9/25 Newborn-3mo Check In

[lily]

How old is LO?

How's everything going?

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share?

0-1mo:
Is this your first experience BF?

What's one reason why you want to BF?


1-3mo
How do nights look at your house?

If you're pumping, how is that going? When are you returning to work, or are you SAH?


GTKY: what’s your favorite room in your home?

[aves0708]

1. 2 weeks tomorrow

2. Good! She had a weight check and is up to 7lbs 6oz which is past her birth weight.

3. Question about tongue and lip ties. She sounds like she has a tongue tie. She's a really noisy nurser and kind of has that clicking noise which I know can be an indicator of a tongue tie. I also can clearly see she has an ULT. We are having zero issues nursing though and she's gaining weight well, so I don't know if I should be stressed about this. DD1 has a ULT but I never knew she had it because she nursed so well. She doesn't go back to the pedi until her one month well check, I'll probably bring it up then, unless I should have it checked sooner? Is it better to see a LC first and see what they have to say? With feeding going so well it just seems like I'm searching for problems. Also when she cries I can see under her tongue and it doesn't look like she has a tie. That is probably not the most accurate way of checking though...

0-1: No, I have a 23 month old daughter that is still nursing.

I like science, so one ( of the many reasons ) I wanted to BF was that is biologically normal with incredible immune benefits. I like using my boobs for their intended purpose, not just for my husbands amusement.

GTKY: The kitchen. I don't really love to cook or bake but I've always had a smaller older kitchen, and the kitchen in the house we bought is big and new and amazing.

[lily]

aves0708 in general it’s only recommended to revise ties if LO is having issues nursing. That said, some women find that issues only present themselves once supply regulates & baby can’t rely on that high supply fast flow. So it’s a good thing to be aware of & ask your doc/IBCLC about. And if they say to watch it and suddenly around 4-6 weeks nursing takes a nose dive, you’ll have one really good suspect.

[monkeydilla]

How old is LO? 2 days

How's everything going?
It's going okay. We've had some struggles the first couple days in regards to him latching. I worked with the LC at the hospital, and I think we have a solid plan of supplementing with pumped milk/formula if he's getting too frustrated with his latching.

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share?
Just feeling a tad overwhelmed at this point. I have a 26m old daughter that I nursed for a year and had zero issues with, so this is all very new territory for me. Any advice/anecdotes are welcome!

0-1mo:
Is this your first experience BF?
Nope.

What's one reason why you want to BF?
For the bonding experience. I absolutely loved nursing my DD and would love to share that with DS too.


1-3mo
How do nights look at your house?

If you're pumping, how is that going? When are you returning to work, or are you SAH?


GTKY: what’s your favorite room in your home? I'd say my bedroom, or my "reading chair" room!

[aves0708]

lily Thank you for the advice!

[wells2010]

How old is LO? 3w 3D

How's everything going? Ok- at her two week appointment she only gained 2 oz in seven days and was still a pound below her birthweight so pedi said to just pump and give her all bottles so we could ensure she was getting enough. I did that for a few days and then did a mix. She gained weight and now is at 9lb 8oz, but still 5 oz below birthweight. I'm not going back until her 2 month checkup. The past week and a half has been a roller coaster of emotions.

Now I'm mostly EBF, but maybe giving her 1-2 bottles a day of pumped milk for my sanity. I'm starting to worry that I've got hindmilk- foremilk imbalance because I seem to be overproducing and have very little creamy top on the bottles of milk that I pump. It's hard because I'm still waiting on my spectra and have been using a hand pump and a five yr old PISA and I don't feel like I am ever adequately able to completely empty everything out.

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share?
Just the above issues. She is just a doll and her big sisters love her! My heart explodes when my two year old says "baby Hazel."

0-1mo:
Is this your first experience BF? Nope- did 6 months with my first and 10 months with my second.

What's one reason why you want to BF? Honestly, aside from all this pumping business, there is so much less to wash!!




GTKY: what’s your favorite room in your home? Hmm, I don't know! I just bought some new furniture so we will finally have a dining room table. I hang out the most in our family room, which is attached to our kitchen. There are still a lot of changes I'd like to make to it, but my fridge is enormous and I love the stone fireplace and floor to ceiling bookcases.

[thechickencoop]

Good morning ladies! Mind if I pop in here This week?

How old is LO? 3 weeks

How's everything going? Not too well so I'm hoping to get some advice.

DS was born at 34 weeks and spent 5 days in the NICU. We've been supplementing what I've been pumping to get to 24 calories per oz. He's back up past birth weight (woohoo!) But his pedi still wants me to keep supplementing for now.

Here's my issues. He's a super lazy nurser (I think???) He'll latch great, suckle a fee times, then either just stay latched and not suckle, or pull off. He'll eat 2 to 2.5 oz great from a bottle (either pumped milk or straight formula) because I guess it's easier.

I also know I'm not producing enough milk because my stash from pumping is gone, so I'm pumping and then using it immediately and then adding more formula. I just can't keep up.

We're also dealing with thrush (because why not) but are almost a week into meds and it's mostly cleared up.

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share? My question, how in the world to I get him to want to nurse? I'm trying to pump more often during the day to increase my supply, but I don't know how else to keep him awake when he's actually nursing. Ice tried to undress him, talking to him, etc. I'm not sure what else to do. Even if he nurses for a good period if time, he's still hungry and will gladly take a bottle after.

0-1mo:
Is this your first experience BF? No, DS1 is 5, I breastfed him for over a year with no real issues.

What's one reason why you want to BF? Why not?

[lily]

It is very important that all bottles are paced fed. This is a technique that helps prevent bottle flow preference & overfeeding, as it makes the bottle feed more closely mimic a breastfeed. Paced feeding is about how you feed a bottle, not when, as babies should always be fed on demand.

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/



The younger the baby, the higher risk for flow preference at the bottle and in turn refusing the breast. This can be overcome! But is just another hurdle you don’t want to deal with if you can avoid it.

You may consider alternative supplementing methods than the bottle.

kellymom.com/ages/newborn/newborn-concerns/alternative-feeding/

An at breast supplementer (also called a supplemental nursing system or SNS) allows for, well, supplementing at the breast! This keeps the breast/food association and the suckling can stimulate your own supply as well. It is a hassle, and means you cannot pump while another caregiver feeds the supplement.

Cup feeding may be closer to breastfeeding in terms of which muscles and swallowing patterns are used.

Sorry this video isn’t captioned and has a lot of talking at the beginning:

General tips on getting baby comfortable at the breast:

kellymom.com/ages/newborn/nb-challenges/back-to-breast/

[lily]

wells2010 the good news is that hindmilk/foremilk imbalance isn’t actually a thing - this article is a wonderful explanation
www.nancymohrbacher.com/articles/2010/6/27/worries-about-foremilk-and-hindmilk.html

The bad news is that oversupply is a thing and can present its own problems. If you truly have oversupply and baby still isn’t gaining at the breast, then there is likely an underlying transfer issue. I urge you to contact an IBCLC for a consult, including a weighted feed and checking for tongue and lip ties.

uslca.org/resources/find-an-ibclc

[lily]

Resources for getting in person help, or phone help:
Find your local La Leche League Leader: free peer breastfeeding support, basic latch and positioning help, should be able to refer you to professional support locally. This is the link for USA but it is a global organization: www.llli.org/webus.html

Breastfeeding USA Counselor is another free peer support person, US only: breastfeedingusa.org/content/breastfeeding-counselor-locations

IBCLC is an international board certified lactation consultant. May or may not be covered by insurance. May do office visits, home visits, support groups, video calls. Truly the gold standard of breastfeeding medical professional. Again, this link is for the USA but it’s a global org: uslca.org/resources/find-an-ibclc

[lily]

monkeydilla thechickencoop I kinda rambled above so if I didn’t address your concerns please reach out again. It’s already been a roller coaster of a day and it’s only halfway over, so I’m a little all over the place.

[lily]

Be kind to yourselves. You and your baby are learning each other still. Things are new and changing. You will figure out what works best for you and your family.

[wells2010]

Thanks lily. I know she doesn't have tongue tie, but I'm not sure about lip tie. The LC I spoke with over the phone seemed to think it was a transfer issue too of some sort because she chokes during feedings (both from breast and bottle). I think she is kind of sleepy and never seems all that hungry (compared to my other kids at least). She will nurse and then will drift off to sleep. I wouldn't say she is lethargic, since she does still have alert periods. She just seems content. I was thinking if she was getting lower fat milk, it could at least explain the lack of weight gain. I'll call again this week, but it looks like we will have to pay $100/hr OOP for an in home visit.

[Deleted]

Hey! Sorry I haven't checked in a long while. But I have some concerns.

How old is LO? 8 weeks

How's everything going? Having some struggles

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share? A wanted to nurse all day yesterday. I tried to distract him at times with other things so my breasts could fill up again. He was pretty much inconsolable by bedtime after cluster feeding for almost 3 hours. I had to defrost a backup bag and he sucked it down and went to sleep. I'm concerned that my supply is dropping. I don't pump often, I just moved and haven't had a chance to get it into my routine. After his morning feed I was able to pump from one breast for about 15 mins before he started to cry. I got 3.5 ounces. He seems to want to nurse a ton today to. I guess I'm not sure what my question is. But any advice?

0-1mo:
Is this your first experience BF? Yes.

What's one reason why you want to BF? Health benefits and the closeness you have with the baby.


1-3mo
How do nights look at your house? A gets pretty fussy for his witching hour, starts about 5pm. He nurses in and off until I get him in his swaddle about 7pm. He usually nurses to sleep then and will anywhere between 7:15 to 9pm. Most of the time he's out by 8.

If you're pumping, how is that going? When are you returning to work, or are you SAH? I need to make pumping a priority to help my supply and have extra. I SAH.


GTKY: what’s your favorite room in your home? My living room right now.

[thechickencoop]

Thank you lily!! Those links great; I forgot about kellymom, it was helpful with DS1 anytime I had questions.

I like the paced feeding. We've sort of bee doing that, letting him lead with eating/stopping, but still more horizontal. It makes so much sense to pop him up more to really make him work juuuuust a little harder to eat vs us just pouring a bottle down his throat.

[thechickencoop]

Heeeeeyyyyy @easilyunamused!!

Sorry you're LO is so frustrating 😕

Could he just be trying to comfort nurse vs actually eating?

I remember DS1 went through cluster feeding hell at one point (although I don't remember the age now...but he was newborn-ish) and would want to nurse from like 6pm to 9pm every night. I would sit there nursing him and just crying to H that anytime I try to put him down he would cry and why is he doing this he's not even eating I don't have any more milk aaahhhhhh.

It ended at some point. I'm sorry that's not super helpful but I always told myself that any tough issue were a phase and they would pass...and they always did.

Hang in there.

[thechickencoop]

wells2010 where is your pump coming from? I had to last minute order mine and got it in like 3 days.

Our insurance carrier changed Sept 1 (my EDD was Oct 20) so I hadn't even contacted them to find out how to order when my water broke on 9/8. I had DS2 on 9/10 and was like...crap.

Someone the discussions board (actually maybe easilyumamused???) recommended aeroflowbreastpumps so I went on there, put in my ins info, and made my due date 9/10. I think I may have called them too and was like, hey, had a premie, need pump nooooowwww!!! But either way, I got my insurance approval asap and H said it was delivered I think that wednesday.

And I'm not affiliated with them or anything but I was really impressed with how fast they got everything together.

[Deleted]

Thanks thechickencoop! I hope you're getting all of the amazing newborn snuggles.

I've been through the crazy cluster feeding witching hour before, this time felt different. Like he was actually hungry and not just comfort nursing. That's why I gave him the bottle and he settled down. This was the first time I felt like he wasn't satisfied with just the boob. I've only randomly given him bottles, so I'd be bummed if my supply wasn't enough.

[jexxa]

How old is LO?
7 weeks

How's everything going?
Good, I think

Questions/concerns/cute stories to share?
I didn't until I read this thread, but now I'm wondering - could the clicking while nursing be caused by something other than a tongue tie? I noticed the clicking weeks ago but thought it was just a weird quirk. I had no idea it was a sign of a tongue tie. DD has no other signs though - no pain while nursing, she's gaining weight, diaper output is great, my supply is fine (actually if anything, I have an oversupply). I opened her mouth to look for one and I couldn't see anything obvious. Could the clicking be her way of dealing with an overactive letdown?

1-3mo
How do nights look at your house?
DD is a great sleeper. She sleeps from 10:30/11 - 5:30/6. Then she'll nurse and sleep until 7/7:30.

If you're pumping, how is that going? When are you returning to work, or are you SAH?
I started pumping this weekend to build a stash and am getting about 7oz per session. I go back to work in 5 weeks.


GTKY: what’s your favorite room in your home?
I guess my living room, since that's where I spend 95% of my time.

[wells2010]

thechickencoop it's coming from McKesson. I called last Monday and they said it was in their warehouse in VA and that I would get it in 3-5 days, but probably sooner since I am in MD. I don't have tracking info or anything and will be calling tomorrow. My insurance company uses another company for their durable medical equipment, so first I had to go through them.

[wells2010]

jexxa I'm almost positive my other two kids "clicked" and didn't have tongue ties or any issues.

[thechickencoop]

Oct 1, 2017 20:13:49 GMT -6 wells2010 said:

thechickencoop it's coming from McKesson. I called last Monday and they said it was in their warehouse in VA and that I would get it in 3-5 days, but probably sooner since I am in MD. I don't have tracking info or anything and will be calling tomorrow. My insurance company uses another company for their durable medical equipment, so first I had to go through them.

Oh hi fellow MD-er!! It really sucks it's taking that long. I'd probably tell them I'd drive down there and pick it up my damn self.