March 2016 babies - 2 here already, many more yet to come!!!

[Missikat]

Hi ladies, thanks Indom for the suggestion of me starting a new thread. Seeing as Zach and myself have been knocking about on antenatal since November it will be lovely to have you all joining us shortly in the baby, rather than pregnancy conversations! Bring on the March babies!!!!

Sympathy for that, Beaut. I'm sure it's all for a valid reason, but I'd be pretty frustrated about it.

Beaut my midwife also said Jacob has a touch of jaundice but no mention of hospital for tests. She said it was pretty normal and they just expect it to go by day 10. Hope it's all ok with Nancy and just a precaution. What a pain though.

I'm almost at the point of switching to bottle. Nipples are so sore even with nipple shields. Any advice?

Laughing at woodens mil and Trinpys comment.

Midwife said latch is ok. He is a very enthusiastic sucker though!

Thanks Indom. She doesn't even look yellow to me! I realise I could've just taken her on my own but really didn't want to. Have brought a supply of Lindt chocolates I got for Mothers Day

That's what I expected her to say Rhubarb! She seemed very over zealous though - pointing out potential birth marks and convincing herself she had thrush on her tongue, but admitting it may just be milk

Aahh Rhubarb, that sounds hard going. All I can think of is latch!

Sorry to hear that rhubarb, I don't have much useful advice as with DD I had sore nipples for a few weeks due to giganto boobs (32JJ) and bad latch because DD was small and I had oversupply/engorgement constantly so just had to stick it out until she got bigger/my boobs calmed down Might be worth going to see a breastfeeding counsellor/drop in if you have one in your area? Whack on the lanonin and let your boobs air out to heal. Nipple shields aren't great since baby won't learn to latch so may prolong the problem. Do your nipples hurt in between feeds or just at the beginning? the let down pain (beginning of feed pain) is normal for beginning of feed. Anything else is probably bad latch but best to see a bf counsellor who can assess it in case it's anything more complex like tongue tie. Remind me again is this your first/did you bf before? I bf with DD but was a nightmare for first few weeks and hoping its easier this time round!

Oh I also meant to say if its let down pain, it usually just hurts for first 5-10 seconds and it does go after the few weeks.

Oh and a bf counsellor will be much better placed to assess latch than midwife, I had a few midwives with DD tell me latch was fine when it clearly wasn't as I was bleeding!

Rhu breastfeeding was agony with DD (DC1), even though latch was checked. I used to sit around with boobs out to get the air on them (glam) and used tons of lansinoh. Also, making sure they were completely dry before getting dressed. I am it going to lie, it was agony got four weeks - I remember crying during each feed, but I am so glad we persevered and we ended up feeding past her birthday.

With DS1 and 2, feeding has been a doddle from the start.

beaut 3 is definitely enough for us! Although, we said that after DC2

Apologies for typos - was feeding Ted!

Ahh, Rhu, I feel for you. No suggestions I'm afraid. It bloody hurt with DS for a few weeks. I'm so bloody stubborn thought I just powered on through (and took a lot of ibuprofen). Latch was ok, but I did produce a lot of milk. It got better eventually. Sorry, all I've got is huge sympathy.

marmite's suggestion is a good one.

You could also get on YouTube and try a couple of different ways of latching. That woman I heard on radio 4 has a different way of doing it (rather than nipple to nose, she said something like aim your nipple at baby's mouth, squeeze it vertically (if the baby is lying horizontally this'll make it fit in their mouth top to bottom) then basically shove it in). I'll see if I can find a link.

Oh, as marmite says, it hurting all the way through is different to hurting at the beginning. Mine didn't feel like let-down pain as such, but it did go if I counted to 10.

Nice to hear your 2nd and 3rd have been better, feeding-wise, MrsBen!

rhubarb for instant relief and healing you need hydrogel or gel nipple compresses
Try medela hydrogel pads currently on offer on Amazon
Or Lansinoh hydrogel soothies
Or multi mam nipple compresses
Most of these can only be bought online although I found the multimam in boots
Google laid back breastfeeding/ biological nurturing for an alternative position
Try a breast sandwich for a deeper and less painful latch

Oh yes, "biological nurturing" worked a treat for me!

Here's that woman explaining one way of latching
m.youtube.com/watch?v=fmL1g5XIQMg

I just took the arguably risky task of googling "breast sandwich"!

Fortunately, I came across this page which has lots of suggestions & explanations of Sher's suggestions!

Oh beautiful I know its a pain but best to get the jaundice checked out, with ds I didn't think he was yellow at all, it wasn't until he was about 3 weeks old and I took him to the weighing clinic and laid him down next to a beautifully pink baby when I really saw it. When I look at his newborn pics now I see a mini Bart Simpson and can't believe I didn't spot it at the time. Cassidy had two jaundice tests whilst we were in hospital, results were back within half an hour each time so hopefully you wont have to hang around too much.

rhu I had bleeding nipples with ds, midwife said latch was fine but I went to a bf cafe session and the consultant there helped massively. She said he needed to open his mouth wider and I needed to squash my breast to get as much of it in his mouth as possible, if he didn't open wide enough he didn't get it, he soon learned what to do and I could feed without crying within a couple of days. Hope you find something that works for you.

There's nothing like being home alone (ish) to make you over-analyse your BraxtonHicks

Thanks for all the tips everyone. The pain is mainly at the beginning and eventually calms down as his suck gets less strong so I guess that is the let down- it's like needles tho! But I've been feeling pretty sore all afternoon and they are pretty cracked and bleeding. Not sure I can do this with the other pains too. I bf DS1 for about 3 days too and then went onto bottle. After that initial angst/disappointment, I never looked back with DS. Just facing that again now.

It'll get better rhubarb! I had bad cracked nipples with ds, I found putting creamy nipple cream rather than lansinoh helped - the lansinoh was just too sticky. Apparently if you warm it up in your hands first it's easier to get on! Lots and lots on the breast pads too.

Get on the ibuprofen, Rhu. I remember he midwife asking if I still needed the ibuprofen for my stitches, and confessing that my undercarriage was fine and I was continuing the ibuprofen for my nips!

I got a cats bum face but it was helping!

Rhu have you tried posting on the mumsnet infant feeding board? There's a few experts on there who might be able to help. What day are you on? I found day 4 to be my limit when I just couldn't do it anymore and wanted to switch to formula, but when I googled I found days 3-5 are typically the lowest point, so I decided to stick it out another day and it kept getting a bit easier every day after that. For me though it was bad latch (I had the weird lipstick shaped nipples to prove it!) so I think we just needed some practice.

I hope some of that is of use to you, but I'm sure having gone through all this with your first then you already know where your limit is and if you would rather bottle feed instead.

Hi all. We are very up and down here today. Got discharged from the hospital at around 8pm last night. We found breastfeeding quite tough to begin with, but had some success with nipple shields. The midwives and doctor all advised to top up with formula if necessary as he was forceps delivered and would be more prone to jaundice as a result.

Had quite a good night, baby had a few feeds throughout the night, I was having to wake him to feed him as he is very sleepy.

I then had a visit from the community midwife this morning and she said he was a bit jaundiced but only a bit and to keep an eye. After she left he fed at 12.15 and 2.15 but he wasn't happy and wouldn't settle at all, he was obviously still hungry as he kept sucking his fist but he just would not latch on. We ended up giving him one of the little tiny bottles of ready to feed Aptamil although he only took 30ml but it completely settled him and he went right off to sleep after that.

since then I can't stop crying, I don't know if we're going to be able to continue to breastfeed, I know it doesn't matter if we can't but I'm just feeling so overwhelmed and out of my depth.

Oh, Me, give yourself a break. This is the hardest bit (in terms of hormones making you feel awful). Take each day/hour/feed as it comes. If you can BF for a feed, do, if you can't, that's what formula was invented for. They're both ok!

Thanks for elaborating on the boob Sandwich indomitable, i was in a bit of a rush when I posted!
rhubarb and anyone else with sore nipples or anticipating them- the gel pads are absolutely incredible for pain relief and healing. Lansinoh alone did nothing for me with major cracking and bleeding with dd1 and with dd2 I was very well prepared with the gel pads

Try the gel pads, rhubarb if

Sorry no idea what happened there

Oh Me, please don't beat yourself up. These few days are bloody hard with hormones. I'm trying to think this time that I have to do whatever gets us through, rather than trying to be perfect

I feel like we're in for a difficult night tonight as Nancy has done nothing but sleep (and feed!) today...