What is your Breast feeding routine?

[Bellyrub1980]

I don't mean routine as in hours between feeds etc. But how do you approach offering each Breast?

I saw a Breast feeding consultant today and she was so helpful in getting my latch right. She also told me how to offer each breast but I must admit I've kind of forgotten the exact order (I was so euphoric my baby actually latched on!!)

Anyhoo what I'm doing is this:

Im feeding on demand only. I've when showing mouth signs like rooting or stirring in sleep loud enough to wake me.

I offer first Breast (I'll say left for this) ensure baby actively feeding, stimulate cheek if not.

When baby naturally detaches change nappy.

Then offer right breast till baby naturally detaches.

Then settle with cuddles, dummy etc. Then down in crib.

For me, the main concerns I have are...

1. Am I doing this in the right order?
2. I'm not convinced baby actively feeds for very long at all. And she's just comfort sucking after a few gulps.
3. The settling bit takes bloody ages

I don't always change the nappy in between but it's useful if she falls asleep (more so in the early days).
I pop her on boob 1, wait till she detaches herself and doesn't try to get back on, give a little back pat for wind and switch sides. I offer a 3rd side too (but my dd is small and I'm trying to feed her up).

Babies do have breaks in suckling - just as adults don't chug every drink down in one - but I was shown to gently blow on her face or "compress" (gently squeeze) the boob if I thought she wasn't suckling enough. You could try that?

You are supposed to START the next feed with the last boob used on the previous feed. Helps with supply I believe.

I was told to do breast compressions if baby isn't actively feeding. Look at videos on Dr jack newman website for examples of good and bad suckling and how to do compressions.

i do change first, although in between actually makes sense i might try thatâ?¦ but about the active feeding stage, my hv told me that the point where it seems like theyre asleep, just sucking lightly ("fluttering") was when theyre onto thicker hindmilk. now shes pointed that out i can feel theres more going on then than id thought!
the settling does take bloody ages thoughâ?¦

Ok thanks for those replies. I am inclined to just let her suck until she detached herself because she always seems calmer that way. Plus it doesn't hurt like before so smi don't mind.

Squizita I remember you well from the pregnancy board. You had such good advice back then. Pleased to see you're still posting now your baby is here. How old is your baby?

ruth I didn't know that about the hind milk. That reassures me further about letting her stay on. Thankyou

tinkerbell I shall check that out and try some compressions on her next feed. Thank you

She's 2 months. Just a little one for her age (Clexane tends to result in smaller size babies ) but perfectly healthy and robust for it!

2 months already. Mine is 8 days old now. And I don't want to wish days away, but I can't wait till she's older and I know what in doing!!

No one really knows what they're doing lol! The babies rule things round here!

We're having a crying day today. Although it's just the baby, not me for once!!

What things do try with a crying baby? My routine is:

Boob
Nappy
Cuddle
Cuddle walking about
Dummy
Swaddle
Lying her on the bed staring hopelessly at her
Start again

Change of scene works with Suzy sometimes - like distraction.
And any transport thing... pram, car/car seat, stroll in sling.

Stopping crying:

Jiggling
walking around
walking up and down stairs
reading a book with them on your lap facing forwards
in car seat swaying back and forth
rattle type toys
having a bath
changing a nappy
offering boob
facing telly bad mother
Loud music (put headphones in)
Sling action

not in that order!

Loving reading your crazy routines! Here is mine for 4 week old DD2
Wake up BF right boob, until she comes off.
Offer right boob again (advice from my HV due to green poo/lack of hind milk)
Offer left boob, and again.
Put DD2 on bed to try and have shower to do the school run for DD1
Have shower listening to grizzly baby
Eat breakfast in 5 mins
Do school run with screaming baby (still starving apparently!)
Get home
Offer right boob, again
Left boob, again
DD finally goes to sleep.

Repeat above feeding process every 2/3 hours except for around 3 when screaming starving baby comes on school run again despite being fed just before!

sophielouise good to hear I'm not the only one leaving a grizzly baby to grizzle while I have a shower etc. What else can you do? I know you're meant to not let them cry and offer boob before anything else, but I need to eat and shower at some point. And then sleep.... at some point... Please! (Even if it is just 3 hours a night).

Mine is quite happy to sit in her bouncy chair with a mobile. Less grizzly than usual. Doesn't do much for the old ego.

I've been using baby gym/rocker chair in the bathroom whilst I shower. She is loving the patterns on the ceiling, and buys me time to shower! Still haven@t figured out eating tho, carrying DD in a sling around the house at least gives me two hands free!

I tried the bouncy chair in the bathroom this morning and it worked a treat! I think she likes the sounds of the shower. She then watched me intently as I dried my hair. The good thing about the chair is that it keeps her upright which I know she prefers after a feed.

The chair may be my saviour! Thank you x

Sophielouise your hv is a dummy. Offer one boob then offer the other one then offer the first one again if it's wanted, keep going til baby stops feeding. Don't feed from one side twice. The whole hind milk thing is greatly exaggerated. So long as baby feeds for as long as they want on each side then they will get enough milk. My hv advised to try and get my dd to feed for longer on one boob and her advice was wrong. Tiktok who is a well known poster on these boards explained it to me and I can't remember the link she had explaining it which isn't helpful I know!
Still breast feeding my dd now at 11 months and these boards have been great for any questions I had. Good luck ladies you're doing fab.

At what point do you change the nappy??

I'm finding (re nappies) half way through is good but baby invariably does a big poo after the second boob.

After both boobs wakes sleepy baby and causes hiccups and sometimes vomit

Can't win!!

Eh? I've never heard of a proper order for offering boobs. I used to start with whichever one felt heaviest and then offer the other side when he lost interest in the first. Repeat for as many "sides" as they want. After about 3 months they stop feeling heavy between feeds anyway so I just used to guess.

You don't have to offer boob first before trying anything else, that's just one way of doing things. Admittedly it was what I did as it seemed to fix most things. But definitely not required.

Nappies - whenever they did a poo or it seemed like it had been a while.

Here:

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/07/foremilkhindmilk-and-lot-of-confusion.html

This is why the advice to feed on one boob twice in a row isn't necessarily helpful.