The Breast Feeding Support Thread

Moonbeam

I expressed from day 2 because I never had enough milk to keep the 1st baby happy.
The hospital gave me a lend of the machine and showed me how to do it. If you can you are better off leaving it 2-3 weeks.
Talk to the phn they might run a local breast feeding group.

annamcmahon

I pumped from 3wks because I was fed up of being wet all the time from leaky boobs. It's recommended to wait until 6wks because most women's supply will be established by then. The only problem with starting to pump too soon so that someone else can give a bottle at a particular time is that she might, temporarily at least, stop making enough milk at that time. You could probably avoid that issue by giving the bottle at different times.

I'd recommend getting a set of bottles with more boob shaped teats. I used tommee tippee closer to nature and my daughter had no issues switching back and forth between boob and bottles.

How Strange

It depends on the individual woman. I started around 5 weeks and my husband gave a bottle of expressed milk during a 6 week feeding frenzy so I could sleep for a while. I'd say unless absolutely needed wait until 3 weeks just to get the hang of latching, in latching etc. I used breast flow bottles which have 2 teats. I think only mother care sell them.

red fraggle

they say breastfed babies dont have wind. well my little woman does. and it seems to want to go down the way. at the last night feed around 11 she will cry for about an hour seeming like she is trying to poo. this also happens during the day. any ideas or tips on how to help her. its awful. i massage her belly but it doesnt always work or can take ages.

Lola92

red fraggle wrote: »

they say breastfed babies dont have wind. well my little woman does. and it seems to want to go down the way. at the last night feed around 11 she will cry for about an hour seeming like she is trying to poo. this also happens during the day. any ideas or tips on how to help her. its awful. i massage her belly but it doesnt always work or can take ages.

I had that problem with my lady, she cried a lot and was very windy but only ever in the evenings. I found infacol helped a good bit and extra winding. After that first 4 months or so she grew out of it.

liliq

red fraggle wrote: »

they say breastfed babies dont have wind. well my little woman does. and it seems to want to go down the way. at the last night feed around 11 she will cry for about an hour seeming like she is trying to poo. this also happens during the day. any ideas or tips on how to help her. its awful. i massage her belly but it doesnt always work or can take ages.

Lies! My little man has wind as well, and plenty of it! as far as I know, breastfed babies' wind tends to escape in the form of farts as often as burps though.
Does she settle if she poos or farts? I find sometime putting them tummy down over my knee or shoulder helps, and rubbing just over their bum at the same time. Or cycling the legs in as wide a cycly (?!) motion as you can.
Also, sometimes winding a few minutes into the feed can help instead of waiting until their finished, especially if you've been engorged at all when starting to feed- the strong let down can end up with them being windy

red fraggle

Lola92 wrote: »

I had that problem with my lady, she cried a lot and was very windy but only ever in the evenings. I found infacol helped a good bit and extra winding. After that first 4 months or so she grew out of it.

thanks. is infacol all natural? do you have to go to doc to be able to get it? do u get it from the chemist or health food shop. its awful when she cant get the wind up.

red fraggle

liliq wrote: »

Lies! My little man has wind as well, and plenty of it! as far as I know, breastfed babies' wind tends to escape in the form of farts as often as burps though.
Does she settle if she poos or farts? I find sometime putting them tummy down over my knee or shoulder helps, and rubbing just over their bum at the same time. Or cycling the legs in as wide a cycly (?!) motion as you can.
Also, sometimes winding a few minutes into the feed can help instead of waiting until their finished, especially if you've been engorged at all when starting to feed- the strong let down can end up with them being windy

yeh she wil settle if she poos or farts. sometimes she falls asleep during a long winding process (maybe an hour!) after crying then she farts in her sleep. we tried the cycly (?) motion last night but didnt work but wil keep trying. didnt think of rubbing just over the bum so wil try that tonight.
is this counted as colic? she screws up her legs, gets red in the face and has a hard belly. is colic just bad wind? i really feel clueless sometimes:rolleyes:

LegacyUser

red fraggle wrote: »

they say breastfed babies dont have wind. well my little woman does. and it seems to want to go down the way. at the last night feed around 11 she will cry for about an hour seeming like she is trying to poo. this also happens during the day. any ideas or tips on how to help her. its awful. i massage her belly but it doesnt always work or can take ages.

Technique is crucial. We would pat and rub for hours with little results, until our visiting nurse just turns his head and straightens his back out and "BUUUURRRRRRRP"...loudest and longest one ever.

We never managed to replicate her technique unfortunately, but it's definitely something to experiment with.

annamcmahon

I don't think Infacol is all natural. It's very sweet and tastes like orange squash. The look on my daughter's face the first time I gave it to her was hilarious as she was only 3/4 weeks. If you want something natural you could try fennel tea. If your baby seems to splutter or make clicking noises during feeding you probably have oversupply which can cause a lot of issues with wind. I found the colic hold or laying her on my knee helped.

Colic is crying for 3 hours at least 3 times a week for 3 weeks as far as I remember.

red fraggle

annamcmahon wrote: »

I don't think Infacol is all natural. It's very sweet and tastes like orange squash. The look on my daughter's face the first time I gave it to her was hilarious as she was only 3/4 weeks. If you want something natural you could try fennel tea. If your baby seems to splutter or make clicking noises during feeding you probably have oversupply which can cause a lot of issues with wind. I found the colic hold or laying her on my knee helped.

Colic is crying for 3 hours at least 3 times a week for 3 weeks as far as I remember.

yeh she actually does make clicking noises when feeding lately at the beginning of a feed!! whats the colic hold? i would say she def gets in 3 hours of crying a day and 3 times this week so far. might pop to the chemist to get the infacol. i presume its safe for a 3 week old tho il ask anyway.

annamcmahon

You'll get Infacol in any chemist or supermarket on the baby aisle. I started our daughter on it around 3/4 weeks. If it doesn't help after a few days maybe try one of the other products. Like all these things not everything works for all babies.

The colic hold is also called the tiger in the tree. Basically you lie your baby along the length of your arm with her head where your elbow bends and hold the top of her thigh. She should look like a tiger lying on a branch. If you can't visualise what I mean google it you'll find some videos or pictures.

Sounds like oversupply and maybe fast letdown. I had both and after 6 weeks, I think, she got used to the speed of the milk and didn't have to gulp so much which helped with the wind problem. One of the other posters put something up about laidback feeding and I found that helped too.

3 hours crying over the course of the day won't mean colic but if it's 3 hours of constant or on-off crying then it could. Our daughter used to cry for 2 mins stop and smile for 5 mins then cry again, which is why I figured out it was wind.

Good luck and I hope you find a solution fairly quickly.

red fraggle

annamcmahon wrote: »

You'll get Infacol in any chemist or supermarket on the baby aisle. I started our daughter on it around 3/4 weeks. If it doesn't help after a few days maybe try one of the other products. Like all these things not everything works for all babies.

The colic hold is also called the tiger in the tree. Basically you lie your baby along the length of your arm with her head where your elbow bends and hold the top of her thigh. She should look like a tiger lying on a branch. If you can't visualise what I mean google it you'll find some videos or pictures.

Sounds like oversupply and maybe fast letdown. I had both and after 6 weeks, I think, she got used to the speed of the milk and didn't have to gulp so much which helped with the wind problem. One of the other posters put something up about laidback feeding and I found that helped too.

3 hours crying over the course of the day won't mean colic but if it's 3 hours of constant or on-off crying then it could. Our daughter used to cry for 2 mins stop and smile for 5 mins then cry again, which is why I figured out it was wind.

Good luck and I hope you find a solution fairly quickly.

thanks for that. i dont really get the laid back feeding. i always feed in the football hold feed. must look it up again see can i understand it. just fed her and the crying started 10 mins after. she even got up some wind first but maybe not enough.

annamcmahon

From what I can see it's like the cradle hold except you sit leaning back a bit and rest your baby on your belly rather than holding all her weight. I looked it up out of curiosity and realised I'd started doing it out of laziness and the fact that the chair I usually sat in made me recline.

How Strange

I call it the rugby hold and it's great for getting wind up and soothing a windy baby. red fraggle it sounds like you've an oversupply and/or fast letdown. I had both and my son was pestered with wind/colic for 10 weeks. Unfortunately I'd never heard of it until long after.

Expressing a little milk by hand until the letdown happens can help and feeding from the same side for a few feeds at a time. The problem with oversupply and fast letdown is the baby takes in a lot of foremilk very quickly and doesn't get the hind milk which is the good stuff so they get gases and hungry very quickly.

We found gripe water a very good quick fix for wind.

red fraggle

annamcmahon wrote: »

From what I can see it's like the cradle hold except you sit leaning back a bit and rest your baby on your belly rather than holding all her weight. I looked it up out of curiosity and realised I'd started doing it out of laziness and the fact that the chair I usually sat in made me recline.

ah i see i must try this cos she is getting very heavy to be holding and it would be handy for night time feeding also.

thanks for all the tips everyone. ive got the infacol. ive been trying that straight back burping but i cant do it like the midwives could but ill keep trying!!
i used a different position on the sore side today where i had her under my arm propped up on pillows so she was feeding from a different direction if ya know what i mean. this didnt seem to hurt as much so ill try it again on her next feed. its all alot of experimenting isnt it?:rolleyes: they are worth it tho:D

lynski

ah the sitting up hold! when my little man was very bad with wind etc, I would sit him on my lap facing me, legs either side of one of my thighs and feed him that way, really helped, I did laid back for a coupe of days til we were confident in the latch and then used to sit him up until we got everything working.
Approaching 12 mths!

red fraggle

How Strange wrote: »

We found gripe water a very good quick fix for wind.

how and when did u give the gripe water? with a dropper?? before a feed?

How Strange

We gave it whenever we saw he was gassy and windy. We used a syringe that we bought in the pharmacy. As for how often, I suppose it's best to give it in the evening when there's a build up of wind and we often gave it twice or three times between 6pm and 11pm. Honestly he used to fart his way to contentment after

wmpdd3

Well, here we go again, my little man arrived last night and he hasnt latched on yet, im really under presure from the midwives to get some food into him, but all he wants to do is sleep. I have tries every position i can think of, but he wont open his mouth wide enough to get the whole nipple in. So far he has only had what he has licked off my nipple. he hardly ever roots or looks for the nipple when getting skin to skin, Any ideas?

How Strange

wmpdd3 congrats on the birth of your little boy
Firstly and I'm sure you know this already he isn't actually hungry so feeding him isn't a priority. Have you tried laid back breastfeeding? I think laid back with constant skin to skin is probably the ideal thing. Also putting a little bit of colostrum on your nipple is a great idea and may encourage him. Just keep at it and trust in yourself and what you're doing. Don't let the midwives pressure you to 'top up'. I think you could cup feed or finger feed a little colostrum if you think it's necessary but considering the size of the tummies as newborns they only need a few drops.

Have you seen a lactation consultant yet? Also look up dr jack Newman and kellymom for specific information and perhaps ring a la Leche league or Cuidiu counsellor in your area for advice.

Appropriate information and support are so important for you right now so try to get as much of both as you can.

Congrats again

wmpdd3

They are loooking for him to feed for 30mins every 4hrs. The midwife is the lactation consultant afaik. Skin to skin is like cat nip to him, he goes into a trance than asleep.

Lola92

Congrats on your new arrival wmpdd3! Have you tried stripping him down to his nappy for feeding? I had to do that with my daughter for her to feed the first day or two because she was falling asleep after about 2 mins on the breast. Once she was latched and drinking I put a blanket over her and if she started to get sleepy I would pull it down a little just past the top of her shoulders.

liliq

Congrats wpmdd3!
Could you trying handexpressing a little bit? Tummies are so small that a teaspoon worth would fill him for a while

wmpdd3

Hes getting a fair bit from hand expessing, but he just had a cup feed of formula there. He latched on for 4mins after 45mins of coaxing at 3pm but just stopped drinking and slipped off. i havent dressed him since he was born, i swaddle him for sleep and strip him to feed. He seems to like lieing down with me so ill try that at 8am. After that im going to have to pump to keep my supply going....

How Strange

wmpdd3 I'd really recommend calling Cuidiu or the la Leche league. I don't see the need to feed him formula. The midwives are coercing you to tick a box and in my opinion it's dreadful that they made you give him formula. That Islas just undermined your good work because if he's a sleepy baby feeding him formula will just make him even sleepier.

Newborns aren't 'hungry' and don't need 'food' until 3-4 days as they've got a store to sustain them until your milk comes in which could be as late as day 7 if you had a cesarean.

Colostrum isn't food as such; it's like a super transfer of antibodies from the mother to baby.

I'd recommend getting proper expert advice because a sleepy newborn is quite common. Good luck!

How Strange

Also as liliq said, hand expressing your colostrum and spoon or cup feeding it is ideal until he wakes up to go get it himself.

wmpdd3

Going home today, will call for some help as soon as i get home

nicowa

All I can add is that with my little one she wasn't interested in latching on properly until she'd cleared the mucus more and didn't really feed for two days really. If he was really hungry he would so don't let it worry you too much, not before two/three days anyway, I'd say.

whitelightrider

Hi folks,
We've noticed lately that we can hear gurgling noises coming from our little ones tummy at night and she seems to be getting wid pains a lot that wake her from her sleep.
My wife is exclusively breastfeeding and holly is only 3 weeks old, but is there anything we can give her to help shift the wind?