May 2013 thread our new and not so new arrivals

[BeauticianNotMagician]

Hi ladies

Just thought we could all really do with this. Rather selfish a its mostly for the thousand odd questions I have and things I'd like to share/ vent that no one else would understand.

We've all been together so long I even talk about you all to DP

Those of you still BF whilst on medication for mastitis, how are you coping with the nipple pain? Especially as my LO is wanting feeds every hour or so, it is getting very painful!

buttery for me with mastitis it's always been more breast pain than just nipple. I usually get a really red, sore to touch area of my breast. It hurts all along from there down to nipple when let-down happens but not specifically nipple. I dont know how others experience mastitis though just have my own as reference. Are you feeding more from that side to get things moving? Might just be that and frequent feeding. Keep an eye on your latch and positioning. I tend to let those things lapse during mastitis as it hurts so I focus on that more.

That said, with this bout my nipple and surrounding areola have been very sore from about day 3-4 of antibiotics. For which I'm now on thrush treatment for after spotting the telltale white blobs in DD3's mouth (so she's on treatment for it too). And I think I have another blocked duct as of last night that's come out of nowhere :(

Establishing bfing can be so crap sometimes. This is the second baby in a row I've had these issues. I long for it to be like DD2 where it was easy and problem free from the first feed!

I don't know if this helps, but the bf support worker suggest I fed using the football hold position when my nipples were sore. This helped mine to get better x

Terrocota and bunny, thank you! Ill try a different position and see how that goes. She is feeding alot so it might just be that!

LO has got tiny spots over her face! Any idea what they may be?

Hormones buttery, dd has started getting little spots too on her face.

Nathanael has got spots. Apparently it is baby acne ! It is slowly getting better. There is nothing you can do for it just leave them and not touch them

I'm another one with blocked ducts as well as the thrush. I think it's caused by the sling, I need to adjust it a bit. Hope we all geta break from all these maladies!

Has anyone's baby got colic? I'm not sure if dd is going through a growth spurt or has colic. She is either crying, feeding or being changed and has a very restless sleep, with cries from sleep.

What do you that breastfeed do with your boobs at night? I can not sleep in a bra, but am getting fed up soaking the bed as there is no place to put my breastpads in my nightie! It gets worse when I feed at night. The boob that isn't being used just leaks and leaks and leaks.

I've given up with nursing bras full stop. The cups get wet when folded down so I live in comfort/sports bras day and night and just pull the cup up. Although I got through 2 bras & pj tops the other night as I leaked through.

My LO has a big spot on her foot; it looks like a bite. Her clothes have been drying on the line. Do I need to be corned about it? X

Sorry- concerned lol! Trying to text left handed and feed right handed x

I'm ff but still leaking a lot so sleep in a bra at the moment with breast pads on, I can't wait to ditch the bra and be able to eventually get a comfy sleep. Could you buy some cheap strap tops from somewhere like primary and stick the pads to it then put your nightie over the top?

You can get nursing sleep bras dxb they're like a crop top and really comfy but fold down nicely for feeding.

DXB I've got some crop tops from m&s. They are really stretchy and comfy. I'm a 36G and they cover me well. Plus really easy to lift up for feeding.

Not sure about the spot. Does sound like a bite but seems unlikely to be the line drying. Have you got pets? Could it be fleas? Sorry . I'm sure it's not.

Oh, and those crop tips were cheaper than nursing bras. £12 (I think) for pack of 2. They are in s,m,L etc though.

Ladies when do you find is the best time to express ?? And for how long etc xx

The spot looks like a normal spot now, not as red as this morning. We have a tortoise so don't think it's him lol! Although we've had a mammoth couple of days of visiting/visitors so who knows.

I'm interested to know about expressing- how best to do it alongside breast feeds. HV suggested introducing a bottle for one of the feeds to get LO used to them.

Yeah mine has suggested same bunny but I don't know where to start xxx

I believe milk production is higher between 1 and 4 am, but mornings are recommended if you don't want to do it at night.
Although I express in the evening when I know ds won't wake up mid expressing.
And of you leak on one side whilst feeding on the other then breast shells collect the leakage and you can pour that into bottles. As they all sterilise. I'm buying some tomorrow

Any amount is okay, but they do tend to drink more from the bottle than they'd take from you. (As its easier). I'm only expressing about 2-3oz a day (both boobs put together, not each one) as long as its the same temperature you can add them together throughout the day to make a larger bottle.

I was expressing due to thrush and mastitis in one boob, and dd was fine with both bottle and boob. I found mornings the best. If you want more milk than organic nursing tea from amazon works a treat for me.

Just wondering why the HV suggested you express too?

Has anyone considered cranial osteopathy for their little one? I'm considering it, as little one is very agitated, almost angry, and very tense and stressed.

Re expressing: if you're trying to increase your supply, I believe overnight is best. If you want to put some aside to bottle feed later, first feeds after normal time to get up in the morning should be when you have most to spare.

Re bras at night: I'm really not comfy in a bra at night, so I use the belly bands I had over my "cold patch" (tummy) during pregnancy as boob-tubes to hold the breast pads in place. Not ideal as they slide around a bit when I move in bed, but best solution I've come up with.

Re nipple pain: I use nipple shields from Medela- has helped me loads. At it's worst with DS1 I was expressing and bottle feeding, to give my nipples a break. So far this time have managed not to need that.

Also apply lashings of Lansinoh every feed and use new disposable breast pads every time I expose a nipple, to avoid risk of more infection. Using hand disinfectant every time I wash my hands, and washing my hands before every feed, also to minimise risk of infection. Dreary and really hope I can back off on these precautions soon, but until the constant runs of blocked ducts and sore nipples ease off, I feel "better safe than sorry".

Waving to the Mn thread, have been posting on FB but trying to keep up with all.

Sorry to hear so many probs with bfing. With my first, it was an absolute trial, it took us 8 weeks to crack it - he was 8 weeks old the first time he ever had a full feed without crying and 8 weeks before he ever ended the feed by rolling off, satisfied (until then, we would just get to a climax of fussiness and give up). He used to forget how to latch between feeds, and he's still a bugger for it, I have to ask him to stop and start again with a big mouth, if he doesn't he sometimes can't trigger a let down from my very abundant boobs. We never had thrush or mastitis though.

This time it's a breeze by comparison, DD is great at latching and really efficient, feeds aren't more than 20 mins and she's climbing centiles. But we have both thrush and mastitis, though tbh they seem like minor irritations next to the ongoing saga of difficult feeds and slow weight gain that were the early days with DS. Really feel for anyone in that position. IME it all evens itself out - DS had bounced right through his birth centile by 6mo and is a committed boob fiend to this day

Big sense of humour failure here today. DD is now 4 weeks old and is thriving. I, on the other hand, am about ready to collapse from tiredness. We're bottle feeding and have fed on demand, she has been more of a grazer, always getting the required amount or more, but in say 12 smaller feeds throughout the day rather than the precise 6 she should have been having, if only she'd read the manual to being a baby beforehand.

Following severe cats bum mouth expressions from PIL we're trying to figure out how apparently 'everyone else's babies' go to sleep upstairs with mum and dad (me and DD are downstairs as sleep isn't really on the agenda at night in any great amount) and all these babies feed every 3-4 hrs and sleep wonderfully etc... I think it really has to be the feed amounts, if we increase those we'll increase the time between feeds, maybe a little bit more sleep at night...

But there's something bloody ridiculous and kind of sad about trying to persuade my DD to drink a lot more than she is used to in the dead of night just so she will behave like all these other fictional babies.

She has responded really well to encouragement today to feed in larger amounts, I've gone gently but steadily with her, put in breaks, winded her, and it looks positive. But even so, I started this particular feed an hour ago. She fed well, I changed her nappy, put her down, she punched herself in the face and thrashed about so much I thought she was going to take off, and is now settled in my lap ready for me to try putting her down again... If a feed takes an hour, then she sleeps for 2; and it takes me half an hour to wind down from the 'argh' feeling of trying to get her to be like 'everyone else's babies' then I'll only get 1.5hrs sleep... Then the obsessing about how little sleep I'm getting and will get tonight will start... Feels like my eyes are about to roll out of my head.

I just wish people would stop judging and just be supportive. But I guess there's nothing better than a good judgemental gossip is there?

Sorry for the whinge but I'm a bit miserable right now.

Purr, Kate sometimes feeds small amounts every 2 hours in the day just depends on what mood she is in. She is 4 weeks to but past couple if days she has started to go 3 hours in day. I always wake her in the day for feed but never at night so occasionally we might get 4 hours. It was also taking me an hour to feed and only getting 1 1/2 hours in between. But that also has been getting better over past couple of days and it's only taking 30mins to feed and wind. I know what you mean about the tiredness in exhausted, my body seems to be giving up on me. Just got to think it doesn't last forever. My 1st it took us a while to get into a routine and she slept through from 6 weeks so I'm keeping my fingers crossed fir the same with Kate. (don't think it will tho) sorry about the random rambling on trying to stay awake whilst feeding.