advice needed!!! tiktok? anyone?

[starlover]

yes, it's me again! more probs with the b/f.

As you may know I have had endless probs with b/f but have perservered this far. DS is now 10 weeks old and I STILL have a nasty crack on right boob which won't heal.

So I decided to start mixing b/f with some formula to give myself a break and let myself heal, and then if things get better then hopefully go back to exclusive b/f!!!

Anyway, a few days ago DS started bringing back his feeds (see thread on watery vomit)... This happens straight after he has fed. He will finish a feed and then lie there for a few minutes and then bring back quite a lot of it. Often it is very watery rather than milky. This seems to carry on until it seems he has brought up the whole feed.
It makes no difference if I keep him sat up... he still does it.

But... I have noticed that it is only when I b/f him. On the formula he is hardly sick at all.
So is it something to do with my milk? I don't want to give up b/f already... but feel I am on a slippery slope now as it would be easy to move to formula completely.
I mentioned in my other post that I have recently started eating meat again after being vegetarian for years... would this have any effect?

Any change in diet can affect you and what affects you affects your milk. I would suggest ringing the NCT breastfeeding councellors (08704448707), they are great and can put you in touch with someone locally. You may find adjusting your feeding position will help with cracked nipple. If it hurts when baby is attached his position is not quite right. Although I am breastfeeding 3rd baby, left side is still tender after 14 weeks, but I cannot be arsed with making up bottles, sterilising and paying out for formula. Breastfeeding is fab cause it is always on tap, and the bond I have with my baby is great, I would be loathe to give this up, as it is for such a short time in their lives.

starlover, the fact that you have a cracked nipple and that he's bringing up his feeds suggests to me that maybe its a problem with the way he's latched on? i.e that he's chewing on your nipple and taking in air at the same time and then throwing up due to wind. Otherwise it could be something you're eating that disagrees with him. Hard to know what, though!

starlover - not poss to say what's happening here, sorry. You need to find someone who can look at you feed and assess what's going on. I don't think the wateryness of the vomit is significant, though....breastmilk is sometimes watery and it just means it's not stuff he has partly digested (this would be thicker). Can't imagine meat in your diet is an issue, either.

But you need to get the soreness sorted asap.

are you winding him starlover? i hardly ever did with dd1 but with dd2 if i forgot she too would vomit quite a lot (with blood too,when i had the cracked nipples problem ). i just put my hands around her, under her arms to gently move her diaphragm (by moving her up & sideways at the same time) and this seemed to help.

yeah he is winding fine. it's v odd though.
If it was due to incorrect positioning wouldn't he have done it from the start though?

yeah he is winding fine. it's v odd though.
If it was due to incorrect positioning wouldn't he have done it from the start though?

oh and also... he did it yesterday with a bottle of expressed milk..

That is puzzling starlover, usually breastmilk is less of an irritatant than formula. Your best bet would be to keep a food diary and see what seems to irritate him the most. It seems a pity to give up bf when its so good for them. I found black coffee curry and red wine caused probs with my ds.

Sorry there should be a comma between black coffee and curry. I don't make curry with black coffee!

How is it going?

hmm yeah, i'll do that and see if there is any pattern.
I think I have finally sorted the positioning, although I think it's more that he is bigger now and opens his mouth wider LOL... I say that because the left side is absolutely fine to feed from. And sometimes so is the right... just this one crack that seems to keep opening up again when he feeds. Expressing seems to do it too, so I figured that if I replaced a few feeds with formula then it might just give it time to heal..

It's probably just coincidence that he started doing this now. It makes me feel like there is something wrong with my milk though iyswim, because it doesn't happen with the formula!

starlover, be carefual about replacing too many feeds with formula. Your own supply will diminish and it could be difficult to build up again.

is he taking too much in one go ? I found with my twins that they would guzzle down a bottle of expressed milk - and then 5 mintues later throw it all (or so it seemed) up again all over me - ugh.

It maybe that your milk is actually coming out so well that he is getting more than he can handle. Maybe try stopping a feed a bit before you normally would and see how it goes. If he still seems hungry then feed him again a bit later.

It probably will fade away as his tummy gets bigger.

Was it you that had the problem with thrush ?

Maybe the crack would heal if you only expressed from that side for a few days and breastfed off the other.

I agree - don't replace too many feeds with formula otherwise your supply will suffer - express if you can manage it instead.