I should get lots of support. Mum BF after an EMCS, despite the fact that my twin and I were 5 weeks early and wound up in incubators for the first month and she was trying to express and bring the milk in for us. Think both she and Dad just assumed it would work so it did, if that makes sense.

Good, thanks, Too - hope same with you.

Hi, can someone please advise me? Baby is almost 2 days old. He was 9 lb and born at term with a straight forward VB. He's latched on well since the beginning but does not seem to need feeding that much. I usually need to wake him and I do so every 4 hours. He then sucks for a good half hour but I'm not sure how much he actually drinks and Im still on colostrum only. He's had a couple of dirty nappies with meconium but not a lot of wee. He hasn't had a wet or soiled nappy since this morning. Should I worry? Please help! Thank you

VanillaC- it might be a good idea to speak to your midwife about your new little one. Four hours is not very frequent for a newborn so it could be a good idea to keep him close, skin to skin and just feed at every opportunity.

Sometimes it's hard to see the wee in a disposable nappy, but if you do have any concerns then why not ring your mw just to check.

crikey thanks for your message. Midwife is difficult to get hold of. Do you know if i can phone a helpline and how urgent is it? Thanks

OK, you could try waking him a bit more frequently- say every 2-3 hours. This frequent feeding will help get your milk to come in.

You should be able to phone through to the labour ward and just check with someone there. One poo a day is fine on days 1-2 but I would expect 2 or more wees.

Here are the helplines:
NCT : 0300 330 0771 (7 days a week, 8am-10pm)
The Breastfeeding Network: 0300 100 0210 (9.30am-9.30pm every day)
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers: 08444 122949 (9.30am-10.30pm)
La Leche League Great Britain: 0845 120 2918
Government helpline manned by The Breastfeeding Network and Association of Breastfeeding Mothers: 0300 100 0212

Hope this helps.

Oh and congrats!

That's really helpful and reassuring. Many many thanks

vanilla when my mw asked about wee's and I said I couldn't tell (disposables are just too good sometimes), she suggested I put a bit of cotton wool in ds next nappy and check if the cotton wool got wet?

My midwife didn't even ask about wee! She's not very good. He definitely had a wet nappy tonight but also a bit of orange staining? I'll try to call one of the helplines tomorrow if I can't get hold of anyone locally and I will also try not to let him go more than 3 hours between feeds tomorrow. By the way do you count 3 hours from the beginning or from the end of the feed? It makes a difference because I let him suck for at least half an hour, more if he likes!

Well to be fair, not everyone considers that the wet nappies are important. La Leche League for example, think that as long as the baby is having some pooey nappies, then these will be accompanied by some wet ones.

The orange staining is known as brick dust or urate crystals and is highly concentrated urine. It's normal to get this just before the milk comes in - which should be any day now for you.

Iirc, you count from the beginning of the feed but to be honest, you don't need to clock watch- just feed as frequently as you can. You'd be looking for around 10-12 times in 24 hours. You can offer one breast and then the next at the same feed too.

btw- I am not a trained mw or a breastfeeding counsellor so please check any thing that you are not happy about with one of those people.

Let me know how things are going.

vanilla, this is all stuff for your midwife....you have a legal right to midwifery care so don't be shy about phoning and asking for a visit :)

The helplines are fine but they will want to know a midwife is on the scene as well.

Some babies are a little slow to start feeding, but you can help by keeping your baby snuggled into you, skin to skin, and you will find feeding becomes more frequent.

Thank you for your help.
A different midwife visited today and I feel reassured. He's been feeding more frequently today and my supply is increasing although I still don't have thick white milk, I don't think. He's been peeing well but still no bowel movements since yesterday morning so will be 48 hours in the morning. He does have lots of smelly gas though!!
I was told to phone the delivery unit if he still hasn't pooed by tomorrow at 5 pm but she's confident that I should get a nappy full in the morning! Fingers crossed!

All sounds good :)

BTW, you may never have thick white milk - breastmilk is often thin and bluish.

tiktok still no poo! I've followed the midwife's advice and let him sleep next to me and suck as much as he liked during the night so he was on and off my boob most of the time. He's definitely getting plenty now, I can hear him swallow big mouthfuls. Should I be really worried about the lack of bowel movements though? Thanks for your support, I really appreciate, it.

Midwife said tomorrow at 5 pm (ie today) - yes?

It's not that time yet :)

On what you have said here, I agree with the midwife - watchful waiting, no emergency yet, if no poo call again.

I am assuming he has passed meconium and more than once?

Yes lots of meconium in first 24 hours then nothing!

Anything yet, Vanilla?

Hi there! Some good news finally! He still hadn't pooed [sigh] by 5 pm so I rang the Delivery unity. They were really good and rang me back after they had spoken to a paediatric sister. She wasn't too worried but did recommend he was checked again by a midwife tomorrow. She said to try to give him 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar in 20 ml of sterile water. I was reluctant to do so because he hasn't touched a bottle yet and it almost felt like I was letting him down by putting anything other than breast in his mouth, if you know what I mean, even if just sugary water. DH told me not to be silly and clearly I was just being hormonal so we gave him that. He wasn't sure at first but then drank it all. Then I fed him normally and after burping him he was wide awake and started staring at me and listening to my voice. Then - all of a sudden - a very loud loose poo noise! And another two! I'd never said that the smell and sound of poo could bring such relief! And now he's sleeping peacefully on my boob

Good news vanilla!

A somewhat unconventional method, but with a good result.

You can also try wiping (gently!) their bottom (as in the actual sphincter not the cheeks!) to stimulate a poo. Animals use their tongues but I'd rec. a cotton wool ball in warm water or a wipe

No sticking anything up the sphincter though just gentle wiping around the muscle!

I can verify that the above method works as my DD likes to wee and poo everywhere while i'm changing her!

Thought i'd join in with this thread as my DD is now 4 weeks old and we only just seem to making headway towards pain free breastfeeding! It's been quite challenging but when we do get the positioning and attachment right its so satisfying and i'm enjoying it so much more :o) hopefully we'll nail it soon, perseverance is the key i think!

I can also say that it really helps to have a supportive partner, I was quite downhearted about the pain and difficulties I was having BFing but dd was gaining ample weight and is way over her birth weight already so every time I got stressed out with it all my DP would remind me of this! Made me feel loads better :o)

I'm with you on the DP bit. I feel i could not really be doing this on my own and not just the breastfeeding. I find I don't want him to go anywhere and the idea of him going back to work makes me want to cry! Also, somehow I don't like anyone holding or touching the baby apart for him? Is this normal?
On another note can I ask what you think about using a breastpump to increase milk production? Today he's been feeding less so far and I'm worried that if I don't express my boobs will get the message that they need to produce less which is not what I want because he may want much more tomorrow! Also I'm a bit concerned that he seems to feed no stop at night and yesterday he was getting frustrated that he wasn't getting enough. So how can I help getting enough when he needs it? Thankful for any advice!

I personally wouldn't think you need to start expressing just yet vanilla.. Your milk supply is just getting calibrated and you wouldn't want to start messing around with it just yet. As long as you are feeding 'responsively' - watching for his cues, then things should be fine as you are.

Ideally you should be looking for about 10-12 feeds in 24 hours.

The constant night feeding is normal at first- he probably hasn't quite got his days and nights worked out yet and his desire to be close to you is completely normal and good for your future milk supply. Your breasts won't ever be empty so don't worry about that but you can switch breasts once his sucks start to slow down. (and you can switch again back to the first side).

I think it's normal not to want lots of other people hold the baby, I guess it's the protective mothering instinct kicking in.

Are you seeing the mw soon for a weight check for DS?

Hi crikeybadger thanks for your reply.
The midwife weighed him on Friday afternoon so he was not yet 72 hours old and he'd lost 12 oz (weighed 9 lb 1 oz at birth) so I guess it's all right? It's less than 10%. Thanks for the advice about the breast pump, I thought it could be a bit of a mixed blessing! I guess I have to try to trust my body to be really clever and get it right

How are you getting on Vanilla?