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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

tiktok, bfing gurus, bfers, interested parties of all creed and colour... heyulp! bfing a preemie baby... top tips please

356 replies

Aitch · 12/09/2008 15:46

don't know where to start, really...

dd is two weeks old today (blimey) and put on her birthweight on wednesday so that's great. however of course she didn't start putting on weight until her formula top-ups, topping up with ebm didn't do the trick.

her weight gain today was only 30g (last few times has been double that or more) and i do put that down to the fact that i've been pumping more and therefore have been giving her more ebm top-ups than formula.

question is... what's the tipping point? she is gaining, i am producing more milk (not heaps, but volume-wise we are on target for the SCBU calculations). we were told to give dd 280mls per day in top-ups as well as bf, but with the formula it's been more like 350ml.

so do i accept the 'slow' weight gain and think of dd's longer-term benefits having protected my supply, or do i want her on formula but with more energy to feed, iyswim?

midwife has suggested one top-up of formula, and at the next topping-up with ebm, this seems like a reasonable compromise to me, but am i missing something.

OP posts:
madmarriedNika · 18/09/2008 22:48

PS. Great weight gain mini-Aitch You are doing fab

laundrylover · 18/09/2008 22:52

Brilliant weight gain Aitch - well done you and your super-boobs.

Original poster
Aitch · 18/09/2008 22:54

i have shells, tink, i must dig them out. so much to fit in, lol, with all the being naked as a kangaroo etc.
i'm pumping now, mmn, but i have to go and cook a chilli for tomorrow night... do you think i dare plug myself into the kitchen? would that be stunt pumping, do you think? sharp knives, hot oil, naked flesh...

OP posts:
moondog · 18/09/2008 22:55

Do those mega industrial pumps stick on without you holding them there???

Original poster
Aitch · 18/09/2008 22:57

do you think i was kidding about the bra, moony? i'm not. thirty quid for a boob tube with holes in it. expat made me.

OP posts:
moondog · 18/09/2008 22:58

L
M
A
O

Really??

(Oh God, am sorry. Mind you, you can get on with other stuff right|? As long as cord permits?)

Original poster
Aitch · 18/09/2008 23:01

oh yes, dh says i look like a porno-Nolan sister with by boob toob on. (actually there was a porno Nolan, wasn't there... )

it's quite good, tbh, means i can MN without getting sore shoulders and i'm inclined to say that my let-down is better without all the tension of holding the stoopid things on. but i do look like a Prize Twat.

am going to try to make the dinner. pray that i don't cut through a cable, ladies.

OP posts:
moondog · 18/09/2008 23:08

Bless you.
My friend has horrid (but she can laugh now) story of pumping with similar in hospital about 2 days after baby born in a curtained off cubicle, and the curtain being ripped back by some awful chav in search of his girlfriend. She said the look of horror on his face as he backed away was priceless.

Ah, sending lots of positive milky thoughts your way

WilfSell · 18/09/2008 23:10

'passing out drunk with milk dribbling out'?!

RESULT. God yes, let her sleep then.

I pumped in the morning after the first or second feed when I had loads of milk but only after it stopped hurting me which was weeks and months....

Lying down? I didn't at first until the CS scars were VERY well healed. I found it pulled too much (but them have very floppy stomach). Even when not painful, could only do so confidently at first with lots of pillows pushed up against scar to prevent gaping feeling.

when I did feel more comfortable, I lay baby down with head just under my armpit and arm sort of curled round to brace him a bit; arranged nipple as appropriate. Sometimes latched on first then lay own but only works when you've got some stomach muscles back.

vlc · 18/09/2008 23:25

Now hang on one cotton pickin minute. I could have sworn you once cut nipple holes in an old bra - you inspired me to do the same!

Anyhoo, reading that old thread reminded me that I used to stick dd in a front wrap cross carry, latched on one side, whilst pumping on the other and that worked quite well, helped take advantage of the letdowns. Jeez, I can remember that quite clearly now.
Could you take a minute to read how brilliantly supportive you were on that thread? You really helped to keep me going.

I hope you are hugely proud of how well you and teenyweenyaitch are doing.

Also, re feeding lying down, I used to use one of those "v" cushions, laid flat on the bed. I'd lie my head on one 'arm' of it like a pillow, and the other 'arm' went down my back providing a bit of support to stop me rolling onto my back. This actually made things much more comfortable once DH discovered this position. (He claims credit, natch) Once latched on yank baby firmly into your body to snuggle up tight.

Persevere a bit till you find what works - it is definitely worth it.

madmarriedNika · 18/09/2008 23:28

maybe you could start a new sport, a bit like extreme ironing, but extreme pumping
I have a photo of me double pumping in what I called the milking parlour, surrounded by dull textbooks I was trying to study from, I kind of look on it in strange affection now...but then I would have been glad to chuck the darn pump out the window! I'd seen those bras but they weren't available when DS was born- I becamse a master of holding both boobs plus pump attachments in one hand...not to be recommended!

TinkerBellesMum · 18/09/2008 23:34

Oooh, first solo lying down feed (first was a nurse when we were readmitted after a week as she had a mystery virus) I started by sitting on the bed, latching her on, then lying down and then lying her down. From there I was able to work out how I needed myself and her to be.

expatinscotland · 18/09/2008 23:37

it's too bad my sister gave her bra like that away.

she got it to pump when she went back to work, though.

that way, she could take it into the ladies' lockerroom and pump AND still work on a laptop, in true -slave American fashion.

cmotdibbler · 19/09/2008 08:48

Can I offer my extreme pumping moments ? In a loo at Stockholm airport, in a patient changing room at a customers hospital (in Sweden thankfully, first trip away when DS was 6 months old, and they did know I was bfing, but having to ask to go and pump was a bit toecurling. Of course, being Swedish, they batted nary an eyelash...), lots of car parks in the back seat of my car, in hotel rooms whilst on a conference call (pump under pillow), and of course the tension of sitting in the first aid room at work wondering whether anyone was going to ignore my 'in use' sign again.
Ah, happy days.... It got so it seems weird not to have to pack a pump to go on a business trip.

Anyway, am off to Boston now, and will be thinking of you and miniAitch, whilst I am Mnet less

Original poster
Aitch · 19/09/2008 09:30

oooh, enjoy bawston. where everybody knows your name is, er, cmotdibbler.

now, preemie ladies. dd has a cold. how worried should i be in light of the whole resp inf stuff?

OP posts:
TinkerBellesMum · 19/09/2008 09:39

Just see how it goes. Have you been given adjusted doses of Calpol or told how to do it? I can dig out the instructions I wrote somewhere if you haven't.

If you are worried either get an emergency appointment at your GP or take her to A&E as either will see her straight away (because she's premature and because premature mums worry more ). You learn very quickly that people don't mind seeing premature babies when you're worried.

RandomIdiot · 19/09/2008 19:44

If you are worried take her to see GP...they won't mind...TBH she was not soooo prem that she actually had any respiratory support (unless I missed that one) so I wouldn't really be any more concerned that I would with a "proper" 3wk old. But then I would probably be concerned about a "proper" 3wk old anyway.

But you can't give paracetamol yet as she is too young.

TinkerBellesMum · 19/09/2008 21:47

Yes, silly me! It's been that long I'd forgotten it has to be from a certain age. Although it says as long as they're not premature they can have adjusted doses which is why it says that IYSWIM.

welliemum · 19/09/2008 22:12

Oh! Poor dd2. How's she doing, aitch?

laundrylover · 22/09/2008 09:10

Aitch - top tip from my sister's GP in Scotland....squirt some breast milk up the baby's snotty nose!! Works a treat it seems and now both my sisters are regular squirters.

How you two doing today?

Original poster
Aitch · 22/09/2008 22:54

i would squirt but i don't really have the function. i can squeeze milk onto the surface but no squirting. [inadequate]

so shoudl i be able to squirt liek a cow?

OP posts:
moondog · 22/09/2008 22:59

I cwas never able to squirt. I never leaked either. I tell a lie. I leaked one drop once.

Original poster
Aitch · 22/09/2008 23:02

i dream of leaking. i dream of sore nips. i dream of SOME SIGN that i'm normal.

getting dd weighed by paed in hosp on wed. brickinng it, as she's had no formula and hardly any top ups in last few days. it's my bold experiment, not hers. if she's not put weight on i'm in big trouble.

OP posts:
VeniVidiVickiQV · 22/09/2008 23:10

Oh aitch that's amazing! No formula top ups at all? She's bound to have gained!

I squirted A LOT! DH used to have to duck when I whapped a nork out for feeding DD or DS . It made me ultra conscious of feeding in public in case I blasted some poor unsuspecting member of the public...the grass isnt greener etc....

I LOVE that picture, btw

You got any more?

moondog · 22/09/2008 23:10

Oh my dear girl!!

It sounds good not to have sore nipples. Is utter misery.

What does your instinct tell yuo about how feeding going?