Ftm help!!!

[@llli*jenna562]

Hey mama, this is a rare time when I disagree with the other wise mamas. My advice is to stop supplementing and dont worry about pumping at 3 weeks pp. 3 weeks is very ealy to introduce a bottle if you don't have to and it seems that baby is not dependent on formula in that small amount. It will only take a few days to pump to go back to work but right now it's my opinion that you should work on nursing full time, nursing laying down, safely cosleeping and regulating supply before you worry about pumping .

[@llli*katwoman24]

I'd love to do that! But when I pump, I barely get 1 oz. She's eating about 2 ounces right now. Ideas?

Also, falling apart meaning exhausted. I'm used to getting much more sleep than this and my brain is literally shutting down. Sometimes I just feel so defeated and discouraged. Especially when she's crying and I don't know why or she wants to eat again like 30 minutes after I just fed her.

And i haven't done any housework, which is also stressing me out to see the house getting so bad.

[@llli*mommal]

I'd love to do that! But when I pump, I barely get 1 oz. She's eating about 2 ounces right now. Ideas?

Don't measure your milk supply based on what you pump. The pump is not as effective as the baby at removing milk from the breast, anso most moms don't have great results the first few times they pump, so it's quite possible your baby gets 2-3 oz when nursing but you can only get 1 when you pump.

Also, falling apart meaning exhausted. I'm used to getting much more sleep than this and my brain is literally shutting down. Sometimes I just feel so defeated and discouraged. Especially when she's crying and I don't know why or she wants to eat again like 30 minutes after I just fed her.

And i haven't done any housework, which is also stressing me out to see the house getting so bad.

Time for the adults in your life to step up and help you with the house. Even if you are a stay-at-home mom for the moment, you're also a brand-new mom who needs to recover her strength and focus on her baby. You not a maidservant. That means your DH needs to transform himself into Cinderfella: he should be sweeping, mopping, doing laundry, dusting, cooking, etc.

Exhaustion is normal at this stage of the game. But you may want to discuss PPD with your doc- feeling so discouraged and defeated might mean you're edging over into baby blues territory.

[@llli*lllmeg]

It sounds to me as if you experiencing the supplementation snowball effect. Due to typical new baby behavior and typical difficulty latching due to being overfull, you think baby is not getting enough at the breast, so you supplement. Baby appears more content after the bottle, again this means little if anything, but it causes you to you doubt your supply even more and supplement more. You pump, and you pump a normal amount, but since pumps are not as efficient as babies at the breast, it is not quite enough for one feeding and again you think your body is failing you. So you supplement more. All (possibly) based on common misconceptions about normal baby behavior and milk supply.

Meanwhile all this supplementation is going to cause more over fullness, because baby is getting filled up by bottles rather than at the breast and is not nursing frequently enough.. The over fullness makes it harder for baby to latch and also will over time harm your milk supply. So you then will NEED to supplement even more. That is how the snowball gets bigger and bigger and before you know it, it is all formula and you think it is because you did not make enough milk. But the supplementing is creating (or at the very least, exacerbating) any low milk supply.

This is being made harder by the exhaustion and very intense emotions of new mommyhood, which to some extent all moms (no matter how they feed baby) experience and are totally and perfectly normal- BUT if they are affecting your ability to function, causing you extreme distress, or are increasing in intensity you may need to discuss with your hcp.

All loving new mommas are rockstars, no matter how they feed their babies. But if you wish to breastfeed, I suggest you let go of the idea you do not make enough for your baby unless proven otherwise. True organic low supply is RARE. Your amazing body just made a baby-I have little doubt it can also make the milk to feed that baby. If you wish to supplement with formula later, for any reason, after milk supply and breasteeding is well established, that is up to you, but right now the supplementation is very likely unneeded and is causing issues.

If you have a local LLL Leader near you, give her a call and talk out your concerns. If you don’t like the first Leader you call, try someone else. You can call any Leader you want.

Carefully read this article on what is normal and expected when breastfeeding a newborn: http://kellymom.com/bf/normal/newborn-nursing/ pay particular attention to how often newborns normally breastfeed (10-12 times a day at a minimum!) and how to gage that baby is getting enough from output (poops)

Get hold of a copy of the new Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (8th edition, 2010) and read chapter four first, then chapter five, then how much as you like.

[@llli*phi]

Hey mama, this is a rare time when I disagree with the other wise mamas. My advice is to stop supplementing and dont worry about pumping at 3 weeks pp. 3 weeks is very ealy to introduce a bottle if you don't have to and it seems that baby is not dependent on formula in that small amount. It will only take a few days to pump to go back to work but right now it's my opinion that you should work on nursing full time, nursing laying down, safely cosleeping and regulating supply before you worry about pumping .

Oh don't get me wrong, I completely agree with all of this! I'm just thinking how best to pump if you must given you are going back to work very soon.

However, given that you pump 1 ounce when you pump (which is actually quite good when pumping in addition to nursing), then you can easily wait to start pumping until 2 weeks before you start work. If you pump 1x per day and get 1 ounce then you will have 14 ounces (probably more because your supply will start to increase at the time you pump as long as you pump the same time every day). You need 8-12 ounces to cover an 8 hour day. The truth is that once you establish a pumping routine, you'll start getting a little more and it probably won't take more than a week to get enough for your first day, even if you pump just once a day. Thus, you will easily have enough milk stored plus a little extra if you hold off pumping until 2 weeks (or even 1 week) before starting back to work.

Taking that into consideration, the best thing you can do right now is grab snacks, water, and a good book, take your baby to bed and nurse and nap 24/7 for awhile. Bottles and pumping are just going to make you more exhausted. They mean more getting up, more dirty dishes, and more stress.

The only other thing that I needed to do other than nurse, nap, and nosh was to poke my head outside for some fresh air and sunshine periodically. I tucked my baby in a sling and just walked to the street corner and back to start. Not far, but enough to stretch my legs just a bit.

[@llli*laurenc]

Oh mama! I know how you feel... I know exactly how you feel.

Being a new mother is overwhelming. My breastmilk also didn't arrive until 5 days AFTER I was home from the hospital. My daughter was drinking formula up until I could finally feed her exclusively. Then, I had to return to work and started pumping. Needless to say, my first 3 months have been painful, exhuasting and I'm still trying to get the hang of everything. (My daugher is 3 1/2 months old). If you are going back to work, I would recommend pumping for 10 minutes after a feeding. Try not to go over 10 minutes, because you will overstimulate your nipples and you'll start overproducing milk.

I know that might sound awesome, but overproducing actually causes painful plugged ducts and possible infection/Mastitis (which is what happened to me). This means surgery, so you have to be careful!

When you are at work, make it a habit to pump every 2 hours... 3 at the max. If you are using a store-grade pump, they don't drain the breast as efficiently as a baby. You will need to try a lot of massage techniques and hand-expressing while you are pumping. Hand expressing is actually quite easy, after pumping, I simply grab my breast with cup shape hands and squeeze out the remaining milk. The first 2 months, I didn't get much - especially after a feeding. Barely 1 ounce after I combine the "drops" from both bottles. Just continue to breastfeed as much as possible, and your milk supply will increase.

Hang in there! When you are not working, make sure you are getting as much sleep as possible. Honestly - leave the household chores to other people. Have the husband or a relative do the cooking. Things will get better very soon!! In fact, by this time next week, you will get the hang of things! Trust me! You are doing a fantastic job!! Just remember you are not alone!! A lot of us have gone through the same thing you have. We are here for you This is the only place that offered me comfort when I was sitting up at 3am, crying my heart out as I pumped, while suffering from Mastitis.

[@llli*laurenc]

Hey mama, this is a rare time when I disagree with the other wise mamas. My advice is to stop supplementing and dont worry about pumping at 3 weeks pp.

I agree with Jenna. As I mentioned in my previous post, pumping TOO early will mess up your body and cause unnecessary problems. Wait until a week before you have to go back to work, then try pumping only a few times after you've breastfed. For example: I would only pump every third time and only for an additional 5-10 minutes. Don't go overboard and try to store tons of bottles. In reality, you only need 2-3 extra bottles in the refridgerator and drops add up to a bottle! There is always forumula as a back-back-up if your baby needs it!

Your breastmilk will drastically increase by month 3-4, so you don't want to overdo it now when it is barely 1 month.

[@llli*katwoman24]

Thank you all so much!!

Just a quick update....things are SO much better!! She is doing a great job latching (mostly) and we are getting a routine down. God is good and I appreciate everyone's support. I feel so much better now that we are getting the swing of things.

There are times when she refuses the second breast so I hand express to try and even things ok. Is this ok? I put it into tubes so I can freeze for later. It seems like my right side is filling up much quicker and has more milk. But she nurses on the left more....hmmmm

Are there pros and cons to hand expressing versus pumping? I feel like hand expressing is much quicker. I figured I'd start pumping in a couple weeks, but for now, we just got breastfeeding down, pumping is still very overwhelming to me. Like how to incorporate it.