Nursing Questions

[MissMuffett]

I have been nursing for 4 months now. I had problems feeding in the beginning as many new moms doo, than about a month ago i noticed one of my boobs were a different size than the other one. So i had fixed that but now with me nursing so much i have doubled my milk supply. So i had went online and found a way to decrease it, just by feeding solely on one each feeding. So i will try that, but how do i manage to have a life outside of my house. How much should i pump and how often should i pump so i dont have an over abundance of milk.

also, When i leave her with a sitter for a couple of hours its a nightmare she screams the whole time, she hates bottles ! I have tried playtex nursers, advent bottles, nothing seems to work. I pick up my little one after her screaming for hours @ my mothers tonight, and she is content as can be and smiles @ me. Its hard not to spoil them when im her primary caregiver because i feed on demand. I want to be able to leave her with people and not be worried that she is having a huge temper tandrum, and not eating for 6 hours straight becuase shes mad. but shes only 4 months old.. !!!

If anyone has some ideas that could help me out that would be wonderful /.
thank you


I guess most of this isnt a question im just looking for other moms ideas to deal with my 4 month baby.. oh yeah and shes colicy too. i think its becaseu i have too much milk and shes just getting to much formilk. so hopefully what im going to try in the next couple of days works..!!!

cross your fingers :P. i know i am!!!

[Jackie B]

A lot of people may not agree with me, but I always fed my babies on a schedule. I successfully nursed 4 babies, one of them until 14 months. I fed approximately every 3 hours, which gave me 2 1/2 hours to go out and do what needed to be done. You're not starving your baby, you're just regulating their hunger patterns. It can be done gently over a week or two. I never demand fed my babies beyond a week old, and they were happy, healthy, content babies.

[Sophie's_Mommy]

i breastfed for 6 weeks then my milk supply slowed down and the baby was hardly getting any and was hungry all the time, so i had to switch to formula /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif i really did not want to formula feed her but i had no choice, i pumped a little but got hardly any out but what i did get out i put into her formula, i still put her on my boob a couple times a day and she gets a little but not alot. Maybe i was not doing it right but she was gaining weight at a fast pace for the 6 weeks she was breast fed, and now shes so big from formula. I do agree with Jackie about having a schedule. I had no problem switching to bottle she took it great and likes it more then the boob..lol..before i switched her she would push away form my boob and get fussy she did not like it. u can pump milk and it last a long time in the fridge and u can freeze it too..i have a page on how to store breast milk and how long it lasts.I can send it to u if u like.

but ya if your baby does not like bottles and u need to leave him.her with a babysitter, best thing to do is get him/her on a schedule and now that she/he is 4 months she.he should be eating every 4 hours now so that give u some time to do what u need to do anyways..too bad she/he hates bottles cause u can just feed her breast milk threw there and u d be able to go out and give ur boobs a break,,it does get sore..:) good luck.

[bluekrissyspikes]

i breastfed both my kids and never found it necessary to schedule them. i always fed on demand. if you want to go out without her getting too hungry try feeding and than feeding again shortly after. this is what the health nurse taught me and it will help fill the little belly up. the baby is not going to starve herself and is probably just upset because you are not there. at this age they think of mom as an extension of themselves and she is probably just confused because it is not you coming to her when she is upset. when my son was a bit older i started pumping one bottle a day and letting dad feed it to him. this helped him get over not wanting a bottle. as for having a life outside the house, your baby is still really, really young and you'll have lots of time for that. i still take my son everywhere i go with me(except when i was working) and when i was breastfeeding especially. so, for 3 months with my daughter and about 18 months with my son i brought them with me when i went somewhere. if i needed to have a break i would do it at home by giving baby to dad and going for a bubble bath or going to a different room to do my nails. it is perfectly normal for a baby to prefer it's mother to a bottles nipple.
also, collic is usually caused by gas problems, not from eating too much so try bouncing or burping for longer after feeding or taking a break mid-feeding to burp. my son was collicy for the longest time and the only thing that helped was oval drops and belly rubs(rub up the right side of the belly, across the upper part and down the left side to help get things moving). i thought my daughter was collicy but she was really lactose intolerant so i had to put her on soy formula. good luck with the breastfeeding. you are doing well.

[Tutones]

The problem with feeding on demand is that some babies will choose to use Mom as a pacifier instead of just when they are hungry. It sounds like that may be the case for you if baby is inconsolable while you are gone.

Keep in mind that the more you pump, the more milk you will produce so you are actually creating the problem of more milk if you are pumping too often.

I found that when I finally started using occasional bottles the best nipples are the wide based ones that are recommended for transition to and from the breast because you use the same type of latch with them. Also, 4 months is about the time to start a bit of cereal in her diet so that may help while you are away from her as well.

This is the type of nipple that I used with Playtex nursers.

http://b0000tyhcs.surplustelco.com/p-playtex-naturalatch-silicone-nipples-variable.html

Also nipples have different flow rates. If baby does not like the bottle it could be because the milk is not flowing fast enough. Try different flow rates and see which one works. If the ones you have have very small holes they are slow flow and you can widen them using a needle by poking a few more holes close to the the center.

[violetbean]

Are you the one feeding bottles? If you try to get someone else to feed a bottle when your baby can't see you it might work a little better. I also pumped a bottle full of milk at about 4 months so that my husband could feed the baby. Have you tried different nipples on the bottles as well as changing the bottles?

Also, if you are having engorgement issues or producing way too much milk, try using some cabbage leaves in your bra. It will decrease your supply. Don't use them too much or you might completely lose your supply.

[bluekrissyspikes]

years ago they suggested starting feeding baby food at around 4 months(when i had my daughter, she's 9) but now they recomend waiting until the baby is at least 6 months old to about 9 months old to introduce first foods.

[MissMuffett]

thank you for the advice everyone..

I have tried pumping and that is why i have the over supply.. Im not sure how much to pump @ a time without it affecting it. So i was pumping from 2-4 oz extra. so i guess that was the problem. The nipples i was using was the playtex ones that were meant for breastfed babies, and the advent ones also. I had purchased the playex slow flow and the fast flow and neither seemed to work. I think i might try her on the bottle and feed her a couple times with me there so she can get use to it b4 i try it with others.. she is very attached to mommy, not that i mind much but it makes it hard for me to go out and be baby free for a couple of hours.

Im also noticing that she wont sleep unless i rock her to sleep @ night. After feeding tonight i burped her like three times and changed her bum and put her in her pjs. I let her cry for about 10 minutes and went to check on her and she finally fell asleep in my arms while i rocked her, and she wasnt gassy or needed a bum change becuase i checked and i even tried to burp her again..... I hope she outgrows this!!

[Intangible]

I recommend the book "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. She has some great advice on sleep, as well as on feeding. I believe she has a website.

[bluekrissyspikes]

awww...she just wants her mommy. that's so sweet. she will eventually need sleep training. most kids won't grow out of it on their own. some people start sleep training them really early, at around her age. i couldn't bring myself to do that at such an early age though. she is too young to understand what is going on.

[Chaotic Chick]

My daughter Tori had to be fed every hour. Doctor's orders. My nipples were raw and sore for 17 friggin' months! /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif She slept with me until she was two. If I had a choice at the time, I would have given her bottles once in a while so my sister or husband could feed her but she wouldn't take a bottle and we could not afford for her to lose a single ounce. Some babies will not take breast milk in a bottle and she was one of them. When she was a bit older (maybe nine months old) I occasionally gave her juice in a bottle. She would still be hungry though. It was tiring at the time but worth every minute of it.

Since you do not absolutely have to feed her every hour or even two hours, as I did with Tori, I would strongly suggest what Jackie suggested. It worked with my three other children (all also breastfed). Scheduled feedings, not on demand. Otherwise, the baby does use Mommy as a pacifier. I remember with my first baby, I went to see my doctor in tears. Tash was about six weeks old at the time. She asked what was wrong and I showed her; my nipples were bleeding and cracked. I was in so much pain. My doctor giggled and said, "Mommy is NOT a pacifier." She was right. I was nursing her every 20 minutes sometimes. Heck, I figured all crying babies were hungry. LOL! But once I got her into a routine I was able to nurse her successfully for another 10 months.