The Breast Feeding Support Thread

Emcm

Hi Rosebush

I like you had 2 vaginal births followed by 2 sections and it definitely is a bit of a challenge for first couple of weeks.

I had a crib beside bed but generally my husband used to pop up when baby cried in middle of night and lie him beside me. I always fed lying down found it wonderful lovely and cuddly and comfortable no pressure on the wound. Also if you both nod off baby is tucked beside you for next feed. If hubby wasn't around I like Neyite said curl over on side and ease out slowly used beside locker as support. I would then pop baby into bed and lie beside him.

For daytime feeding I found breastfeeding pillow great as it stopped baby lying on my wound.

One big piece of advice I would give is keep on top of your pain, take your Difene or Nurefen or whatever you have been described religiously you need it for first 3 weeks.

It does get easier each week that goes by and by 4 weeks I was off all pain meds and getting in and out of bed was much easier.

Good luck !

cyning

I'm starting to know all about the baby brain: pumped the other morning: more than normal aswell because C was feeding so badly because she was sick and then proceeded to throw the whole lot down the sink instead of throwing the pumpy bits in the sink :rolleyes:

This morning when I woke one boob was so engorged: i pumped over 7oz from it: it was so sore and she would not latch onto it: the other side wasn't a huge amount better either. It's still quite sore now: everytime I latch her on it's red hot and pretty sore: does that happen every now and again? No idea why it got engorged either: she fed from that side at about 530 and it was only 9 at that stage. Plus she fed more yesterday than the 3days before it

I've got to say (and I didn't have a section) if it wasn't for the lying down side by side feeding I would have given up in the first fortnight!

Neyite

For the C-section I was on Difene +paracetemol in the hospital from days 1-5, after that, paracetemol only for another week or so.

Most important thing is to rest yourself when baby sleeps. My OH was off for 2 weeks so I had him at home for 9 days, and he wouldnt let me do a thing bar feed and burp baby, and insisted on me resting on the sofa/bed as much as possible, and a gentle walk once a day. I think thats why I recovered so quick.

liliq

Miya Dirty Thinker wrote: »

Hi Ladies,
I wonder could anyone who has had a c- section advise me on the best sleeping arrangements for when you come out of hospital.
Also I am guessing that I will be better off feeding him lying down in bed?

Definitely at night, if you can feed lying down, do it!! It took me a while to get the hang of it, but it saved my sanity i think!
I scooched the moses basket right up beside the bed once the baby came into the bed for a bit of peace of mind that the side of the bed was safer.

Emcm wrote: »

For daytime feeding I found breastfeeding pillow great as it stopped baby lying on my wound.

One big piece of advice I would give is keep on top of your pain, take your Difene or Nurefen or whatever you have been described religiously you need it for first 3 weeks.

I hate taking meds, but this I agree with. Don't wait to get sore, especially if you're at home on your own. Pain on top of tiredness made me feel miserable.

cyning wrote: »

It's still quite sore now: everytime I latch her on it's red hot and pretty sore: does that happen every now and again? No idea why it got engorged either: she fed from that side at about 530 and it was only 9 at that stage. Plus she fed more yesterday than the 3days before it

Are you feeling ok apart from that? Heat and pain can be a sign of mastitis... if you feel fluey, or feel any lumps (blocked ducts) in the breast, get yourself to a GP and keep baby feeding as often as possible.
Or is the pain just there when she latches on? Tenderness can be normal, but if there's pain there's something going on that isn't quite right.

tishandy

Hi girls, I am nearly 2 weeks post op from a c section and breastfeeding,
I was awake half the night with what I think is a U.T.I
, I have not been weeing as much as usual and now it burns when I do and burns for hours after.

Anyway I have been to the doctor twice since i came home last week and dont want the hassle of going again, and dont want an antibiotic, Does anyone know what is a safe treatment while breastfeeding?
Thanks in advance

theg81der

I get uti`s alot and drink buckets of either ocean spray growers reserve or m and s cranberry juice both of which have actual cranberries in them and this seems to work.

liliq

tishandy wrote: »

Hi girls, I am nearly 2 weeks post op from a c section and breastfeeding,
I was awake half the night with what I think is a U.T.I
, I have not been weeing as much as usual and now it burns when I do and burns for hours after.

Anyway I have been to the doctor twice since i came home last week and dont want the hassle of going again, and dont want an antibiotic, Does anyone know what is a safe treatment while breastfeeding?
Thanks in advance

As far as I know cystopeurin (sp) is ok while breastfeeding. Definitely plenty of water as well to keep flushing through. Is it possible it could be thrush if you were on any antibiotics post section?

2xj3hplqgsbkym

tishandy, make sure you get actual cranberry juice, not juice drink. Most of them in supermarket are cranberry juice drink, so about 15% juice and lots of sugar and water. Try a health food shop.
Otherwise water will be better.

implausible

This app tells you what meds are safe while breastfeeding. Available on iphone too.

Neyite

I used to be pestered with UTI's and my GP gave me a great tip - when you go to the loo, double-void. That is, pee, then wait a few moments and squeeze another few drops out. It helps fully empty your bladder so bacteria growth that cause the UTI slows, so you recover quicker. I do it all the time now, and dont get them anymore.

Breastfeeding makes you very thirsty so you should be drinking extra water regardless of the UTI. Pints and pints of water, and pure cranberry juice too.

Also keep soaps away from that area, wear cotton undies, avoid thongs, wipe front to back.

Emcm

implausible wrote: »

This app tells you what meds are safe while breastfeeding. Available on iphone too.

Thank you so much for sharing that Implausible it's just brilliant !

Mink

I woke up this morning with a sore throat & head cold. Anyone know if I can pass it onto baby through breast feeding. I figure I should just carry on feeding as I'm bound to give him antibodies??

annamcmahon

Exactly keep feeding to pass on antibodies. In fact if he got it first he would have passed it on to you so he would get your antibodies

foxinsocks

A cold is no reason to stop, or even pause breastfeeding. Even if the baby catches your cold, your breastmilk will pass on the antibodies too, effectively increasing the speed which your baby can fight off the cold. I have had 2 colds while breastfeeding my current babby (she's nearly 11 months old!). One of them she caught, one of them she didn't. With the one she did, she was nowhere near as sick as i felt

0ctober

I have a question for those who have been breast feeding for a few months. Do your boobs get any less sensitive as time goes on? I'm 4 weeks into the breast feeding and my boobs are just crazy sensitive to the slightest touch or change in temperature and its really really uncomfortable! It makes drying off after a shower, getting dressed or going outside if its cold really awful sometimes. Does this settle at all?

wmpdd3

0ctober wrote: »

I have a question for those who have been breast feeding for a few months. Do your boobs get any less sensitive as time goes on? I'm 4 weeks into the breast feeding and my boobs are just crazy sensitive to the slightest touch or change in temperature and its really really uncomfortable! It makes drying off after a shower, getting dressed or going outside if its cold really awful sometimes. Does this settle at all?

To be honest not really, but my sisters were the same and they didnt breastfeed, seems to be just related to the pregnancy hormones.

I only noticed the sensitive to cold thing after I had the first baby. My nipples are much tougher now but still go mad when I brush off them or its gets cold.

The last 3 nights, baby has been asleep when I came time from work. He's also on 2 bowls of food per day, so he has that in the morning so he has no interest in boob any more.

I've tried to feed him at any time I'm not working but he has no interest and when I got around to expressing last night I barely got an oz from the first boob, I used to get 6oz at 10pm.

So, I'm no longer breast feeding, so sad to give up, it was hard in the beginning but I wouldn't have given up after week 3 for anyone.

On the plus side, I can get measured for a bra, I'm no where near the 34B I was pre-pregnancy. More a 34 DD!

NextSteps

0ctober wrote: »

I have a question for those who have been breast feeding for a few months. Do your boobs get any less sensitive as time goes on? I'm 4 weeks into the breast feeding and my boobs are just crazy sensitive to the slightest touch or change in temperature and its really really uncomfortable! It makes drying off after a shower, getting dressed or going outside if its cold really awful sometimes. Does this settle at all?

I got far less sensitive after a few weeks, definitely. Persevere!

liliq

0ctober wrote: »

I have a question for those who have been breast feeding for a few months. Do your boobs get any less sensitive as time goes on? I'm 4 weeks into the breast feeding and my boobs are just crazy sensitive to the slightest touch or change in temperature and its really really uncomfortable! It makes drying off after a shower, getting dressed or going outside if its cold really awful sometimes. Does this settle at all?

Definintely I got less sensitive, we'd some issues with tongue tie until 14 weeks so I was very sore until then but within two weeks after getting it clipped I was grand.
I reckon if we hadn't had those problems, 6 or 8 weeks max and we'd have been flying.
Sensitivity and tenderness are one thing, but make sure you're not in pain, you definitely shouldn't be sore.

tishandy

hello, wondering can I get some advice. Im breastfeeding my 3 wk old.
Here are my symptoms
* My left breast has become about three times bigger than the other
*I have a white blisterish thing on the nipple
*breast is full of very hard lumps
*baby cant get much milk out
*red patches on breast
*v painful to feed
I have tried a hot compress, hot shower , feeding ,expressing, am i doing the right things?
I cant seems to loosen out the lumps, I feel the more iI feed the bigger and harder the breast gets.

Should I feed and then express off whatevers left in the breast or will expressing make things worse?

Sorry for long post

liliq

tishandy wrote: »

hello, wondering can I get some advice. Im breastfeeding my 3 wk old.
Here are my symptoms
* My left breast has become about three times bigger than the other
*I have a white blisterish thing on the nipple
*breast is full of very hard lumps
*baby cant get much milk out
*red patches on breast
*v painful to feed
I have tried a hot compress, hot shower , feeding ,expressing, am i doing the right things?
I cant seems to loosen out the lumps, I feel the more iI feed the bigger and harder the breast gets.

Should I feed and then express off whatevers left in the breast or will expressing make things worse?

Sorry for long post

The blisterish thing could possibly be a bleb. they block the part of the nipple where the milk comes out and that leads to clocked ducts etc. It sounds like you're doing a lot right. Have you massaged the breast in the shower? From the back, near your chest, torwards the nipple. Definitely keep feeding on the sore, the breast needs to be emptied to help prevent more problems. If you're not happy that your baby is feeding effectivly from the sore side, expressing will also help but won't empty the breast as effectively as your baby can.
Do you have a temperature or feel ill? If either, head to your GP, as you may have mastitis, and thebest way to clear is with antibiotics.
My advice would be to get in touch with either a La League Leader (links to local groups can be found at the bottom of the page this link leads to http://www.lalecheleagueireland.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=5&Itemid=29) or a cuidiu breastfeeding counsellor (list of counsellors here, you can call them http://www.cuidiu-ict.ie/fulcrum.html?ep=34) or if you can, get to one of their or a Friends of Breastfeeding meeting.
Hope you get sorted soon

Oral Slang

Definitely boobs get less sensitive as it goes on. I'm still feeding my almost 11 month old & no sensitivity at all for the past few months. Perservere if you can because it does get so much easier.

tishandy - definitely sounds like a blocked duct or the start of mastitis. I've gotten a few blocked ducts over the months & mastitis once. Feed & feed as much as the baby will take from the sore boob. Try get the babies chin onto the sore area when the baby is feeding, or another tip is to go on all fours over the baby so that your boob is dangling down (if that make sense). Baby might be too small to do this just yet though. Hot showers are brilliant for it. Take paracetamol & then get into a shower as hot as you can bear and massage as deeply as you can. Garlic is a great natural antibiotic. I took 4 raw cloves of garlic when I got it (almost got sick though, so very hard to stomach). In the end I went to doc though, as I was afraid it wasn't cleared enough.

If there no sign of it clearing, go to the doctor & get a breast feeding friendly antibiotic, because you could end up with an abscess.

kingtiger

0ctober wrote: »

I have a question for those who have been breast feeding for a few months. Do your boobs get any less sensitive as time goes on? I'm 4 weeks into the breast feeding and my boobs are just crazy sensitive to the slightest touch or change in temperature and its really really uncomfortable! It makes drying off after a shower, getting dressed or going outside if its cold really awful sometimes. Does this settle at all?

Hello October, I have been fully breasfeeding my little girl for the past 8 months and it took me about 6 weeks not no feel any pain and actually enjoy it so it does get better I even donated some of my breast milk to help premature babies to the milk bank before I am finish (they do a fantastic job there)as I am going to start weaning off my little girl shortly so hang in there,like I said it does get better you doing a great job,well done

crissire

kingtiger wrote: »

Hello October, I have been fully breasfeeding my little girl for the past 8 months and it took me about 6 weeks not no feel any pain and actually enjoy it so it does get better I even donated some of my breast milk to help premature babies to the milk bank before I am finish (they do a fantastic job there)as I am going to start weaning off my little girl shortly so hang in there,like I said it does get better you doing a great job,well done

Hello everyone, I am new to boards and just realise I posted this yesterday under my husband name...!!(kingtiger) I told him he just comment about breastfeeding,quite funny actually

LegacyUser

Pink was just on Alan Carr show, proudly saying she is breastfeeding her child of 15 months. So refreshing to hear a popular figure such as Pink saying these things. She was quite vocal about it, saying she deliberately likes to provoke reactions while out and about :-)

She's gone right up in my estimation.

theg81der

When do I get sleep??!!! i`m 5 weeks breastfeeding now and it seems like feeds are closer together not spreading out. Every 2 hours at night - is that right/normal?

littlemissfixit

theg81der wrote: »

When do I get sleep??!!! i`m 5 weeks breastfeeding now and it seems like feeds are closer together not spreading out. Every 2 hours at night - is that right/normal?

It is quite normal, some babies do a longer stretch of say 4hrs from early on, but some keep the 2hrs round the clock for a while. My daughter was like that (my son done 4 hrs from a few days old thank god!), its very exhausting but it will pass. My advice is to wait after the next growth spurt, which is often around the 6wks mark, and then maybe try to stretch the night wakings a bit by soothing your baby an other way. Take Note if there is one of the night feeds that is very short, your baby may be looking comfort more than food. But it still early days, even though I know it feels like eternity! Im nearly 4 months into bfeeding my second and have to repeat to myself every night that it will soon be distant memory!

Emcm

theg81der wrote: »

When do I get sleep??!!! i`m 5 weeks breastfeeding now and it seems like feeds are closer together not spreading out. Every 2 hours at night - is that right/normal?

Hi there

This is completely normal your wee baby is probably going through a growth spurt which always hits around 4 to 6 weeks but don't worry it will pass. My wee man is now 17 weeks and is sleeping 10 hours at night on the breast only but like you there were times I was so wrecked I felt like throwing in the towel. I used to say to myself to make me feel better imagine if I had to get up every 2 hours during the night to sterilise and make bottles that kept me going.

If u are really wrecked maybe one day express so your other half could do one of the night feeds to give u a few hours rest.

Best of luck and hang in there the first few weeks are always the hardest

lazygal

Just need to offload! Baby is four months and BF is going so well. I have to say. I am glad I'm a determined person or the comments from family would have made me very discouraged. I was at a family event this weekend and it was the first time many of them met the baby. So many of the women couldn't believe I was still feeding her, did I not feel tied down, would I not try weaning her off the breast at this stage and some of my younger relatives made no secret of the fact they were grossed out when I fed her (no shrinking into corners for me, from day one out and about I feed her where I am as I don't see the need to move and hide).
A lot of the older women seemed to either never have considered BF or simply didn't have the support or found it too hard. I had to make a judgment call when some of them started telling me their 'horror' stories and decided not to point out that I went through the same constant cluster feeding, nipple soreness etc but now I stuck with it I find BF so convenient and less restrictive as there's no constant bottle making and sterilising. I'm not usually a person who lets things like this get to me, but I couldn't believe the negative attitude, even when I said I found it great and love it now, after a rocky start, there were looks of disapproval when I said I'd feed until baby was at least six months.


It was an eye-opener for me and really showed how once a generation of breastfeeders is lost its very, very hard to re-normalise it.

Rosy Posy

lazygal wrote: »

Just need to offload! Baby is four months and BF is going so well. I have to say. I am glad I'm a determined person or the comments from family would have made me very discouraged. I was at a family event this weekend and it was the first time many of them met the baby. So many of the women couldn't believe I was still feeding her, did I not feel tied down, would I not try weaning her off the breast at this stage and some of my younger relatives made no secret of the fact they were grossed out when I fed her (no shrinking into corners for me, from day one out and about I feed her where I am as I don't see the need to move and hide).
A lot of the older women seemed to either never have considered BF or simply didn't have the support or found it too hard. I had to make a judgment call when some of them started telling me their 'horror' stories and decided not to point out that I went through the same constant cluster feeding, nipple soreness etc but now I stuck with it I find BF so convenient and less restrictive as there's no constant bottle making and sterilising. I'm not usually a person who lets things like this get to me, but I couldn't believe the negative attitude, even when I said I found it great and love it now, after a rocky start, there were looks of disapproval when I said I'd feed until baby was at least six months.


It was an eye-opener for me and really showed how once a generation of breastfeeders is lost its very, very hard to re-normalise it.

Well done for persevering and doing your best for your baby.

I think that breastfeeding or feeding babies in general is such and emotive issue and no matter what you do you will end up feeling judgement from someone.

I'm in the process of weaning my one-year old. I weaned my other kids between 10 and 12 months too.

I found that people in Ireland were more negative about the breastfeeding and even those who did choose to breastfeed rarely did so exclusively or beyond six months.

Here in New Zealand I have a group of friends who are pretty zealous attachment parenting-home birth-home school advocates who feed their kids to 2 years plus (pretty much until they get pregnant with the next one).

I feel judgement from both quarters for my decision but at the end of the day there are so many different ways of parenting and no one decision means that that parent cares more for their children. I just wish more people could come around to this view.

liliq

lazygal wrote: »

I'm not usually a person who lets things like this get to me, but I couldn't believe the negative attitude, even when I said I found it great and love it now, after a rocky start, there were looks of disapproval when I said I'd feed until baby was at least six months.
It was an eye-opener for me and really showed how once a generation of breastfeeders is lost its very, very hard to re-normalise it.

The negative attitude is SO hard to contend with. It's crazy how other people judge parents for how they chose to feed their baby. Imagine turning around to a mum feeding her baby formula and saying "you're not at THAT are you?!". No one would dream of it, and neither should they, it's none of their business.
The knowledge that breastfeeding is normal really was lost early enough/ mid 1900s. Artificial feeding was incorrectly considered superior, and a lot of the now older generetions can't get past that, while a lot of the younger generations have the attitude "I was formula fed, and sure there's nothing wrong with me", not realising that so many ailments, such as obesity, that are seen as normal these days are at epidemic proportions, and have been contributed to by formula feeding.
I really think that's why so many mums stop breastfeeding before they're ready. It's like after 2 weeks people think there's something wrong with you.
Sorry, rant over!!
I'm glad you're enjoying it now after a rough start, it really is something that just gets easier as you go along!
As long as it's working for you, your baby is doing well, just ignore the comments!

After our own rough start where I thought I was going to give up before we got to even 3 months, we're still going strong at 1 year old today!