Activity Stream

So, not familiar with bottles. Curious if baby this age even needs a bottle rather than maybe a cup? Paced bottle feeding properly done is going to be your best bet for slowing down flow. All nipples drip. I suspect paced feeding is not being properly done as far as how baby and bottle are positioned. HOWEVER. A baby this age should really be able to 'pace' themselves. Paced feeding is really more for younger babies, I am not even sure it will work with an almost one year old. But I would suggest have caregivers making sure bottle and baby are being positioned properly (so the nipple is never full of milk and rate of flow is reduced by gravity) and that pauses in drinking (by tipping nipple up/bottle down so the milk drains out of the nipple, in order to stop flow all together for a few moments) are being encouraged. If baby wants more, bottle can be re-tipped up just enough so there is a little milk in the nipple. Sometimes the key is to not totally remove the nipple from baby's mouth, but to instead stop the flow for a bit to see if baby really wants more or not while tip of nipple rests on baby's bottom lip or gently in the mouth. If baby does not start 'reaching' to take the nipple again, then bottle can be gently removed. If this is not making sense let me know, may be I can find a video. I suspect perhaps a little laziness is going on, and baby is being fed bottle after bottle rather than caregiver engaging in other comfort measures or baby entertaining...

Unfortunately there have not been good studies on the impact on breastfeeding from tongue tie nor lip tie and whether surgical correction helps. Even the definitions/diagnosing criteria of tongue and lip ties is not agreed upon. What appears to be the consensus among breastfeeding experts including doctors who are also breastfeeding experts is that tongue tie CAN (but does not always) cause issues for nursing- meaning primarily, pain and injury from latch for mom and/or poor milk transfer by baby, and that surgical correction CAN (but does not always) improve the situation. There is less such consensus as regards lip tie. There is also consensus that properly performed surgeries are not likely to cause any harm. But no harm does not mean there will be improvement. I would suggest talking to whoever is recommending surgery and whoever is going to do the surgery for the experience of their clients and their recommendations for after care. This protocol on treatment of tongue tie from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (doctors writing for doctors) may also be helpful to you: http://www.bfmed.org/Media/Files/Protocols/ankyloglossia.pdf I do not know anything about gag reflex tongue tie, but certainly a nipple shield might cause a baby to gag if it is too big (the tip is too long) for baby. A nipple shield would also cause air swallowing, particularly if it is too large. Colic occurs in babies with no feeding issues. It is very common. I know that some say air...

Hi, how long has your work situation been going on? I am just wondering if he is still adjusting to your absence? And just to clarify, everyone is doing paced bottle feeding techniques, right?

Does baby ever nurse at night? I'm asking because it helps us know how much milk baby needs during the daytime hours. (night nursing babies typically need less than babies who sleep through.)

Waking a baby in order to feed him more cannot hurt him. If you've ever heard "Never wake a sleeping baby", just remind yourself that that adage should really go "If baby is feeding often enough and is growing well, then mom can let him sleep long stretches as long as she is comfortable doing so. If baby is not feeding or growing well, or mom would like to nurse, there's no reason not to wake the baby." It's not as catchy as the first version, but IMO a lot more accurate!

My daughter did at 7 weeks or so. They had a baby restraint jacket and quickly clipped it, no anesthesia because then she was able to nurse afterwards , small amount of blood . Sadly it didn't help her milk removal issues but at least we tried. Her baby brother has similar oral structures and nursed 2 yrs without it causing a problem . I know moms who have immediately noticed a difference though and it absolutely helped . P.s. I don't think a shield should help her latch. I would really try to get away from them. Are you working with an IBCLC ?

I don't know anything about this topic, but just wanted to say good luck! You sound well informed.

Okay good. Ya my right side could literally keep pumping more in the morning! That's a good point worth a try anyway maybe I'll try that. Thank you!

This is just how it is, not just sometimes, most of the time. Most moms produce more on one side than the other. What you are pumping total is an entirely normal amount to be pumping, even maybe on the higher end of normal, and if you are otherwise exclusively nursing your baby and baby is gaining normally, that all indicates your overall production is entirely normal and does not need to be increased. However you can always try increasing production on one side by increasing the frequency or effectiveness with which milk is removed from that side. Effectiveness I mean- For example you might think about if your pump is perhaps not fitting as well on the left. Some moms need a different size flange for each side.

The vast majority of the time, milk production reduces because milk is not removed with high enough frequency. After a bout of mastitis or plugged ducts there may be a temporary drop in production, but in that case it is usually easily gotten back up with normal nursing frequency. In other words I suspect that if your milk production is low, it is because of the extreme infrequency that your baby has been nursing more than anything else. And really the only way to counteract that is to increase the frequency with which milk is removed from the breasts. Galactagogues may help, a little, and for some (but not all) moms, pharmaceutical or herbal galactagogues in high enough dose helps fairly dramatically. But by far the most important practice is frequent milk removal. Frequent meaning at least 8 times in 24 hours. So, my suggestion would be, if you really have low production (see article linked below, many moms think they have low production when in fact all is normal) would be to dramatically increase the frequency of milk removal from the breasts both by encouraging baby to nurse more often and by pumping and/or hand expressing. If, rather, milk production is normal, you can concentrate only on increasing the frequency with which baby nurses to a normal amount so your production stays normal.

Thanks for the comments all. I'm working on it. My supply has gone down quite a bit (esp on the side that had mastitis) so I'm working on getting it back up to what it was before. ie: more stimulation on that side, oatmeal and mothers milk tea (which has been helpful in the past when I've felt low). I can't really remember how long it has taken in the past to get supply back up but hopefully a couple days? Any other suggestions are welcome. I'm also just watching him a little more closely to see if there is something i've been missing cue wise. Opinions on waking a sleeping baby to feed? I've also talked to the public health nurse, went to a breastfeeding clinic yesterday and will see the lactation consultant next week.

:ita with MaddieB and Krystine. I think one thing that throws a lot of mom for a loop is the concept of demand feeding. We're told that we're supposed to feed the baby whenever he "demands", and while that is great it's only half the equation. We can also pay attention to the demands of our own bodies. Feeling full and uncomfortable? That's your body demanding to feed the baby. Need to get off your feet for 5 minutes, while still entertaining the baby? That's your body demanding to nurse. Need to run to the store without worrying about the baby needing to be fed? That's your body demanding to feed the baby ahead of the baby's schedule.

Hi. Thanks for the response. I think I was guilty of letting her have a lazy latch when this all started, but with the discomfort we've really worked on latching properly again. No teeth right now, but some cut when the pain first happened early August. I was also very guilty of inconsistent nursing frequency. There were days when we were out and about and she wouldn't ask for it so I wouldn't offer besides morning/nap/bed. Other days she would nurse off and on all throughout the day, especially while teething. I'm trying my best to keep it consistent now.

I would interpret sucking thumb as a feeding cue.