Trouble Breastfeeding

[little d]

HI

What does stripping tha breast mean sound painfull. My daughter did have a good latch and first she made me have chapped nipples and then I learned to get her on the right way. I tell all my moms when I was working on the floor with the moms that breastfeeding is a learnin process for not just baby but for mom as well. Even mom can forget at times how to breastfeed her baby if it has been a few years. And I would also try to encourge the young moms even if they were 13, 14, 15 to try breast feeding but usually they felt to uncomfortable with the idea and just bottle feed. They always wanted to talk on the phone all night to friends. But you will get that one teen mom who can out do any a mom who has breastfed all 2 or 4 babies.

Donna

[loraleena]

The first person on here has not responded back? There are many reasons women think they don't produce enough. In the 1st few days there is the colostrum which is very important for immune systom but not very filling. After a few days the hind milk comes in. The infant may not be latching on properly which in turn does not stimulate the breast properly. Infants born early can have issues with this as well as babies with a high palate or babies who are tongue tied. Some babies just have difficulty. Avoid bottles until breastfeeding is well establishe. Another problem can be inverted nipples on the mother. Some moms think they aren't producing enough because the baby nurses a lot. This is normal with breast fed babies. The latest thinking is that it is important to empty one breast first before switching. This causes the breast to make more milk. If the baby does not want the other breast at the feeding, make sure to start with that one next time. This is important because the first several minutes is a lighter thinner milk, and the rich creamy stuff comes after and is more filling. I work with pregnant moms and newborns for a living and am about to become a certified lactation counselor in June. It is very important that any moms with concerns see a lactation counselor or consultant. If you want to be sure the baby is getting enough, he/she should be having at least 3 good sized poops a day in the beginning and 6-8 very wet diapers. If you want to be sure it is wet lay a piece of tissue paper in the diaper so you can tell easier.

[gfmolly]

Hi Natalie,

I am currently going through the bloodwork for celiac and was interested when I came upon your post. My firstborn is six and I had a heck of a time producing milk for him as a baby. He was born at 7 lbs. 2 oz and at 6 weeks old he was 6 lbs. 3 oz and obviously hungry. One of my parent's friends was a lactation consultant and helped me through it. I took a a supplement (More Milk Plus) and combination fed with formula and breastmilk. I breastfed him until he was 9 months old and started biting me! My second was a breeze to produce for and was a bigger baby in general. That is an interesting connection. Hope you can find out your issues. It definitely seems a worthwhile connection.

Terri

[Fiddle-Faddle]

The first person on here has not responded back? There are many reasons women think they don't produce enough. In the 1st few days there is the colostrum which is very important for immune systom but not very filling. After a few days the hind milk comes in. The infant may not be latching on properly which in turn does not stimulate the breast properly. Infants born early can have issues with this as well as babies with a high palate or babies who are tongue tied. Some babies just have difficulty. Avoid bottles until breastfeeding is well establishe. Another problem can be inverted nipples on the mother. Some moms think they aren't producing enough because the baby nurses a lot. This is normal with breast fed babies. The latest thinking is that it is important to empty one breast first before switching. This causes the breast to make more milk. If the baby does not want the other breast at the feeding, make sure to start with that one next time. This is important because the first several minutes is a lighter thinner milk, and the rich creamy stuff comes after and is more filling. I work with pregnant moms and newborns for a living and am about to become a certified lactation counselor in June. It is very important that any moms with concerns see a lactation counselor or consultant. If you want to be sure the baby is getting enough, he/she should be having at least 3 good sized poops a day in the beginning and 6-8 very wet diapers. If you want to be sure it is wet lay a piece of tissue paper in the diaper so you can tell easier.

How wonderful that we have a lactation consultant here!!!!! Congratulations on your upcoming certification!

I would only offer one correction: the hind milk will come in on the first or second day if you are nursing often enough, which is NOT every 2-3 hours. For me and most of the breastfeeding moms I know, it was more like every half hour, one side at a time (just like you said!).

If you are on the old schedule of every 2-3 hours, then yes, it will take days for your milk to come in. And you run the risk of a dehydrated baby.

Of course, after a couple of weeks or less, the baby does adjust the schedule. For my babies, it was every 1 1/2 hours, sometimes every 2 hours, but usually less often at night. Everything I have read says that breast milk digests in less than an hour, so it makes no sense at all to wait 2-3 hours between feedings.

[tiredofdoctors]

I'm sorry I wasn't clear with regard to "stripping" the nipple. I can see where it would sound painful. Typically, infants use the top of their mouth to "anchor" and use the tongue and bottom jaw to not only suck, but also to put some "force" on the bottom of the nipple. When they move their lower jaw backward, that's called "stripping" the nipple. It just means that they are "expressing" the milk into their mouths vs. tonguing it and waiting for the milk to let down. The shape of a Nuk pacifier is the shape of the nipple as the infant is "stripping" it. I'm sorry for the confusion. It does sound torturous, in retrospect. After working in the NICU during one of my internships, I caught on to the "lingo" and just didn't get rid of it.

[loraleena]

Actually it takes about 90 minutes for breast milk to digest. Also a mom should nurse at least every 2-3 hours, but many babies nurse more and this is normal. My son nursed every 1 1/2 hours. I work with moms who had babies that nurse every 1/2 to 1 hour as well. The thicker milk can come in within a day or 2, but can be delayed longer than 3 days in moms who have had birth trauma or c-sections. Also I will be certified as a lactation counselor not consultant. Consultants have even more schooling and expertise. I am excited to learn much much more!

[natalie]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of the responses to my post. I think a lot of you misunderstood me, I am not nursing at the moment, my children are 6 and 4 now, but at the time I had trouble breastfeeding. I was just curious if anyone else had the same experience. One post said that some mom's don't realize how much effort bf takes. Believe me, I know about how much effort it takes. My first baby was small ( 5lbs.) and he had a very small mouth. I desparately wanted to breastfeed.He wanted nothing to do with latching, but I spent 5 weeks pumping, working on latch, tube feeding ( not to cause nipple confusion), going back and forth to lactation consultants etc. I could barely get any milk while pumping... I was miserable, the whole course of a feeding including pumping took almost 2 1/2 hours with a 1/2 break and then start the whole cycle again. After 5 weeks with no improvement I decided that I just wanted to enjoy my baby, so I switched to formula.

When my daughter came along, she was a healthy 7lbs. 4oz. and latched a perfect latch immediately after birth. I fed her on demand and again, I just didn't produce enough milk. My doc put me on meds to increase my milk production and it never worked. I nursed her for six weeks, but I didn't have the energy to nurse and supplement ( make formula , clean bottles etc.) So again I switched to formula.

I was just curious if any other celiac moms experienced the same thing.

Thanks,

Natalie

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Also a mom should nurse at least every 2-3 hours,

I'm sorry, I must disagree with this. Of all the nursing moms I know (and I know quite a lot), NONE were able to go 3 hours in the first several weeks, and only one was able to go every 2 hours. And so many thought that they SHOULD be able to go 2-3 hours because of that "every 2-3 hours" that they were told--and then they wondered why their babies lost weight, and why breastfeeding wasn't working for them. And you know that there will be ones who will try to push it to 3-4 hours and then assume that their problem is that they can't produce enough milk.

I know that every 2-3 hours is what you were taught, but I swear to Heaven, it is WRONG.

Please, please, PLEASE, be realistic and tell your patients every 1-2 hours, not every 2-3 hours. That will eliminate the engorgement problem for the mom and the subsequent latch-on problem for the baby, and it will bring the milk in WAY, WAY sooner.

[loraleena]

You are so right. I just completed my lactation counseling certificate and the current belief is every 1/2-1 1/2 hours. We have been taught wrong info all these years. My own son never went more than a hour and a half.