***HELP - breastfeeding two months

N

nikimom

Registered User
have been feeding my girl every three hours, but she sleeps on my breast everytime so i have to top up with a bottle of expressed milk, i find it very tiring, and not enuf milk for her.... now i try to feed her very four hours....i will feed her directly but she probably falls asleep after 10 to 15 mins and then i express milk from both breast then i give her a bottle of 5 oz to her

my worry is (a) is she having enough, 5 feeds of 5 oz plus a little bit direct feeding b4 the bottle of expressed milk. (except for the midnite feed, which i wont top up);
(b) i usually start at eg. 10.30 and then she finishes on the breast at around 10.50 or so, then i express and i finish expressing at arojnd 11.25 then i give the bottle to her at 11.30. will that be too long to finish one feeding...
(c) am i risking to let me milk supply diminish if i only feed every four hours now

thanks
 
nikimom
you may be worrying unnecessarily.
If your baby is falling asleep after a feed, she must be satisfied. IMO, there's no need to feed her additional expressed milk. The more she sucks on your breast, the more milk you will produce. But I'm a little confused how you express if she's sleeping on you...?

Are you offerring her both sides?

c) Why be so strict on a schedule - you can consider feeding her on demand.

As always, you can seek professional advice from LLL.
 
if she falls asleep you can try waking her up with s little push, pull her slip or whatever. my baby used to do that. but everytime i pulled away, she'd start sucking again. one more thing, you might have plugged duct, that's what happened to me, i finally had my lactation consultant (very very good) came to help me & solve all my problems. the difference between a lactation consultant is, she can come to your place to help you out (but you have to pay). whereas LLL, you can call them anytime & they're friendly & nice & very supportive, but unless you're willing to bring your baby to the meeting, they can't help you in person.
plus i'm sending you the no. of the lactation consultant rhu pm. pls check. & good luck.
 
It happened to me too when my daughter was young. I just woke her up or changed to another breast. I found feeding her on schedule was really stressful and tiring. After one or two months or three months, I can't really remember, I changed to feed her on demand, ie. whenever she cries or tired, I will feed her (of course, after checking her nappy to make sure that she was not crying because of wet nappy) I really enjoyed it since then.

I agree that you may want to call LLL's leaders for advise. They helped me a lot too.

Good luck.
 
My first child was a hungry boy but very sleepy. The nurses told me these ideas to keep him awake for a feed:
1. rub his earlobe or toes, not too softly (apply a little pressure) while nursing.
2. unwrap his blanket/clothing so he is a liitle cooler, not cold though. - warm babies sleep easily
3. if he falls asleep, take off his diaper, this may wake him up again
4. burp him often.

I also think expressing is giving you unecessary work, but I am no expert... your baby may be effecient at drinking, my new baby girl is, she feeds for short periods only but is growing and pooping very well. i find feeding on demand much easier than fighting to keep a schedule that doesn't suit the baby.
 
thank you all for your prompt reply, so surprised to see all the advice just after lunch.
You are rite, I've been suffering from plugged ducts, and I actually have an independent lactation consultant visit me, but my plugged ducts dont seem to be any better.
I was also experiencing low milk supply due to plugged ducts, so I've tried to feed her on demand without topping up with expressed milk. But she would slept on my breast after 5 to 10 mins...and she hasnt even empty the first breast. sometimes when (but rarely) she's reli hungry, and she seemed to have empty both my breasts, she still appear to be very hungry. Thats why I have the habit of giving her top up.
Another reason is the several days that I didnt give her the top up , she didnt poo for 3 days. So my husband and I decided that she wasnt taking in enuf.
Now when i breastfeed her on one breast, the other leak (half to 1 oz) so I develop the habit of expressing with the medela style pump on one breast, while feeding her on teh other.
But now, she seems to be hungry again after 3 hours..even I top her up with 5 oz...am I giving her the right amount...does she need more?
 
I tried all methods to wake her up, tickle her, unswaddle her b4 a feed, rub her ears and cheeks, burp her...but none of those works.
And if I feed her on demand, she feeds so frequently that there's not enuf time for the breast to make milk. they are so soft adn empty if she feeds every 1.5 or 2 hours.
 
i don't know which consultant you are calling in to help, but there aren't many choices in hk. i went thru one before mrs chee. the 1st one was terrible. brought me thru a lot of pain, agony & tears. then i called mrs chee cos the 1st one (i don't wanna name names here) was out of town. mrs chee is god sent. call her right away.
 
Hi,
In actual fact the breast never stops making milk, the supply is always there. Your breast only starts to feel hard when it is becoming full, but as I say the supply is always there. Your breasts become engorged when the milk has no where else to go. A soft breast is one that is breastfeeding efficiently.

Different babies feed in different ways. My first child used to feed for 45 minutes at a time, take both breasts, but only need to feed every three hours. My second child used only take one breast, but feed more frequently; she would also only feed for 10 minutes at a time. My third baby feeds for 10-15 minutes at a time and usually takes both breasts. If you feed on demand then the baby will get what they need.

If she is gaining weight and having the right number of wet/dirty nappies in the day, then personally I would worry about topping her up with expressed milk. Remember that she can get much more out of your breast than any pump can and she is therefore, probably getting alot more than you think she is.

I hope this helps.

Jools
 
nikimom said:
thank you all for your prompt reply, so surprised to see all the advice just after lunch.
You are rite, I've been suffering from plugged ducts, and I actually have an independent lactation consultant visit me, but my plugged ducts dont seem to be any better.
I was also experiencing low milk supply due to plugged ducts, so I've tried to feed her on demand without topping up with expressed milk. But she would slept on my breast after 5 to 10 mins...and she hasnt even empty the first breast. sometimes when (but rarely) she's reli hungry, and she seemed to have empty both my breasts, she still appear to be very hungry. Thats why I have the habit of giving her top up.
Another reason is the several days that I didnt give her the top up , she didnt poo for 3 days. So my husband and I decided that she wasnt taking in enuf.
Now when i breastfeed her on one breast, the other leak (half to 1 oz) so I develop the habit of expressing with the medela style pump on one breast, while feeding her on teh other.
But now, she seems to be hungry again after 3 hours..even I top her up with 5 oz...am I giving her the right amount...does she need more?
Click to expand...

HI Nikimom
I feel for you
Getting it right is so much fine tuning. And once you think you have got on track it all changes.
I remember the frustration and challenge of the early months (my daughter is 7 months now) but it does get easier. Stick with it. And try to relax (i know, i know! easier said than done)

I just wanted to add a few things.
Is your baby putting on weight?
Is your doctor concerned?
If she is putting on weight and your doctor is not concerned not, try not to worry
I just wanted to point out a few things

1. Pooing!
It is actually "normal" for a breastfed baby to poo after every feed and to poo only once a week. In otherwords what is normal will vary from baby to baby. I think it is more important to see if your baby is having a wet nappy. If she is having a wet nappy after most feeds, then you can be sure that she is drinking enough. (assuming you are only breastfeeding and not other fluids)
She may just be one of those once every 3 day babies.

2. Leaking breasts
This is totally normal.
I still leak now when I feed from the otherside. Some women will leak when they hear their baby cry or even when they just think about them.Dont worry you are not loosing the milk your baby needs (as Jools pointed out your breasts will make what your baby needs and the baby can suck out much more than you could ever manually pump)

3. falling asleep.
YEs my baby would do this alot as well. I tried tickling her under her chin, her feet,playing with her, undressing her and changing her nappy in between. SOmtimes it worked and sometimes it didnt.
In the end, if baby is steadily gaining weight. Dont worry. Sleep is as important to growth as eating is.

4.soft breasts
Someone else mentioned that your breast will go back to being soft when they are making milk properly. they will only be hard if they are engorged.

5 . 5min sucker.
I was frantic when my baby didnt do the 45 min feed that all the books tell you is normal.trying to get her to eat for 20 mins on each breast was a lot of tickling and jiggling rather than eating. she went from 20mins to 5 mins on one breast only within the 1st month. She was fine and was just a good little sucker
again if she is putting on weight, then this is normal for her.
Enjoy it! Lucky you doesnt have to be sat there for 45mins every 3 hours just feeding!

6. 3 hr feeder.
Hungry every 3 hours is good!
Infact for a breast fed baby this is right in the middle of what is usually advised (between 2 - 4hrs) especially for a 2 month old.
I dont know what routine you are following, but I found my baby fell into a 3 hr routine (occasional 4-5 hr between feeds, sometimes 2 hr between feeds)
My health carer suggested a 3 hr routine
approx: 1 1/2 hours up (including feeding) 1 1/2 hour sleep.
This was to ensure that she was hungry enough at the next feed to get to the fatty hind milk and not just keep taking the sugary fore milk

Breast feeding is hard because you cant see what the baby is taking, but if the baby is putting on weight (check with your doctor)
Having a wet nappy after most feeds and the urine is light coloured , not dark yellow and not smelly.
If baby is generally happy (of course they all cry and tend to have a bad period once a day) and is alert and responsive when awake, then you should not worry and enjoy your time with your baby.

Also I agree with Jools that if baby is doing all og the above, then you probably dont need to top her up with the bottle after you have fed.

Good luck!
 
My baby is 6 mth old now, been through ALL that you have mentioned above, plus the worrying...but now when i look back, it's really nothing to worry about.
1) it doesn't matter how long bb feeds, mine is a 3 minutes (1 side only) feeder every 3 hours, and she's 75 percentile in weight, from a below average birth weight. I never top up with anything.
2) a lot of bb are sleepy feeders, let them fall asleep, they wont starve themselves.
3) worrying about milk supply, as long as you keep on feeding her everyday, you'll have milk. It's an illusion that you dont have enough because it's not engorged. Actually normal lactating breasts should be soft.
4) Better not keep schedule too strict. Every 3 hours (or 4) as a guideline, but if bb is hungry or even just cranky in between, feed her. Mine actually doesnt wanna drink sometimes for 5 hours straight, i dont worry now anymore coz she's so fat.
5) Take everything easy and there's really no right way to do anything, as long as bb is gaining weight steadily and has enough wet nappies, who cares if it is text book schedule. If you think topping up makes you feel better, do so. If you wanna try take out the top-up, try it and watch bb closely.
At the end of the day, you dont wanna spend your precious time worrying instead of enjoying with bb.
 
Hi,
Just another thought. The every three hours idea for feeding came about because on average a newborn feeds between 8 and 14 times in 24 hours; so if you divide it up, taking 8 as the average, that's once every 3 hours. Babies don't stick to this routine. For example, my daughter used to stick to the 3 hour 'rule' during the day and then during the early evening she would feed every hour, sometimes every half an hour for a while before she went to sleep (we used to say she was carbo-loading before bed time).

I completely agree with Eva, try not to worry about this. Enjoy every minute that you can, they are only this little for such a short space of time.

Jools
 
Hi All, thx for all the useful info and support
Joannek, I'm actually seeing Mrs Chee only, and she suggested if I feel that my daughter is not having enuf, since she would only suck for a such a short while on my breast, its advisable that I give her top up. Since now that she only poos every two/ three days, thats wt worries me.
We are goin for the second month injection today, n I'll see if she is thriving, i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
will reply later
 
doctor said my daughter is gaining weight properly, 11lbs at 2 mths, but she only poos every 2/3 days..it makes me reli worry
 
Hey Nikimom
Your baby is gaining weight! congratulations she is happy and healthy. You should be proud of how well you are doing.:banana:
I presume your doctor told you not to worry.
If you read any baby books you will see that they tell you that 3-4 days is normal. My book tells me that some breast fed babies can go for 3 weeks with out going and that this is still normal.
Babies are just like adults. I bet if you asked all your friends how often they "go" you will find that not everyone goes once a day!
Some people go more than once a day and some once a week and they are all healthy!
So dont worry. give yourself a big hug for doing so well with the breast feeding and relax and enjoy the time with your darling (growing) baby
 
Cinnamon is right. The range of healthy is wide. It is normal for fully breastfed babies to have five poos a day and it is also normal for healthy breastfed babies to only poo once every two weeks.

If your baby only poos once every two weeks when she does go ? it tends to be a lot! Whereas the babies who poo five times a day only have a small amount each time.

When a baby is pooing less often there may be more solid matter in it but as long as the poo is still soft and not hurting the baby as it comes out there is no problem. Most babies need to concentrate while filling their nappies but they shouldn?t be crying and in pain.

As your doctor is happy with your baby - try to relax and enjoy your time together.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
HI, I breastfeeded my baby from birth to 6 mths and up to now, 14 mth, I still worry about his poo. In the 1st 6 mth, his poo was every 2-3 days. And I have heard alot from friends that theirs was daily. But I saw him gaining weight and is happy, so I just relaxed myself. Some advice was that this baby was just too efficient, absorbing all the nutrients without waste. Anyway, after the 1st 6 mth, it was still 2-3 days. Until recently, it changed to daily or every other day. So as long as baby is healthy. 2-3 days poo is fine but if it gets longer than that, you need to monitor closely. Now though it is daily poo but sometimes it was paste like, sometimes it was hard small balls. And I adjust his liquid/vegi intake accordingly.Cheers.
 
thanks cinnamon, sarah and geo!!!! i feel alot more better with your support and encouragement. one thing that geo mentioned strikes me, cos so happens that the poo that my daughter had last time was paste like and i was thinking if i am eating food thats difficult to digest or i'm not taking enouh liquid, or in other words, am i eating food thats too "hot air" in the chinese thinking. so i should give her some water, she is just 10 weeks, i'm afraid giving her water would hold up her appetite for the milk, wt should i do?

i'm worried abt giving her water cos as i mentioned before, she only gets the fore milk on my breast and is starting to reject bottle recently..so i reli dont want her to take any less milk

i recently have another concern, she seems to have a lot of gas all the time and she looks as if she want to throw up all the time. its difficult to burp her and she farts and hiccups alot... now that she gets very cranky easily as i can see that she's suffering from the gas in her stomach...some of my friends said i should give her infacol - hte wind drops, but should i do that only after consulting the doctor,i dont want to bring her to hte dr and tell him just that she has a lot of gas...pls advice
 
herre i am again. my baby had a lot of gas (from a lot of the formilk), too. i used to rub olive oil between my palms & gently massage her tummy, clockwise. i also nursed her one side on each feed so she gets more of the hindmilk & less gas.
 
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