I was religious about timing-15 mins on each side, switching sides each time, etc. Now, I just feed every two hours during the day and at night whenever he wakes up. Night is killing me because I selfishly want the sleep but I get sooo engorged I just put him on whatever boob hurts more. Afraid this will come back to bite me...I'll nurse him on one and switch him over after a short period of time, but one day if he refuses a boob because he's full-it will kill me!
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@lydg: You can always pump the side he doesn't eat on. Either pump until you're empty or until you get some relief. This whole BFing thing is still tricky, and I'm 11w in with my little man. Keep up the good work!
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I think that will be okay--dont stress about it too much. I always nurse on both sides and lo always takes some from both. As lng as you are feeding on demand, i think your supply will keep up. I think it is fairly common to have one side produce more, which is totally true for me, so that may be part of it too.
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how old is your son? maybe every 2 hours is too much too soon? my kids are 5 months and they feed every 3-4 hours or so. how about pumping every time he doesn't feed?
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I just get so engorged it hurts...Like I can feel
my breast tissue all the way to my collarbone. I did think about pumping, but I am trying to end until I go back to work in 7 weeks.@pregnantbee when we were in the hospital I had to supplement with formula since he wasn't wetting a diaper at the time and he refuses a bottle...true boob baby! He won't take a paci either.
@mamacate I think my suPply will def keep up the problem is almost like its too much.
@tequiero21 he is only a week old! I know, I am
Crazy. I only do 2 during the day or on demand and it helps the oversupply not be so painful. At night I only get up when he cries, which has been 3-4 hours and those are the ones that hurt! -
@lydg: Everyone does it different. I'm a one-boob-per-feeding gal, only exception being bedtime. Overnight I still do one per feed. I have some oversupply issues. You have to do what works for you.
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It will get better. Every two hours sounds about right now. He needs to eat every two hours bc his belly is so small. It took me until week 7 or 8 to be comfortable again. It takes Time. It will get easier.
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If you pump too much, you can create over supply. Have you tried compresses and only pumping enough to take the edge off?
I use a ring to tell me which side I nursed on last and just do one boob/feeding. I actually feel less engorged and less stressed than I did in the beginning. I also completely stopped pumping (finally--yay!).
If LO is gaining properly, you can switch to feeding on demand instead of exactly every 2 hours. And you don't need to time 15 minutes, just pop off LO when you stop hearing swallowing sounds.
In the beginning my LO used to drink for 45 minutes but now it's only 5-10 and it's great! Hang in there, it gets easier like mediagirl said. -
Nursing is tough, especially in those first weeks! I had serious oversupply issues for the first few weeks, and I was constantly in pain. I found that pumping just enough to take the edge off and block feeding helped things even out pretty quickly. Like a pp said, if you're feeding on demand your supply should be okay, it just takes time.
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In the beginning, I was pretty religious about keeping track of how long LO fed off each boob, and switching her every 15-20 minutes. I think once nursing became more comfortable (around 8 weeks), I stopped keeping track and just went with whichever boob felt fuller. I did have some uncomfortable moments, but after a couple weeks, everything kinda worked itself out. I think as long as you feed on demand and don't pump (since that will create even more oversupply), your body will regulate itself soon
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If you can hand express (videos on youtube can show you how). You can take the edge off. This will allow you to get some milk out but does not signal your body to make more milk to replace it.
Right now however, it is imperative that your baby eat every 2-3 hours and you don't want to let it go any farther than that. The stomach is still very small and if you were to stretch any farther than that it could cause issues.
You could however start to block feed if you truly feel you have an over supply. Nurse on one side 2 times in a row and then the other side 2 times in a row.
At one week old you should not be pumping, unless you have a low supply. Most woman shouldn't start pumping until approx.4 weeks in order to somewhat regulate your body. At around 10 weeks your supply should regulate itself. I know that seems very far from now, but the time will go quickly.
I am a peer breastfeeding counselor at our local hospital.
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