bf 4 day old ds, bf 3 year old dd was grim. Have some questions and want honest answers please

[minxofmancunia]

My gorgeous ds was born on saturday morning and I want to rty to bf him. HOWEVER am a bit (very) scarred by the experience of bf dd 3 years ago. Empty breasts, starving cloicky child, low supply, relentlessness of it, total lack of any life of my own etc.etc.

From midnight last night until 3pm this afternoon ds fed constantly with only a few short naps. I KNOW this is just the start and am willing to put up with these marathons if they do increase supply and things calm down so I have some questions.

1. Is this normal at 3 days old? Or could it be due to the small glasses of wine I drank early eve?

1. What is the true effect of booze on breastmilk and your baby?

1. How can you diagnose low supply and what (truthfully) can be done about it?

1. If constant demand feeding does become an issue can I have some truthful stories about mixed feeding please?

1. What are common "hot" foods/drinks for upsetting bf babies tummies?

Thanking you all in advance for your honest replies.

Minx x

As far as 3. is concerned - Low milk supply diagnosed, as after using a breastpump in hospital every two hours for 5 days, not a drop of milk appeared.

1. Yes - esp at 3/4 days
2. Not sure, but believe it to be fractional
3. By whether baby is gaining weight/height (not necessarily at the same time each time), producing nappies, being alert etc - normal stuff. If you have or suspect low supply, talk to a BF counsellor
4. Can't advise - but having fed DS EBM from both cup and bottle, had no problem with nipple confusion or similar
5. General spices are common, but otherwise it depends on the baby. DS couldn't stomach me eating cabbage onion or grapefruit. God I missed coleslaw...

HTH and good luck

Congratulations!

1. Normal. They feed v v frequently to build up supply and get your milk to come in. Don't worry about the wine, unless you are falling over pished its not a problem.

1. See 1. Breastmilk has a similar alcohol level to blood iirc. Obviously heavy drinking and parenting aren't good companions but don't feel bad about a few glasses of wine every now and then.

1. Low supply is usually fixable by increasing the frequency and duration of feeds until the supply 'catches up' with the demand.

1. I can't tell you much 'cos I don't have that experience.

1. People say all sorts but IMO it is very individual to the baby. Is there anything in particular you are worried might be causing a problem?

My experience is that alcohol hindered my milk supply in the early days, and still affects my let down now and DS is 14 months.

The booze won't harm your baby but it may cause you to have more feeding problems than you otherwise would.

If you feel you are struggling with supply, then have a babymoon and just feed feed feed. Offer more sides per feed.

I had real problems with supply early on, mainly due to bad advice from midwives about trying to space feeds and only offering one side. We persevered though and by 6 weeks my supply was all sorted.

What you have experienced sounds totally normal. You are probably still just colostrum feeding at the moment, your milk will come in any time now. The feeding marathons really do increase supply, so go with it.

Congratulations on your baby, and good luck with the feeding.

Oh and further to 3. - pumping is not a reliable indicator of supply at all. I could never pump more than a few drops but DD fed and grew beautifully. If baby is not growing well, or not wetting/dirtying nappies frequently, this may be a supply issue or it may be an issue with how the milk is transferring to the baby. Best to see/speak to a BFC under those circs.

Firstly congratulations. It will get easier. You are at the toughest point.

1. Is this normal at 3 days old? Or could it be due to the small glasses of wine I drank early eve?

Yes, its normal. Enjoy your wine in moderation.

1. What is the true effect of booze on breastmilk and your baby?

None.

1. How can you diagnose low supply and what (truthfully) can be done about it?

If your baby is producing plenty of wet nappies then you are fine. Low supply is rare. (Some women with PCOS have problems) The frequent feeding helps build up supply by simulating your breasts to produce prolactin. The prolactin hormone makes your breasts make more milk.

1. If constant demand feeding does become an issue can I have some truthful stories about mixed feeding please?

dunno

1. What are common "hot" foods/drinks for upsetting bf babies tummies?

dunno

i had a lot of trouble establishing bf, getting latch and supply sorted. so this is from that experience and also i have no training so could be entirely wrong!

1. don't know, didn't get started till day 5. sounds good though.
2. apparently can contribute to low supply but i am not entirely sure, haven't researched fully. otherwise don't get pissed but have a glass or two.
3. feeding as you are in early days will build prolactins (i think) which didn't happen for me. wet nappies - make a splat noise when dropped - is a good sign.
4. never tried, likely to end bf.
5. nothing ime.

Normal in my experience

2. It can alter the taste. Quantity/letdown, I don't know

3. I'd reiterate that pumping is not reflective of supply. Some women just cannot pump, yet can feed with no problems.

fundamental low supply is rare. By fundamental I mean not resulting from poor removal of milk from the breast or restricting breast access. It can be helped by galactagogues (which I think include oats, fennel and fenugreek, although I'm not 100% certain) and certain drugs, dompiperidone is one.

Hi - just thought I'd add a message here as I also had my DC2 on Saturday, and am feeding, feeding, feeding today. Much as you are - from 11pm last night pretty much right through to lunchtime today, and now we're feeding again.

It's normal, and it's for a short time until supply gets established. But it is exhausting!

Hope it all goes well!

thank you very much everyone, that's really helpful.

countrybump congratulations! Good to hear someone else is in the same position!

He's awake now naps are getting shorter and shorter! Hope tonight isn't quite as intense as last night!

With my dd I actually expereinced similar probs in the early days but fed and fed as advised to try to up supply and increase time between feeds.

However at 4 months she still fed every 1-1.5 hours despite following all the advice. I ate no milk in my breats she was hungry and both of us were exhausted.

That's why I need reassurance about the marathon thing, because if things don't settle down eventually I can't face doing this for long.

Aplos re typos v tired

Bumping for you to get more responses. How's things today?

Hi

My DD still feeds on average every 1-1.5 hours and she's now 15 weeks. The only upside is that as she feeds so fequently during the day she is pretty good at night (only wakes once or twice). I am a bit pooped but she has become much more efficient at draining the boob so although often, it is not the marathon it once was.

1. As you can tell, this seems perfectly normal to me!!

1. I believe booze hangs about in your breastmilk like in does in your blood so one glass (or even a couple) will have little effect as the alcohol will leave the milk pretty sharpish.

1. I really don't know about low supply but as I think another poster mentioned, you are probably still at colostrum stage so don't worry about this yet!

1. I haven't done this but a friend mixed fed with no real problems (no nipple confusion or refusing the breast/bottle). I do think you are more likely to drop the bf first though if you go down this route but at least your lo is getting some bm!

1. Not sure - my DD had colic and from what I can gather, there isn't much you can do. The only experience I had was a hot curry upset her the next day so maybe avoid spicy things? I know others say berries can also have an effect (as in make them throw up rather than cause tummy pain).

Hope this helps - and congrats. Before you know it, you'll be talking weaning so I hope you enjoy this special time.

Congratulations my dd is 17 weeks so wil try and answer as best I can.

1. It was normal for dd she did it until 6 weeks and has since gone through a few growth spurts where she cluster feeds in the evenings.

2.I think a glass of wine dosen't hurt although dd gets fractious if I drink wine but dosen't get windy or anything if I have half a lager .

1. I don't know sorry.

5.I don't know what is common for other babies but for me dd gets windy and stressed if I eat cheese or drink coffee/wine.

HTH.

I have some stories about mixed feeding both of mine have been successfully mixed fed

DD had real tropuble latching on and my milk does take a longtime to come in ended up with very sore nipples and end3ed up expressing 2 feeds a day and changing to formula for the rest. At about 4 weeks tried t latch her on again and she did so she ended up having 2 brest feeds a day and the rest formula

DS having had a bad experience with my daughter I knew I would mixed feed whether he took to the breast or not. Also my DH does every second night for feeding so was in my interest to feed him formula during the night.
I established breatfeeding while in hospital but the first night home he had a bottle in the night of formula but during the day had all brest feeds. the trick for me was consistensy so I always gave the bottles during the night and always breastfed during the day. I did get sore with my son but used lansinoh and it was the best wish I'd known about it with my daughter

hope that helps with the mixed feeding question

Sorry can't help with all the questions. In the vast majority of cases, the marathon feeding sessions are just in the beginning. Take every feed as it comes and remember every one makes a difference, rather than looking forwards to a "target" like 6 months or a year, because that can seem too far away.

My antenatal teacher told me that BF is harder than FF at first, but once it is established it is usually much easier with no sterilising, measuring, taking bottles out, warming them, etc etc etc. It really helped to remember that when things were getting tough in the beginning.

For question 5: I wouldn't worry about it at all, unless there is a history of nut allergy in your family and then I advise you to do some reading - but really I think all babies are different and there is no evidence that foods do go "through the milk". I would only think about cutting out foods if you are having real prolonged problems.

Congratulations on your new DS

As far as supply goes, feeding on both sides, keeping up your fluids (drink water, milk, etc) and relaxing as much as possible (don't tire yourself out attempting housework) help. When your milk comes in, try to bf for the midnight to 2 am feeding; this keeps the demand/supply cycle up.