Sept 2024 - Thread 10!

[SpicyMoth]

Saw we hit page 40, so figured I'd get a head start on the next thread just in case!!

Oh gosh, I just thought, there may not be very many more of these threads - I wonder if this one may even be the last?!

HUGE congrats to @MudandMoet on their gorgeous wee one!!
Best of luck on your way home this afternoon/this evening, I'm desperate to ask all about what it was like but I'll avoid that as I don't want anyone to get nervous/anxious about what's to come!!

Super glad you're feeling mostly okay and so so SO happy for you! <3

@TripleESept24 IV fluids- sorry baby brain caused me to type half the words 😅

That sounds so tough too, hoping you can find a helper you trust soon ❤️@HuggingAnIcePack887

I honestly don't know if I did or not?! I had prostin, hormone drip, epidural and then forceps

I have pumped for the first time this evening. I got just under 2oz....... Midwives have said not to introduce a bottle yet ..... Could my partner just give her syringes through the night if I sleep and she's unsettled ? What's the best way to give this to her? I've just put it in the fridge xxx

@TripleESept24 why don't they want her taking bottles yet? Is it to avoid nipple confusion? Only word of warning is to try not sleep for more than 3 hours - I know that's exactly what you probably need but the midwife told me that's how I ended up with clogged ducts at this early stage.

Yes to avoid nipple confusion and until she's fully established on the breast because we think she's struggling a bit. I have a one on one with breastfeeding support at the hospital on Monday! We have some of the sterile syringes so will just syringe her some for how if my partner needs to x

It’s great that you’re getting some support on Monday.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick here but is your plan for your partner to feed while you sleep at night? I would suggest that syringes of milk wouldn’t be enough. This could have potentially worked on day 1/2 when giving small volumes of colostrum but I think it’d be difficult to give milk in sufficient volumes at this stage by syringe.

He has just used a few syringes whilst I have been out at a bra fitting and universal credit meeting. For him to feed at night we will have to do bottles yes but I am just not pumping enough right now. I'm getting hardly anything he reckons that in syringes was only like 5ml.

I also have someone coming for a home visit tomorrow now too. The support is actually really good

Have you had any breastfeeding support thus far? And what are your intentions with breastfeeding - do you want to exclusively breastfeed? If so it’s not a great idea to have breaks from feeding during the night or time away from baby during the day for appointments at this stage, they need to be able to feed on demand.

I’d be concerned that baby only had 5mls of expressed milk from syringes while you were out, assuming the bra fitting and meeting took a couple of hours, 5mls isn’t enough.

No I haven't had any yet, but am concerned now hence getting it..... I want to just exclusively breastfeed yes.

We will see what they say when they come on home visit tomorrow and hospital visit Monday. Because I pumped each breast for 20 minutes and that is all I got. (Surely she does not suck as much as the pump!?!) So I don't think personally that I am producing enough and that she is getting enough just from my breast. (Hence why she is only losing weight and no gaining so far) And wants to constantly attach at night.

It was only a couple of hours, and she slept most of it. Yes 5ml may not be enough but also as above surely she is only getting what I am producing? And if that's all a pump got in 20 mins on each she wouldn't be getting any more than that in one feed?

It’s the other way round - your baby is far more efficient than a pump, so is very much getting more directly from source.
speak to the midwives tomorrow about local feeding team support, if it’s available?

Yes exactly this @TripleESept24 . Your little girl is absolutely getting more than 5mls in a feed from you at this stage, she’d be very unwell if that was all she was getting. Please be assured she will definitely be getting more from the breast than you are yielding from expressing.

I hope the support you get over the coming days is helpful to you. Be mindful (from someone who also isn’t able to pump more than around 10mls) that expressing to top up/let my partner feed my first baby actually damaged my milk supply. If I expressed to feed to him rather than feeding directly then I was removing less milk from my breasts. Milk removal = milk production. So, although pumping is often advised as a way to increase milk supply, it’s not always the way to go. It’s sometimes still helpful to express post breastfeeding as even if you only express 3mls it’s still 3mls more than you’re telling your body you need and hopefully signalling to produce more.

The best way to increase supply (in the absence of any medical issues ie. Tongue tie) is to feed you baby with an effective deep latch. I’m sure the breastfeeding support you get will include observing a feed and giving you some techniques to make sure you can achieve this.

@TripleESept24 so glad you’re getting the support you need to hopefully ebf, as mentioned though baby is far more effective in getting out milk than a pump.

I can get nothing out hand expressing then indie will feed and after my boobs are squirting everywhere. Also maybe apply a warm compress to your boobs before pumping or pump whilst feeding.

I was always led to believe that as long as baby is getting lots of wet and dirty nappies then that’s good. Indie took 13 days to regain her birth weight and lost 5% in the first 5 days.

The trouble with pumping or using formula is that it will affect your supply in these early weeks. You’d have to pump every 2 hours morning, noon and night to maintain supply. I feed indie with a max gap of around 2 hours, although she cluster feeds during the evening and wakes up during the night every 2/3 hours (although it’s been every hour the last 2 nights)

Shes 5 weeks tomorrow but it takes 6/8 weeks to regulate your supply. Wishing you the best of luck, hopefully you’ll be getting the help you need ❤️

@Emmaev @Theheckwhat @AppleTree16

Well this makes me feel better to know that she is getting more than what the pump produced!!!!! As I've been worrying myself that I am just not producing enough and she isn't getting enough.

I am just glad that the breastfeeding support seems to be really good here and looking forward to them coming to the house tomorrow to observe and help.

@TripleESept24 you are absolutely enough, but I totally understand your worries. I was the same with my eldest and was breastfeeding until I panicked she wasn’t getting enough and combi fed for a few weeks before fully FF.

Breastfeeding is magic, just your babies saliva helps to regulate supply and give them what they need. It’s crazy how it works. But also if you feel that you do need to combi or formula, fed is always best and what ever is best for your darling girl and for you.

I have felt like giving up a few times this time with Indie, I know it can be really difficult at times and I’ve questioned my own supply when she’s constantly on me and when she wasn’t back to birth weight at day 10 (which I’ve now realised is normal)

@TripleESept24 good luck, so glad you're getting support. I was very lucky to get a midwife to help me from the beginning, I genuinely could not have breastfed by myself. It's so hard, there is so much to learn, while also going through severe sleep deprivation, I have no idea how we're ever expected to figure this out by ourselves.

It sounds like you're all over it and you're a wonderful mum, that baby is so lucky to have you ❤

@TripleESept24 good luck with your appointment/support! Sure it'll massively help and give you the confidence you need 💕

I can't remember who it was I was talking to on here about dummies, but I found these in Tesco today that I got for my baby as he has been a bit gaggy on some dummies that claim to be from newborn but have quite big teats, hopefully they will be better.

@SantasRubiksCube that was me!!! Thank you so much! She’s still not taking one, even the smallest. So I’ll hunt these tomorrow. You’re super xx

Hi All! Hope everyone is doing well. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Friday morning weighing 7.7lbs. They said he was off the scale huge and he was a week late but was a perfect weight. I had been diagnosed with GD but didn’t think I had it but we will never know. Just glad he is here safe.

Someone on here (I can’t remember who) attached a link with a breastfeeding video. I watched it and thought it was really good but now can’t find the link. He is latching but it hurts every time he sucks so I don’t think he is latching deeply enough and don’t want to start getting sore this early! If anyone can attach the link that would be amazing! Thankyou!

Ah congrats @UnicornRainbow2 e joy every minute.

Those talking about gas/wind my DS was having terrible trouble with it, legs constantly being pulled up to his tummy and very windy from bottles. I have been adding colief to his bottles for the last week and there is quite a difference in him. It breaks the lactose down in the milk so is different to infacol. I had tried infacol but mad him more windy! Might help someone 😊

Congratulations @UnicornRainbow2 !

there’s a video on this page www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding/positioning-and-attachment and a step by step and animation video here https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/feeding-your-baby/breastfeeding/how-to-breastfeed/latching-on/

Medela, La Leche League also have videos and guides and tips. https://www.medela.com/en-gb/breastfeeding-pumping/articles/breastfeeding-tips/6-simple-steps-to-a-good-breastfeeding-latch

It’s so different with each baby. My first did a textbook latch. This one likes to nibble, and if I try to do “nose to nipple”, baby just starts munching on their hand instead! I have to hold chin up with a finger and then squeeze my boob into the burger shape and wait for the right moment when baby’s mouth is wide enough to get the latch.

Congratulations @UnicornRainbow2 🎉 My DS has a really shallow latch too and I find whatever way I'm holding him, if I move him towards his feet he'll kind of tilt his head back and open up for it more. As soon as his mouth is open wide I have to jam him on the boob or he'll try close it up again.

Even though he's my second I've had to see the community lactation consultant because he's too lazy to latch properly without a lot of effort on my part.

@kc92 what did the lactation consultant say? Same here, it feels like baby is “lazy” with latching, doesn’t raise head or open mouth wide. I thought because it was alright with first, it’s just how baby is, but was it worth asking for help? Really helpful to hear you’re having a similar experience with second. Mine has baby acne but no vomit, first had CMPA and vomited every feed, I saw a thread here today that said baby acne can be a sign of CMPA too. Even though it’s not been a huge gap, it feels like I have to learn things again, even just things like clinics, registering baby, locations, they’ve all changed!

@bake

Definitely worth it! Even just for the reassurance that I hadn't forgotten everything I knew first time. She said that I need to be more firm in jamming him on for a feed - she did it for me and I was surprised at how much force she used to stick him on! He wasn't bothered by it though at all. And she showed me how she'd recommend holding him to do that in the most common positions. She said if I was holding him under his bum to do it he would keep pushing back against me when surprised because he's a strong one. Plus showed me how to save my back because he's a chunky boy and holding him to feed him was crippling me. Also showed me lymphatic drainage massage to help with engorgement / clogs which I'd never heard of before.

My DS is 4 weeks today and he's so spotty at the moment so think baby acne is common around this time? At least I hope so!

I thought my first might have CMPA because he had mucusey nappies, reflux, baby acne that turned into eczema, and dear god he was so fussy unless he was being held. Got bloods done at 18 months when he had a tummy upset and all was clear so I'm still wondering what caused all that. Second time is so much easier I'm still bracing myself for the hard part to start. 🙈

Apologies I've been absolutely exhausted and only just had a chance to hop on my PC and look at MN!

I'm chugging along, loving motherhood but absolutely hating recovery - I'm still so sore and exhausted from the section and in the last couple of days my wound's developed an infection despite daily cleaning as advised so I'm absolutely gutted about that honestly :/

Baby's doing really well, regained his birth weight within 2 weeks, although third week he's only gained 3oz so I'm not super sure what to do about that as he's on the boob SO much and I'm breastfeeding on demand as advised or if he doesn't wake for a feed then waking him for boob every 2-3 hours - I have no idea what I'm doing wrong!
I'm think or hope I'm producing enough I based on my leakage, I've tried pumping but wee man feed so much that I can't really geta whole lot out 😪 - I'm collecting and storing what I leak for just in case moments, so far only had to use it 2 or 3 times, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried he wasn't getting enough :/

My mum's doing a lot better, still stressed but in general her health isn't in the best shape honestly, she just has so so so much going on - she's definitely enjoying cuddles with her grandchild though, which I think is helping thankfully <3

I'm just about to catch up on all the new posts and adorable babies - I can't wait to see them all, congrats to everyone' who's had their wee ones!
I feel like my wee man is growing so fast already and it's only been about 3 weeks!!

EDIT; Oh, and I have absolutely no idea re; the state of my cervix - from memory and also frankly just guessing I think it was the case that vagina side was more dilated than the womb side if that makes sense? That's how I interpreted it anyway, but I'm an absolute novice with that kind of thing, I know nothing really!!