First Year Check In + Chatter 2/16-28

[lily]

Welcome! Please join us!

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How old is your LO?

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? How’s it going?


0-3 mo
Did you do anything to prepare for breastfeeding while pregnant?


4-8 mo
What is something about breastfeeding you wish someone had told you on day 1?

If you’ve returned to work, how is that transition going?


9-12mo
Do you have plans to TTC that affect your BF plans?



Questions/AW?


GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately?

[lily]

How old is your LO? - 8mo

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? How’s it going? - nursing, all is well



4-8 mo
What is something about breastfeeding you wish someone had told you on day 1? - go to la Leche league meetings





GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately? - DS1 has a long weekend from school so we came to the beach. Any time at the beach is self care for me, even with both kids. It’s my happy place.

[k]

How old is your LO? 3 weeks tomorrow

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? How’s it going? Nursing. Pumped yesterday and today for bottles while i go into work for a few hours tomorrow.


0-3 mo
Did you do anything to prepare for breastfeeding while pregnant? I read the womanly art of breastfeeding.





Questions/AW? I’m just happy to have the first week of nursing over with 😅. I think I’m dealing with a forceful letdown again. We’ve had some coughing and milk dripping out her mouth but I’m hoping it regulates or she learns to handle it.


GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately? Took a nap today and went to target

[Speedy]

How old is your LO? 8 months

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? How’s it going?
Nursing and supplementing. It's good, I think we just made it through another sleep regression/growth spurt which was a little tough.


4-8 mo
What is something about breastfeeding you wish someone had told you on day 1?
About all the different positions! I love feeding sidelying, and literally no one told me about it lol



GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately?
I've been getting better at asking DH to step in and take over when I'm feeling overwhelmed. This morning F decided he wanted to wake up at 6, but I'm not feeling well and just couldn't get up. So DH came and took him, played with him, gave him a bottle, and put him down for a nap so I could sleep in.

[potatocakes]

How old is your LO? 6.5 months

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? How’s it going? Nursing, pumping while I'm at work

4-8 mo
What is something about breastfeeding you wish someone had told you on day 1? If you're going back to work, start pumping early and often to build up a freezer stash. I didn't do this with my first, and it's so much less stressful this time around to have a stockipile!

If you’ve returned to work, how is that transition going? I've struggled with pumping enough the last few weeks, but haven't changed anything about my routine. I think I need to add in power pumping here and there, but for now, I'm just pumping in the evening to get enough for bottles. Being away from my baby is still hard.


Questions/AW?


GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately? Ha! Not enough. I did a yoga video this weekend, and shopped with some friends.

[Speedy]

Oh! Oh! I have a question, especially since it's the 9-12 month question lol. Does anyone know how TTC might affect BFing? We're not trying yet, but possibly in the next 6 months or so

[vvvvvfee]

How old is your LO? 7.5 months

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? How’s it going? nursing at home, pumping at work

4-8 mo
What is something about breastfeeding you wish someone had told you on day 1? i wish i knew more about the insane number of times that a newborn would want to nurse and to just go with it and that it wouldn't last forever.

If you’ve returned to work, how is that transition going? it's been a rough few months. lots of illness and stress. i've been pumping a few ounces less than i need most days, so i've had to pull from my frozen milk. i'm hoping it's partly due to being sick a lot recently and that it'll bounce back some. but i do remember my supply dropping a little around 7-8 months with my previous 2 and i just went with it and dropped to 2 pumps a day. i'd do that this time except i have far less extra frozen so i'm a little nervous.

GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately? i try to get out of the house sans-kids for like 1.5 hours every weekend. it does wonders to clear my head.

Speedy , i'm assuming you mean how BFing might affect TTC and not the other way around...? it varies from woman to woman. some have no trouble getting pregnant, while on the other end of the spectrum there are women that need to wean completely to even get their cycle to return. my broad assumption is that it's not a problem for most women given that your cycle is back and you're fairly regular. i got pregnant right away both times while BFing. my cycles were longer (32-35 days most of the time), but it was pretty easy to tell when i was ovulating based on cervical mucus/position. i can tell you about nursing through pregnancy if you're interested in that as well. ETA: see above, amc's answer was far more scientific than mine.

[Speedy]

vvvvvfee ummm yes 😬 I've been out of sorts and my brain keeps short circuiting lol.
Thank you and @amc. My cycle has been back for about 4 months already (boo) and seems to be my normal 28-29 day cycle. I'll keep an eye on CM the next few months but I think I'm pretty much "normal".
I'm taking Fs cues on BFing so I'll have to see at that time if we're still nursing or if he's weaned himself.

[frecklesnbrains]

How old is your LO? 6 months

Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? Nursing and pumping at work

How’s it going? Great! I’ve been a bit absent around here since going back to work, but I just wanted to pop into the BF board to say thanks to everyone who helped me out early on. I wasn’t sure I was going to have a successful BF journey with this, my 2nd, baby. We struggled with poor latch & poor weight gain in the beginning. But now I have officially BF DS2 for longer than I did my DS1. And we’re still going strong!


4-8 mo
What is something about breastfeeding you wish someone had told you on day 1?
- that every baby is different! Just because one baby was easy to BF doesn’t mean the next one will be.
- when you go back to work resist the pressure that daycare may give you to send in more and more milk and/or faster flow bottles.

If you’ve returned to work, how is that transition going?
Good. I learned a lot the first time around that has proven useful. I make pumping a priority every day. I never send in more milk than I pumped the day before. My freezer stash is minuscule but I’m okay with that because it means I can’t get lazy with my pumping so that keeps my supply up.


Questions/AW? 6mo EBF is my AW! Aiming for 12mo now.


GTKY: what’s something you’ve done for self care lately? I’m letting the baby cry it out a bit overnight if it’s been less than 3 hours since he nursed. Because sleep is the best kind of self care possible.