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Welcome to the forum! I like your doctor. It's not often that you find someone who is familiar with the growth patterns of breastfed babies, and who is able to look at the baby rather than the chart! So I do think that you should take your pediatrician's advice. :) Breastfed babies tend to gain weight really fast at first, when milk is most abundant and when they aren't yet mobile. But their growth tends to slow way down as they become more mobile, devoting increasing amounts of calories to things like reaching, rolling, kicking, squirming, crawling, etc. So if you do nothing but continue to feed on demand- as I think you should!- you can expect that your baby will start to become more slender. When it comes to your baby's nursing behavior, everything you describe is normal. Breastfed babies generally want to eat every 1-3 hours. They tend to go longer between feedings when they are distracted, but to be very hungry when they finally realize just how long it has been since last they are! They tend to want to nurse right before sleep because nursing is soothing and because it gives them the calories they need to get through a nap. None of this is "regressed" behavior. It's just normal for such a young baby. Ask any mom who had a big baby what happened to her baby as time went on, and you will find that generally slender toddlers emerged from the baby chub. I have known several breastfed babies who were about your baby's size- my neighbor's kid was 24...

OMG, yes!!! It's a pet peeve of mine that a "complete breakfast" still seems to include juice, when we know juice is basically just sugar water. When I was a kid, my mom was always mixing up pitchers of orange juice- does anyone else remember those frozen cylinders of orange concentrate?

There are no hard and fast rules for this situation. But here is what I would do: - Pump the damaged side every time you nurse. Nipple damage puts you at increased risk for mastitis because it's easier for bacteria to get into the breast. Maintaining milk flow through the breast will help prevent bacteria from setting up shop. - Pump just 1-2 oz per session from the damaged side. That way you won't stimulate production too much. - If pumping is causing an increase in supply, throttle back and pump for less time, or try using hand expression to remove the milk. Hand expression is supposed to be less stimulating to supply. - Use a combination of 1% hydrocortisone and bacitracin antibiotic ointment on the crack, to combat inflammation and infection. Use a pea-sized amount, mixed and applied using a clean finger. - Don't worry about the hindmilk. There's actually no such thing as hindmilk or foremilk, and "imbalance" between the two is the biggest non-issue in breastfeeding. All your milk contains everything your baby needs to grow and develop. Even the most low-fat of the so-called foremilk contains sufficient fat. - Don't be afraid to sometimes nurse on the damaged side! I know that when you make a commitment to EP on one or both sides, it can feel like cheating to go back to nursing. But please feel free to use pumping and nursing in a flexible way! A single nursing session with a bad latch won't set you back that far, when it comes to healing, and...

When healing finally started for me, it looked as you describe. Pale tissue at the edges of the wounds, gradually filling in so that the cracks became more shallow and shorter as time went on.

Thanks for all this info. My friend who is a postpartum nurse, came over last night and showed me how to do the sandwich and i think that helped. I am going to hire an IBCLC and for now I'm pumping on the injured side...just too much pain and it needs to heal! i am able to do laid back nursing if i latch on first then lean back, but at times baby comes right off...it has been much more relaxing to nurse this way!

Thanks all! I've always been really pro the only water rule until she is older - like as long as I can get away with it before she starts saying 'but Mummy everybody else has juice!' but I do think that if given a choice between breastmilk and plain ol' water, surely a child would choose the milk right?! :) I'll continue to tell people she'll help herself to milk if/when she' thirsty and continue to put up with faces of horror! After all she is 1 now, surely I am transitioning her onto cows milk right... (other folks pov not mine - I've told more than one person that my milk is better for her than cows.) I will start leaving one of her cups in view with a bottle of water nearby - open cup so am not brave enough to leave it in her reach with water in. That said she will slurp a little from one of my water bottles with help, so she's not completely anti. And yeah my daughter was a fruit bat in a previous life, this girl will eat a lot of fruit if left with open access!

My 5 month lo makes variety of noises when nursing, but best and most unique are: Ayo ayo: "Nipple on the move" if I sightly move. Ava ava: "Dry sucky, dry sucky" before milk let down Hoy hoy: "Potty on the way". The most favorite look for me is milky smile that says "mhh delicious food today"

Gradually. Don't give him the choice to nurse every night. Pick something else fun to do. And say on these days we are going to play hide and seek before bed INSTEAD of nursing. Like twice a week. SO then you have periods of time where you are going more than 24 hours. Then it becomes every other day. Then just on the weekends. While you keep talking to him about it, Telling him he's a big boy now. That he doesn't need it. And keep dangling the Carrot. DIsneyland or whatever it is. Work to get him on board. So it's not something you are taking away from him. As much as guide him to the place you are in terms of done, I think that it totally possible to get a kid to feel proud of weaning the way they are proud of being Potty Trained. But growing up is scary. That is a huge piece of these leaps. So my advice is to work to get him on board while also eliminating days in your weeks so you both get used going longer than 24hours without it. The more gradual the oxcytocin wean it, the better. For both of you. Good Luck!

My LO is almost three - when I got home from work she'll nurse, pop off to tell me something about her day, nurse some more, pop off again - it's such a great way to reconnect after we've been apart during the day!

I work full time and pump weaned at around a year or 13 months with my three kids. I'm still nursing the youngest at age 2 years 10 months. We nurse on demand during non work hours. The one thing to watch out for is if you are usually nursing throughout the day, and then you're sporadically not nursing on some days, then you could get quite uncomfortable and, possibly, develop plugged ducts. (Though doesn't sound as if that has been the case?) Some people are more prone to plugged ducts than others. For me, I had especial difficulty with plugged ducts after pump weaning with the third (who in retrospect nursed more during my non-working hours compared to the other two), so I had to go back to pumping for a period of time - actually it was most pronounced after we went on vacation together for a week where she was doing lots of nursing. So, just be prepared to either hand express or possibly pump if you find you are getting too full or if there are any problems with plugged ducts. Some moms do choose to continue pumping into toddlerhood to maintain supply, also.

what about open cup? Also why not water... water can usually start to be offered at around the same time solids begin being offered. The only danger with water is if baby fills up on large amounts of water and thus refuses to nurse or take milk in a bottle. So in your case, assuming baby will take some water, why not. But it may be he is getting what he needs overnight from you. In general eating and drinking concerns I highly recommend the book My Child Won't Eat by Carlos Gonzalez

My first post partum period after my first child (at 18 months post partum) was a bit lighter and far less painful than those I had before becoming pregnant. The first one may have been a bit heavier than subsequent ones, but again, lighter than anything I had before having kids. Ditto after 2nd, and after third periods are a bit heavier but just a bit. PMS, on the other hand, as in irritability before periods, was worse and really bad before that first one. I am not suggesting my experience is universal. But my experience shows that heavy, painful period first cycle post partum is not universal either.

How long has her new sleeping pattern been like this? Could she be teething? My son went through several periods of time like this, and after a few of those nights I'd be crying in my car all the way to work because I was so exhausted and frustrated. I felt like the worst nights were when his molars were coming in. Once they erupted, he went back to only waking a few times at night and being more easily soothed. The other thing that helped us was a little less common, which was to move him into his crib. We co -slept for the first few months, but then he started to kick all the covers off us and seem restless. He would want to latch on if he was beside me, but then not really want to nurse, et c. He sleeps much better in his own bed. He still wakes up and nurses several times but the stretches of time are longer than if he's in my bed. Good luck, mama. I hope this phase passes quickly for you!!!

I'm bumpng this with the desperate hope that someone has had any luck in this situation. I tried just lying down with babe after nursing the other night, hoping to start helping her to fall asleep without nursing, and she crawled all over me and the bed for 20 minutes before I gave up. She seems too young and active to just lie down with me since I can't explain what's going on.

My daughter night weaned fairly easily at 21 months, she would only cry/fuss a little bit each time and then give in. I feel it worked because she was just ready and also she very quickly found her new favourite soothing technique (to grab my arm and wrap it around her. she does this with my husband now and can't sleep long without him). So hopefully your little guy will find a new form of comfort soon! It sounds like the twiddling is the real problem and not the nursing itself, there are 4 pages in Mothering your Nursing Toddler on this subject. I guess it's pretty common, not something I've had to deal with personally, but I think you will need to focus on finding a way to stop this habit that works for you and your son. Good luck!

If your child is nursing enough overall, I would suggest try not to stress so about this. Breastfeeding is not hurting your baby. Teething is hurting your baby. All babies (and moms) must go through this, although of course it is more difficult for some than others. It will pass. Additionally, lots of interesting things happen around three to four months that cause a baby to nurse differently than before. And much of the time, this means more wakeful and fussy. So you may be experiencing some of that as well. One important thing to keep in mind is that after around 3 months, growth rate slows- quite a bit. This may cause a baby to nurse less or nurse for shorter amounts of time. Or it may cause a baby to nurse more! Every baby handles it differently. You are already doing most of these ideas, but here is a good teething article with links to others. http://kellymom.com/parenting/parenting-faq/teething/

kellymom article on juice http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/baby-juice/ I think what you may be encountering are some outdated ideas about juice as somehow vitally important in a child's diet. There was a time juice- specifically orange juice- was given even to very young infants daily to try to combat serious nutritional deficiencies in certain populations. But this is probably complete unneeded in this day and age. Fruits are a delicious food to most young toddlers and these days access to a variety of fruit year round is something Westerners can pretty much rely on. Plus its not like they need to eat a ton of it, they are little and thus a little goes a long way. Personally I have done my best to avoid fruit juices and to instead encourage fruit eating in my kids. I am not hardline about it, but for at least the first two to three years even 100% fruit juice was a special treat. My kids all nursed well past age three so I never really worried about it. As far as whether to offer more water, there is no reason why not however also no reason to stress bout it. Thirst is a terrific motivator. If somehow your milk and the water your child is already getting is not enough, I imagine she will let you know.

Gosh, thanks everyone for your encouragement. I've been away from the computer for a few days and didn't want to piddle around with replying on my phone. The past couple of days have actually been even better in terms of improved feedings. I would say we're more at 70% good. I do see her pediatrician tomorrow, and two of the things I want to ask about are her lip tie and if we should continue with the cranial therapy. Her ped is very pro-breastfeeding and is an all around awesome doctor; I have a lot of faith in whatever direction she thinks we should go. I'm leaning towards another CST appointment or two because that's been one of the only things that's made a noticeable difference. annie0987 - yes, check out the kellymom links for CST. They were what convinced me to pursue it in the first place. In my experience, it sort of looks like what I would imagine a chiropractic adjustment would look like, but from what I understand it is a certain type of adjustment. The DO that I saw even went so far to say that getting the tongue tie clipped was unnecessary and that the tightness in her neck/jaw was the real problem. I don't know if I totally believe him because I know that TT can be such a terrible issue, but it was an interesting way of looking at it. You don't HAVE to go to a chiro to get it done. Some lactation consultants know how to perform CST, as do some pediatric DOs. Just make sure that they specialize in working with infants and breastfeeding issues. I don't...