New to Breastfeeding

[june05isttimer]

My little one is now 9 days old and I am persevering with Breasfeeding but only just at the moment.

I am using a sheild on one side due to an inverted nipple and the other side is pretty grazed so I sometimes use the sheild on that side to give things a bit of a break.

Sometimes bub is really good and will feed 3-4 hrly during the day and at night with sometimes the night feeds stretching to 5-6 hourly.

Today though she has been soo restless since her morning 9am feed and will only sleep for about an hour and then cries. I get her up and all she does is knaw on her hands like she is starving. I offer her a boob and she feeds for 15mins and falls asleep again. Really I have done 3 feeds now all about an hour and a half in between.

Is this normal??
Its kinda hard as I will do this during the day and then when she spans longer of a night I end up rock hard and full of milk as my system obvisously thinks I need all that extra milk from the feeds during the day.

Do i overcome this problem and if so how do I do it.

We have formula in the cupboard which I know she can take as she had some in the hospital and feeding from the bottle she took to straight away so there are no probs with nipple confusion.

A friend of mine tops her bub up with formula in between feeds if her baby is generally ratty and wants to fiddle on her breast. She reckons it doesn't then interfere with her milk supply????

Has anyone else had a similar experience or can offer some advice here on this.
I have read the forum on breastfeeding tips which is only just keeping me encouraged to continue breastfeeding.

Any help with this will be appreaciated.

thanks

[madvoice]

You never know, she could be teething. It might sound extremely early but I was born with two teeth so I was doing the teething thing from the get go.

You haven't mentioned how long you are breastfeeding her for as she may be gettting the foremilk but not enough hind milk. Do you use both breasts at a feed? When my daughter was that age (not all that long ago) she'd drink from one breast only and I expressed the other with a manual breast pump. I'd save that for an early AM feed so hubby could do it and I could get a bit of rest. Expressing the full breast meant that I wasn't as engorged.

It may also be wind and you may need to spend a few more minutes burping her. I'm really impressed that she's sleeping 5-6 hours through the night. Especially since my daughter has only recently started sleeping through at 11wks (wakes between 3.30 and 4.30am). Raleigh at that age was awake every 2-3 hours.

[june05isttimer]

Hi there

the sleeping 5-6 hours is probably every second night so far. Things are still all over the place but Im starting to let her sleep if she doesn't wake on or around 4 hours or so whereas when I first got her home I would wake her regularly as hard as this was.

As for feeding.. generally she feeds from each breast for about 20mins per side. Most times i offer both breasts per feed just to try and even things out otherwise i was lop sided and sore on one side.
Other times like today whilst feeding soo close together, I have only been offering her the one breast.

I have also been able to express once a day mostly in the morning before the morn feed for about 5mins per side mainly to get used to expressing without interfering with the milk supply too much. My hubby has been able to give her this milk at around the 2am mark so I can get a solid 4 hours or so myself. I have found that I am pretty full by the morning which is why expressing is soo much easier to do then. It still also gives her enough I think at that morning feed.

Do you find only offering one side and expressing the other ok??
I was not game to do this in case I produced more milk than I should due to her not technically feeding off the other breast.
I guess though by only offering the one side does ensure that she is getting that hindmilk.
Should she be getting some hind milk in a 20min or so feed or should i be trying to feed off one side for a full feed and see what happens. I guess I can always express off the other side too and see how it goes.

Its soo soo complicated. Im like a few others on here and that is that its soo hard to realise that its a teatering game between your body and your baby. !!!!!
I guess we get there in the end.

[lil monkey]

Your milk supply doesn't get fully established until about 6-8weeks when you will notice the supply settling down and you wont be as hard as a rock all the time if you go over 3 hours!

I found that I had an extremely strong flow when bub was born so I would only feed her on one side for up to half an hour and would offer her the other side every now and then but usually I would just express the other wise and freeze it. I didn't start offering her a bottle of breast milk until she was around 3-4 weeks old just until I established her breastfeeding from the actual breast and also because I was scared she would suffer from nipple confusion!

At extacly 9 days old, she went from a 3-4 hour routine of feeding to really playing up and getting grizzly after an hour and crying and kicking her legs up and all sorts. Apparently this is quite common as you come out of hospital thinking you have a dream baby and then all of a sudden they get restless, cranky and very unsettled!! Tayla ended up with having excessive wind and so we used the brauer colic relief stuff fora bit as well as pushing her legs up into her tummy and rolling them around to release some wind and we also used infacol. Whether this really worked or not I am not sure but it seemed to lessen the effects. At the 6 week mark she had her checkup and was diagnosed with reflux and put on medication so if only we had known this earlier we wouldn't have gone through weeks and weeks of unsettledand painful behaviour for her!

So, if it persists, I recommend you see your paed or dr to discuss.

Oh, when she was about the same age as your bub she was feeding every 2-3 hours from the start of each feed so this can be quite normal I am told!

[Milly]

Hi there!

Babies generally get restless in the first few weeks when home from the hospital and this is quite normal and they do feed frequently. Breastmilk is very easily digested which is why breastfeed babies tend to feed more frequently, but digesting quickly is a very good thing and it is the best thing for them.

When my baby dosed off at the boob, I would gently wake her (tickle her feet :) ) and get her to feed a little longer. You start to get a feeling as to whether they have had a full feed or not. It does take about 6-8 weeks to establish breastfeeding and that is also a sense of a routine, which the baby tends to set. It does settle down quite a bit around the 6-8 week mark and everything baby settles around the three month mark. It is hard at first but it really does get a lot better and is really the easiest and most convenient thing in the world. In the early days I only offered one side and then I gradually moved to offering both. It just sort of happens. See what your baby wants and progress accordingly there.

I used nipple shields a lot in the early days and I tended to rotate them or I would start the feed with them on ( as the first latch used to be quite painful) and then I would remove it when she paused and continue. This way I at least knew I was getting full stimulation for milk supply. I also tended to express between times too.

Topping up with formula will effect milk supply to some capacity.

I really suggest contacting the Australian Breastfeeding Association. They have a great Website with Essential Breastfeeding Information and forums that answer all sorts of breastfeeding questions, including those tricky ones in the early days. There are also contact details for local b/f Counsellors to get tips from and the chance to meet up with other women at a Local Group. I found them a great support when I started breastfeeding and got some many wonderful tips.

The ABA Website is: http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/

And a link directly to their Breastfeeding Information Section:
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/index.html

There will be other mums and Counsellors who will be able to answer your questions.

All the best and wishing you every success.

[BJelly]

You are doing much better than I was in the first few weeks, so don't feel down on yourself - there was no pattern to my feeds, sometimes they just went on and on - I was confusing her tiredness for signs of hunger - it's a steep learning curve for mum and bub.

In the first month I used to wake my baby at 2am-3am for a feed if she didn't wake (she'd usually go to sleep at 12mn) - I felt this way she was getting enough, I was able to empty my breasts and I felt it helped increase my flow during the day. This worked well for me, but it's not for everyone.

Could you express before going to bed to stop from feeling too full in the mornings?

Best of luck!

[xkwzit]

Hi
Supplementing with formula may affect your supply. With bf demand = supply, so if you "top up" you are telling your breasts that your baby doesn't need as much milk, so they *may* start to produce less. I would try everything else before "topping up" and then at least you know that you have given it a really good go.

Your baby may just be going through a growth spurt, where for a few days or a week, she will want to feed frequently. Just feed her, it should settle down reasonably quickly.

I also had inverted nipples and humungous, painful cracks as my babies "restructured" the nipples. It helps to know that as each crack heals over, your nipple is that little bit easier for your baby to attach to. I also thought about giving it away serveral times, but I'm really glad I persisted. I saw a lactation consultant a few times during the first 3 months with DD1, and I found her advice really helpful. I think that they are worth their weight in gold. Certainly see one before you make decisions about supplementing. They've always got a few tricks up their sleeves to make your feeding more effective / efficient.

Hope this helps.

[mimi]

Hi there

I certainly agree with Milly and Samantha about contacting the ABA and/or a lactation consultant. I think you will find alot of things that seeem 'strange' are actually quite normal - and as well, as Samantha says, there are a lot of 'tricks' to be learned too!

You may also be told about growth spurts - I have often heard said 'Oh yes, The 10 day growth spurt!' [which seems to fit your case perfectly!!]. This is when babies go through a day or two of feeding really frequently - or in our case CONSTANTLY!!- taking more food in and in the process, build up your supply. These growth spurts are said to happen at certain times, but as all babies grow differently, they can occur at any time - I have been told 5 days 10 days and 4 months, 3 & 6 weeks and 3, 6 & 12 months ... and some of those did coincide with my kids frequent feeding, but as I said every baby is different!

I too would save the complimentary feeds as a last resort - it will only interfere with your body getting 'in tune' with bubs feeding. It takes time for any sort of routine to be established, as the others have mentioned ... and THEN, of course, when you just think you have got some idea of what is going on, your little darling will change it again!! LOL

Keep up the good work. It is tough at first, but worth it!