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@StrawberryBee: yeah because I pumped I felt like there wasn't enough left in my breasts to satisfy her. We eventually have her the milk I had pumped and she chilled out long enough that my boobs refilled.
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@Pepper: There is nothing like a precious little babe to cheer up grandmas. I know your mom is loving visits with little C and give her the strength to power through the treatments. Praying for you both.
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@StrawberryBee: Yep - I am from Delaware County, and not too far from the boundary with Montgomery County! And I work in Willow Grove!
I'm always happy when I find out there are other bees in the area!@Foodnerd81: I am having the opposite problem. We struggle to feed S a bottle (expressed milk) for awhile, and then when I finally just offer my breast, she happily latches on and eats away.
We just discovered today that I have an excess lipase issue. LO is not too happy with the milk coming from the freezer (assuming this is partially our bottle problem!). I've been storing it promptly after pumping and have a big stash (I was waking to pump in the night when she first started STTN because it was too painful to go til the morning!), but she doesn't seem to want any of it, even after it's warmed to body temp. Not sure what I am going to do with this stash now!
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@bisous: oh no! All that stash and she doesn't like it? That's awful. I there any trick to make her like it?
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@Bookish: I know other people do as well, but I highly recommend the Simple Wishes bra. So nice to have hands free! How many times a day are you pumping?
@Foodnerd81: boo :(. Hopefully with continued pumping and her feeding your supply will increase to accommodate both. I'm sorry it ended up being so stressful for you.
@bisous: I work in Horsham :)!
I did a quick search...apparently scalding immediately after expression can make it suitable for freezing:
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/lipase-expressedmilk/
http://simplyrebekah.com/2010/05/03/excess-lipase-scalding-breast-milk/#sthash.Ll4HdhHV.dpbs
and you may be able to donate the already affected stash to a milk bank, so at least it won't go to waste:
http://simplyrebekah.com/2010/09/28/excess-lipase-faq-on-becoming-a-milk-donor/#sthash.0I6Jp2no.dpbs
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@Foodnerd81:There are a few things we are going to try! We checked a few different dated bags and it seems like the milk that is more than 2 weeks old has the strongest soapy taste. We are going to try and feed her some from a more recently frozen bag tomorrow. Then I will at least know how long I can actually freeze it before she will refuse it.
We will also try mixing freshly expressed with the milk that was frozen to see if she will take that since it will probably minimize the soapy taste!
@StrawberryBee: I did read about scalding the milk -- I will probably treat that as a last resort because we already are running out of hours in the day, so I don't know how we would fit that in. When I return to my office, I will probably just use freshly pumped milk for her bottles. (Ie-send bottles pumped on Monday to daycare on Tuesday).
No matter what I figure out, I will still have a pretty significant stash that DD won't eat, so I will be checking out the Human Milk for Human Babies Facebook page!
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@StrawberryBee: The hands-free bras scare me
But I think it's unavoidable that I get one. It's really taking too long to get any output with what I'm doing! I'm only pumping once right now, in the middle of the night. I haven't figured out how to fit in any more pumping with the growth spurts she's going through....Hopefully when I get back to work in 2 weeks I can figure all this out! I'll be pumping twice at work and nursing her at lunch (which hopefully works, because she is a sloow eater)Speaking of growth spurts....loord. She woke up from a 3-hr nap around 2pm, and minus a couple 15min catnaps and a couple of 'activity' periods, she cluster fed from 2-8. If she wasn't on my boob, she was screaming. I finally let DH give her a bottle and went and hid in the shower for 15 mins
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Hi Mamas! Just saw this thread... don't have much time on the computer these days!
Date of Birth: 7/14
Gender: girl
Name: RayeThings are going pretty well. I'm relieved because all of my family and in-laws who came to "help," heh, have left. I'm starting to get myself on a little bit of a schedule. I have a 2.5 year old so I have to keep things going for him (and my sanity).
We started back at work today (I bring my kids.) and it went okay. She didn't really enjoy being in the carrier, which was kind of a bummer. She gets really hot and has terrible heat rash and acne
Emotionally I am feeling a little off. I don't know, it's like a numbness. I'm having a bad fibromyalgia flare up so that couldn't be making things worse.
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@Bookish: is it really wrong that hearing about your cluster feeding makes me feel a little more normal? Sorry you have to deal with it though- its very tiring and draining.
Do you all have night time routines yet? We've just been nursing until she conks out but I think we are going to move towards at least getting her into a dark room with the sound machine, instead of in front of the tv.
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@Foodnerd81: @Bookish: Is it wrong that hearing about your cluster feeding makes me love my formula?! Huge respect to you both for powering through.
As for a night time routine, E's witching hours are 8pm-midnight. She sleeps well in the day in the living room but at 8pm seems to get over tired and fussy. Last night, we bathed her at 7 and I insisted on going straight to bed with her - darn me if she didn't settle by 8.30 in the darkened room! DH was also asleep by 9pm lol. Unfortunately, she chose the 3am wake up to have trapped wind and cried on and off until 5.30am. Sigh. But this may be the start of our routine....
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@glimmersnaps: oh no, I'm sorry about R's heat rash. My R had the baby acne also. I can't believe you went back to work already. I'm impressed!
@Foodnerd81: my nighttime routine consists of nursing R for her last feeding, changing her diaper at least once and holding her for a bit. I've been putting her down drowsy and she's been able to fall asleep on her own so far. We will see if that lasts!
I read to her during the day so I'll add that in when she's old enough to understand the books. DH does bath time in the mornings so that will not be part of the routine. She also gets into a sleep sack if she's going into her crib. There are still nights that she's in the rock n play for various reasons.ETA - R is still feeding at night every 2-2.5 hours usually. I wonder when they grow out of the cluster feeding.
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@Foodnerd81: We have been dealing with cluster feeding over here too. From 5 PM til he goes to bed at 10:30, he wants to eat every 1.5 hours! Our routine is bath, swaddle, nurse, bed. It works really well for us so far. Once he is swaddled and his Tranquil Turtle starts playing, he's out like a light. He will sometimes sleep for 5 hours, but it's usually 3.5-4 this week.
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@glimmersnaps: So nice that you can bring the kids, but I'm sorry to hear about the heat rash. My LO is also prone to those if he gets hot. I hope you feel better, emotionally and physically.
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I think we'll start a more clear sleep routine going forward. Seems like it could help. I'm thankful her night sleep is pretty good. Last night I topped her off around 11, woke up at 2:30 and again at 7. I even managed to stay sleeping through the early grunts but get her before the scream started! Progress
@Cherrybee: I think the cluster feeding is one area where formula wins for sure! Poor E with the wind though. How do you help her? I hear bicycling the legs but I know when C is upset she's got her legs all rigid and flexed. Hope you get a good nap today!
My parents are here, my dad just for one day and mom all week. My dad is uncomfortable w bfing and is so funny- when I was bfing in the back corner of the living room, where the glider is, he would walk with his head ducked so low to avoid seeing anything! But I appreciate that he was the one going out of his way, not me.
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@Foodnerd81: We have mastered a colic hold that helps - you lie her on one arm, belly down - but it involves sitting up holding her for hours!! Its just a case of making her comfy until she either poops (she can't seem to burp but then neither can I!) or dozes off - then when you put her on her back in her crib she screams in pain and you're back to square one. Im hoping she will grow out of it soon!!
You know, Im FF more frequently than you are BF in the night! I think C's cluster feeding must be her tanking up for the night! Embrace it, it sounds tiring at the time but its working!!
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@Cherrybee: yes! It definitely helps tank her up for the night which in happy about! I have to remind myself if that some nights but now that I have enough time to eat dinner in between I can handle it.
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@Foodnerd81: I ate my Sunday roast one handed yesterday, holding E. It was rank, I would spear a slice of meat with my fork then chew off bites of it like some sort of animal! Not good!!!!
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@Cherrybee: hahaha. I had her out in the moby the other day and ate a grilled cheese right over her head. Moms have skills!
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@Cherrybee: lol no, it's not wrong. Nights like last night really test my bf resolve. I very nearly quit at her last growth spurt, and this one is really pushing it. Being attached to her for hours upon hours... Not being able to eat dinner with both hands or spend time with DH...it sucks. I'm just taking breastfeeding one day at a time at this point.
@Foodnerd81: Lol and again no, totally not wrong. That's what threads like this are for...so we can commiserate on this crazytrain and feel more normal about what we are going through!
@Pepper: @swedishfish: I'm starting to wonder if what I think is cluster feeding might be comfort nursing or a low supply... She feeds literally 30 mins in between spurts in the evening. It sounds like yall are more spaced out..so now I'm wondering what the heck she's doing nursing nonstop I'm going to ask my OB today, she has a baby and might have some insight. I really can't be attached to her for hours and hours.@glimmersnaps: hey there! Heat rash and acne is the worst. LO has had it for two weeks, and it is just now clearing up; it had me really worried. It looked so bad!! I'm sorry you are having a rough time emotionally..I am as well and it's sucking. Wall me if you ever want to chat!
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@Bookish: Is she actively swallowing the whole time when she is attached? A lot of times C just wants to lay there attached and use me as a pacifier (sucking without swallowing). When he does that, I just unlatch him and give him a binky, and it usually satisfies him. Maybe that could work for you?
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@Bookish: she definitely does the practically non stop nights. Like, I'll pass her to Dh to bounce her after she's been literally banging her face on my nipple. He bounces her maybe 15 min so I can get a break then its back on. I'm going to a drop in bf support group tomorrow to find out if there is anything to be done. She won't take a paci.
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@Foodnerd81: that's exactly how my night was last night
will you let me know if you get any good tips at the group? I'm gonna lose it over here. @Pepper: it's like she's snacking.. Like I can see her swallowing occasionally, and she acts like she's starving. She stuffs her hand in her mouth and looks pitiful we tried the paci night yesterday and she wasn't having it. -
I haven't really started a bedtime routine with DD yet. We are always so focused on the demands of our son poor thing is just an afterthought... I guess that's the life of the second child.
A nice thing to do for bedtime is a bath, then massage, then nurse/bottle to sleep. Also we used a Twilight Turtle and DS loved to stare at the stars even when has was quite small. I like it because its a nice transition to dark.
@Foodnerd81 @Bookish that's exactly how my son was. He was perma-latched for the first few weeks (months?). As soon as I figured out how to nurse him laying down we just slept like that.
@Cherrybee My DD has about the same witching hours (love that phrase) and suddenly last night she just passed out early. I was all awake and ready to watch my Doctor Who while she nursed and whatnot and there she was asleep on the couch.
Thanks all for the support. I think staying in touch with friends (IRL and online) makes all the difference.
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@Bookish: will let you know if I learn anything! Does your Lo also have an awful scream reserved for when he is nursing and frustrated like that? C has this wake that she'll just do for a minute but it is so pathetic and awful- it sounds like she is in pain but then she latches back in and is fine. Same as yours with the whole hand in her mouth and thinking the paci is the worst deception ever.
Actually though, I think C had her best day ever today. My parents were here so I think she just had more stimulation maybe? But she slept great, woke up at 7, we ate and went out to see everyone by 8, had some awake alert time staring at everyone, went for a really long walk and nap, bunch more alert time. It was so cute seeing her just stare around at everything. We even did a little tummy time (she was more interested in eating the mini boppy thing she was propped on). Now we are hoping to get her settles into bed soon, nursing in the dark with the sound on.
@glimmersnaps: I'm wondering when the bath with start being calming. Right now she just cries or whimpers through the whole thing. I don't think it would be a nice wind down yet!
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@Bookish: oh and it's totally like she is snacking- little sucks, some swallows, but not a major feeding by any means.
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Well, I've got great news on our sweet baby who basically hadn't gained weight in a month...she gained 6oz in two days! YAY!!! I was SO excited to see those numbers move on the scale. When I weighed her this morning I was praying that her weight would still be around the same and was surprised to see she had kept those 6oz and gained a little more
She's definitely in the middle of a growth spurt. @Foodnerd81: We started a nighttime routine around 4 weeks or so. Although at first I didn't see any changes (and honestly wasn't consistent about it), all of a sudden around 6 weeks if her routine was off she would get ANGRY. Like...she's gotta be in her bath tub by 7:15 or she loses it. By 8 weeks we had a little routine down and she started to STTN.
@BOOKISH: Oh, I had to break my LO from using my boob as a paci. It was killing me. She still likes to do it but I've learned how to sneak away. She's never taken a paci (I've bought every brand, lol) but she does like a little soft lovey/blankie to suck on and recently we got her a Jellycat and she likes to snuggle up right next to it. A lot of my friends used to tell me about their babies cluster feeding in the evenings, like they're trying to learn to "tank up" to sleep longer stretches.
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I was just reading the SAHM thread. What a bittersweet topic. As the sole breadwinner, I have no choice but to return to work. (Also, I would be foolish not to, because I would never be able to pay off my student loans.) Today DH tried to soothe E on his own to see how he would do after I start work. It just made me feel superfluous. I can't EBF because of supply, so I feel even more unnecessary, because DH feeds him all his bottles. (I still nurse and pump, we want to avoid confusion.)
Today was just tough, because it reminds me of how it's going to be when I go back to work. I hardly held E all day today. I went upstairs and pulled him out of his crib just to rock him back to sleep. (There may be tears involved too.) September is going to be hard. -
@Espion: I'm in the same boat; DH will be watching her when I go back to work. It is hard to watch him do things that I want to do myself, but I've tried really hard not to step in unless he's floundering. Still, there's a small part of me who wants her to need her mommy.
Gonna be a long night; after 40 minutes of bfing she projectiled it all back up; all over herself. Was pretty impressive to see.
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@emg86: yay for gaining weight! Good job baby!
We tried having a little bit more of a routine tonight- basically just changing her, swaddling, and nursing Ina dark room with the sound machine on. I can't believe it but she went down in less than twenty minutes and slept more than five hours!!! I have slept more than five hours since my third trimester! She cluster fed during the evening to tank up bit no head banging at least.
@StrawberryBee: projectile anything is no fun. Ugh. And yeah it's hard not to step in end try to change something at Dh is doing. But I'm really glad he has his own way of soothing her so its not just me.
@Espion: I'm so sorry. That sounds like a really rough day. It's great that the baby gets to stay home with his dad when you go back but I know that would be so hard to accept. But babies have a special bond with their moms no matter what. My brother stayed home with my nephew for the first six months and their were times he seemed to prefer his dad over his mom, but then as soon as his mom was home more (teacher home for summer) he went right back to preferring mom. My brother knew it was nice for mom but was like, what am I chopped live?
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@Espion: Oh, that must be hard to deal with. Im so sorry. My LO actually does prefer daddy at the moment for comfort, which is hard because with going back to work his patience is at an all time low and he just wants to hand her to me. Cue screaming (DD), swearing (DH) and crying (me).
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@Espion: I am with you on this. For the first time yesterday, DH took care of DD all day since I had an AM doc appointment and my first half day of work. While I appreciate that I don't have to be glued to her all day long, I also miss the days when I was the only one who could meet her needs.
@StrawberryBee: I hope your night wasn't too long! I had to laugh at your comment about her projectile being impressive to see. DD only did that once ever at around 3 or 4 weeks. We were kind of shocked in the moment...or you could say "impressed"!
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@bisous: @Foodnerd81: she let me sleep three hours, woke up for her normal feed, but now won't go back to sleep. I feel a bit guilty over the projectile spit up; I'm not as diligent burping her as I probably should be. After trying to get her nice and sleepy it's hard to want to wake her back up by patting her back!
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@StrawberryBee: I always try to burp during the day, but not at night, unless she is doing the angry nursing thing (then I assume she is taking in more air)! If your LO spits up a lot, I can see stopping to burp, but I have read sleepy babies normally take in less air and don't always need to burp. That seems to be the case for us and it does help when you want them to stay asleep!
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@Espion:
I have no choice but to go back to work as well. She starts daycare two weeks from today and I'm really torn up about it. I hate that I can't take care of her..I'd just like the option to, ya know? @StrawberryBee: aw don't worry, I'm sure you're burping her just fine. LO projectiled big time this weekend, despite being burped and in her rock n play.
@Foodnerd81: I'm so glad a routine helped!! We had a much better night as well. She ranked up for hours, which sucked a but, but then she went down at 830 and didn't wake up til after 5. Picture a chorus of angels; that's how I felt.
lol. She hasn't fed in an hour this morning so I've got her on her playmat...maybe she's hitting the end of this growth spurt?!
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@Bookish: 8:30 to 5?!?! That's amazing! Sounds like you are hitting the end of that spurt!
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@Foodnerd81: I sure hope so!! She just went down for a nap, sleepy thing. We'll see how this evening goes. I can handle the tanking up if she STTN!!!!
Now I have to go pay my L&D bills...uuuugh.
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@Espion: oh, sweetie I get it. I'm not the sole breadwinner but I am the primary breadwinner so I have no choice but to go back to work. I feel like I don't get to cuddle R in the mornings because I pump and DH gives her a bottle. September's not here yet but I miss her already
On a brighter note - we hit a new milestone today. R pooped in her bathtub. Hahaha, I need to find something stronger than our Method cleaners I think.
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@Bookish: whoa, 8:30-5? Please tell me your secret!!!
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@swedishfish: I wish I knew!! I'd tell everyone!! She was a good sleeper to begin with, always 3-4 hour stretches at night, and they just got slooowly longer. I literally did nothing! We started a nighttime 'routine' that may be helping, but we have done jack. We just hit the baby jackpot in regards to sleep!
Also, LOL at your milestone. I haven't hit that one yet hehe
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@swedishfish: Oh C is a prodigy in that department. She pooped in her second bath ever. She's so advanced, obviously
I'm always happy when I find out there are other bees in the area!
But I think it's unavoidable that I get one. It's really taking too long to get any output with what I'm doing! I'm only pumping once right now, in the middle of the night. I haven't figured out how to fit in any more pumping with the growth spurts she's going through....Hopefully when I get back to work in 2 weeks I can figure all this out! I'll be pumping twice at work and nursing her at lunch (which hopefully works, because she is a sloow eater)
I read to her during the day so I'll add that in when she's old enough to understand the books. DH does bath time in the mornings so that will not be part of the routine. She also gets into a sleep sack if she's going into her crib. There are still nights that she's in the rock n play for various reasons.
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