I left a message for the lactation consultants at the hospital I delivered K at, and they gave me an appointment for today to come in and check the weight, see how feeding was going, and do a pre- and post-feed weight check to see how much she's actually getting each time she eats.
I'd been feeding her every 2-3 hours since we got back from Monday's bad weight check, and she seemed to be cluster feeding again yesterday. Went from 11am-7pm constantly at the breast, with only 2 1 hour periods of rest in there. I started t be more careful about only leaving her on there sucking if she was doing effective sucking that led to swallowing. If it was just comfort sucking, it wasn't good enough. I kept her in her onesie so that she'd be a little colder and more alert, and would burp her or change her diaper to get her to wake up in between sides.
Today I popped her in my M.oby wrap and took the subway in to the appointment. That part went well. But when we got there and weighed her, she was only up to 3114g , an increase of a "whopping" 14g in 2 days. It should have been over 15g a day! She only was actively sucking for about 5min a side. After a second round on each side (which was fairly half-hearted), she had only managed to take in about 30g total, which is about 1 fluid oz. And apparently she should be not only gaining 15-30g a day at this point, but she should also be getting 2oz (60g) every 3 hours from her feeds.
The lactation consultant checked her out, and said that she has a weak suck for a baby her age, and that she may have tongue tie affecting her milk transfer. She does have a bit of a short frenulum, a heart-shaped tongue, and it doesn't attach as deeply in her mouth as I think it should. I'm going to ask the nurse at the doctor's office about it tomorrow, and whether we need to get a referral to a peds ENT to see if they think it should be snipped. That might explain the ongoing nipple pain, slight air sucking at times while feeding, and poor weight gain. Oh joy.
They left me with instructions to start supplementation with fenugreek and blessed thistle, possibly to add in domperi.done on top of that. That's supposed to help increase my milk supply. And I was told to go get a breast pump and to start pumping for 15 min after every feed. She's to feed every 2-3 hours, and will get the pumped milk via finger feeding after the next time she breastfeeds.
So off I went, and got myself the Me.dela Free.style pump at the local kiddie store. Steep price, but it's the only brand that seems to be widely available across the city. I also wanted something I could easily use hands-free and that would be very light when I went back to work. I was debating getting the Am.eda Pur.ely Yours, but there are only 2 stores listed in the city that carry it. So if anything breaks, it would be a lot trickier to come up with a replacement part quickly.
So far, I've pumped 4 times, and only got 15, 19, 8-9, and 20mL of breast milk. My best was 20mL after a 3 hour interval, which wasn't terribly impressive.
Hope to see things improve quickly. We have another weight check tomorrow with the nurse, and a follow-up lactation clinic appointment on Sunday. If things haven't improved by then, they're going to ask me to start supplementing with formula.
I'm just praying things will get better soon! So far, I'm just feeling guilty that I can't give my baby what she needs to thrive. Or that she may have a tongue tie that's affecting things enough to need to be snipped.
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Wow- I never knew how hard breast feeding was. Kudos to you for your dedication. I hope soon these struggles will be behind you *hugs*
I noticed you mentioned using your Moby wrap. I just ordered one. A friend pointed out it might be hard to use that when also dragging around a diaper bag. Have you found it difficult to do that?
My baby girl had a mild-moderate tongue tie, and after consulting with both my LC, and my pediatrician, we did get her frenulum snipped, and the difference was almost instanteous, and the weight gain followed immediately. It may not be a miracle fix for everyone, but it certainly was for us - and that was 13 months ago, and we're still happily nursing. The procedure itself caused me great anxiety, but it was quick, she only screamed for about 15 seconds, and then the dr. asked for me to nurse her right there in the office to make sure that the difference was noticeable. And it was. We were told to go to either an ENT or a pediatric dentist (the PD's have something called a "cold laser" that they use instead of a cutting tool - we chose the pediatric dentist, and were pleased - she was very pro-breastfeeding, and had nursed babies herself, and knew what it should and shouldn't feel like. Good luck! -Carrie
I also had breastfeeding issues... sucking, but not much swallowing.. did your LC suggest breast compreshions..which worked wonderfully and we used the lactation aid at the breast instead of finger.. promoted active breastfeeding... pumping will get easier and you'll get more each time.
I also had breastfeeding issues... sucking, but not much swallowing.. did your LC suggest breast compreshions..which worked wonderfully and we used the lactation aid at the breast instead of finger.. promoted active breastfeeding... pumping will get easier and you'll get more each time.
When we had our problems I got told to cut the comfort nursing too. I noticed that he really stopped gaining weight during that time. I wouldn't want you to go against what the LC tells you, but I got the feeling that my baby was actually drinking more than I thought during that time.
I have a freestyle too. I was considering the ameda purely yours too, but went with the freestyle for the availability and size. I really like it, the battery lasts a long time and it's very portable. My SIL pumped exclusively for a year using her freestyle.
We had to do the finger feeding, and it was a total mess every time. He tended to spit up everything we fed him that way... that is what didn't leak out around his mouth. For us, we decided to go ahead and give it to him with a breastflow bottle. But I like the other commenters' suggestion of a SNS since your supply is low too.
No experience to share, but I'm hoping you find a resolution soon. Thinking of you!
I really hope that this gets sorted out as it is a major frustration that you shouldn't have to deal with on top of getting to know your little one and adjusting to life as a mommy. Smart to go straight to a LC - that's the recommendation that I've gotten all along - versus trying to figure it out on your own. Let us know what the doctor says
My son was tongue tied too. Didn't figure it out till I was pretty much dried up, go ahead and take care of it. Medelas are the best have nursed 2 babies.
One of my little girls also had tongue tie and I had never heard of it until now. She had her frenulum snipped and it has been slow progress but she has steadily improved her BF including latching on properly and then having effective sucking. Don't feel guilty about the supply thing...my milk was really slow to come in after and we ended up feeding my girls more formula than breast milk in the beginning. Just keep pumping even when you don't get much and you'll be up to larger volumes before too long. I was doing about the same as you when I started BF and we had to split what I got between the two girls so I understand how discouraging it can be not to get too much. Now, I am producing enough to feed them about 90% breast milk so it will happen for you. don't give up!
Man, I'm so sorry to hear of all your challenges with this breastfeeding, but I commend you for sticking with it and doing whatever it takes. Don't be hard on yourself, you're going above and beyond what many moms would do. Off to read your next post and hoping to hear that things are better now. Hugs
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