Due in March/April/May 2013 Roll call!

[Rosie85]

I have not read anything from there. My breasts are 38/40 DD's so nope they are not small. Maybe it is my nipples....

I hope the next baby latches, I bet it would make all the difference.

[TT_3814]

I don't do very well with pumping either. It was such a struggle with DS3 in the nicu, by the time he could latch successfully my supply was practically gone. My doula and I tried so hard but it didn't recover. Like Shell said, hopefully your new little one will latch well and your supply will turn out great.

[Tiffani3]

Heeheeh! Breastfeeding is so easy... I would love to help you any way I can, obviously over the internet - but you know!

Any particular reason why you breastfed shorter each child? Not dissing! I'm just curious if there was a reason behind it... i.e. if it was because of issues I'd be curious to hear because sometimes I can point stuff out.

It's like my aunt... she was saying she just didn't make enough milk. The first question I asked her was when she first tried to breastfeed after my cousin's birth, and she said, "Over 24 hours later... they kept her in the nursery so I could sleep." and I told her that might have caused a rocky start *maybe* because the necessary immediate hormone response didn't happen immediately. It's not something that's magic, but waiting that long to breastfeed after birth would, to me, send the wrong signals to your body when it is at its most cocktail-y of hormones.

I usually explain supplementation like... 1 supplementation feed = 1+ less breastmilk feed.

Gosh, there are so many 'booby traps' in early breastfeeding (especially in the US because of things like getting constant free formula samples, etc. When you're in those early hard days/moments when you just want to give up, cry, curl into a ball and sleep... it makes it so tempting, like a big relief... but it doesn't help and hinders, instead.)

I'm rammmmmmmbling!

I guess I am a BF queen, haha.

Well ds1 I wanted to go back to work so stopped at 6 months.
Ds2 developed reflux at 3 months and would feed him and end up with it all over me and then he'd be hungry again I found it so hard and draining trying to keep up with his feeds finally the doctors listened to me and gave him meds after a month and in that time i had started giving him formula just to cope with the constant feeding and then just gave up.
Ds3 I'm not really sure why maybe I wasn't eating enough I thought I was but he was such a hungry baby I would feed him and he would still be wanting more and there was nothing left so gave him one bottle of formula during the day for a week and by the end of the week my milk had nearly completely gone!! So again just stopped and was so much less stressed.
Sorry for all the info or ramble!!! xx

[suregena]

I have not read anything from there. My breasts are 38/40 DD's so nope they are not small. Maybe it is my nipples....

I hope the next baby latches, I bet it would make all the difference.

Study-study-study NOW! Your breasts are the same cup size as mine. (I'm about a 34DD.) Read kellymom when you have spare time - seriously, just read-read-read. Get all of the *proper* information into your head - it very likely will help immensely.

What are your nipples like? Even women with inverted nipples go on to successfully breastfeed--and in fact, that can help reverse their inverted nipples.

I've heard of health professionals suggesting women switch sides every ten minutes, which is TERRIBLE advice. The baby would never get hindmilk and only foremilk with that sort of pattern, for the most part, and the hindmilk is where all the fat is... the foremilk is like the part that is helpful for thirst (it's more watery.) I've heard of doctors giving bogus, unhelpful lines/advice about why a woman might be struggling... FAMILY are bad ones, too, even though they mean well. What is understood about the science of breastfeeding is so much better (in areas with people who are very serious/educated about breastfeeding) these days then it ever was.

[Rosie85]

Well they are not inverted but they don't stick out super far either.

I will start reading all I can, thank you!

[suregena]

Well ds1 I wanted to go back to work so stopped at 6 months.
Ds2 developed reflux at 3 months and would feed him and end up with it all over me and then he'd be hungry again I found it so hard and draining trying to keep up with his feeds finally the doctors listened to me and gave him meds after a month and in that time i had started giving him formula just to cope with the constant feeding and then just gave up.
Ds3 I'm not really sure why maybe I wasn't eating enough I thought I was but he was such a hungry baby I would feed him and he would still be wanting more and there was nothing left so gave him one bottle of formula during the day for a week and by the end of the week my milk had nearly completely gone!! So again just stopped and was so much less stressed.
Sorry for all the info or ramble!!! xx

Oh, dear.

That's the thing - they will seem ravenous seemingly *all the time*... you just have to sit your butt on the couch and give in to that hunger. The hunger is not because you are not able to give him enough - it's the opposite... it's because their stomach is TINY, so they can only fit so much, and because breastmilk is the most gentle, wonderful, super easily digestible food for a baby, it will literally go right through their digestive tract - and therefore, they will be hungry again. There is always milk 'left', you just can't get it out like your bub. There are also growth spurt periods where you do feel like you literally have no more... but those periods are actually THEM doing the work to signal your BODY to make MORE because their tummies are a little bigger and they are a little bigger and now their milk requirements have increased a little, so they get crazy-hungry and want feeding nonstop, but it's all part of the process for continuous, healthy, breastmilk production. And, unfortunately, all of these signs can be misinterpreted from the mother that it's *her* problem, that it's *her* fault, that she isn't making enough, that she isn't satisfying them enough... that is SO far from the truth, I'm afraid!

[Shellbelle]

Rosie, if you're having pain with pumping and have large breasts, it is very likely you need larger flanges (the plastic part that surrounds your nipple). I can't say that for sure without seeing you in person, but its a common complaint. I'm a 36dd normally (38 e right now) and I get bad friction with the standard size flanges.

[suregena]

Well they are not inverted but they don't stick out super far either.

I will start reading all I can, thank you!

Well, let me just tell you - the baby doesn't latch onto the NIPPLE itself, they latch their mouth and create suction around the whole of or as much of the AREOLA as possible. The nipple should be entirely within the mouth and sort of pointing slightly upwards towards the roof of the mouth. One should always bring the baby to the breast, not the breast to the baby. Watch videos of proper latching and read kellymom, I promise you... it will help! <3

[Rosie85]

You know I thought of that last time around Shell...perhaps I will order new ones just in case.

[Shellbelle]

You know I thought of that last time around Shell...perhaps I will order new ones just in case.

That is the only real pain I have with bf -- I hate the stupid pump and apparently my body does, too.