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Moms - Oversupply Issues... Help! (long, sorry)
I have to start from the beginning for this to make sense, thanks for baring with me...
I EPed for the first 5 days T was in the hospital, until she could eat. I continued to pump until we got home, when she was 15 days old. Since then, I have only pumped when she's gone back to the hospital, or one or two times I was engorged. I have always had a huge supply and was getting 7-8+ oz total by the time we initially left the hospital.
T has always had watery stools, but they are only green sometimes. She's on zantec (prescribed by her surgeon, not because she had issues with reflux), but doesn't seem overly gassy or fussy. She is in my opinion a very happy baby. She's has a great suck, so only eats for 5 or so minutes per side (now - she used to nurse longer). Combined with my supply, I figured she was getting what she needed.
Her sleep schedule has never been consistent. At about 6 weeks she slept 9 hours one night - so I know she can do it. She is still in our room and has learned what it is like to sleep in our bed (I know its a bad habit, but it helps her sleep when nothing else does). About a month and a half ago, I started giving her a paci when she woke in the middle of the night (at our pedi's recommendation), and not feeding her until 6 or 7 am. This worked for about a month, and she was getting 10-12 hours of sleep. Within the past two weeks, she stopped taking the paci in the middle of the night, and demands to be fed. She now goes anywhere from 5-7 hours before she wakes to eat, then goes back to sleep for 3-4 hours. She is not a great napper, but will sleep for 30-45 minutes about four times during the day.
Her weight gain has been great. She was born at 6, 1 and doubled her birth weight by 4 months. She was 12, 10 last week.
Recently, she started having really awful smelling poop. I read a little about it and found that some of her symptoms could be from my oversupply. On Friday, I started feeding her on one side until I was completely empty (2-3 times straight, before switching).
Friday night, she slept about 7 hours before waking to eat. She didn't seem to have as many poopy diapers into Saturday, but did seem more constipated than usual. Otherwise she was comfortable and happy. Last night was the first bad night in a while. I put her down at about 9, she was up at 1, 4 and 6 to eat. At 6 I finally put her in bed with us, but she was ready to be up for the day by 7:30. Today she has been exhausted. She has taken two 2-3 hour naps, and is fussier than normal. Her poop doesn't smell as sour, but still seems watery.
My question is this: should I continue to block feed and hope that it helps? My hope is that we can figure out a better sleep schedule (at least at night). I can deal with all the other symptoms, so long as she is happy and healthy.
If you've made it this far, thank you! TIA for your suggestions.
Re: Moms - Oversupply Issues... Help! (long, sorry)
It seems to me you have a couple issues going on here. My first thought is the nighttime issues are not because of your supply but because your LO is 4 months old! There's a huge brain development around 4 months which can often lead to disturbed sleep. The Wonder Weeks has some explanation if you're familiar with that, otherwise I'd just google 4 month sleep regression and you'll get some good ideas as to what's going on and how to cope.
As far as nursing and an oversupply, I had one and here's what I saw: green and foamy poop on a regular basis, lots and lots and lots of spit up (never painful), gassiness like you wouldn't believe, and fussiness in general a lot of the time. I was able to resolve our issues (except for the fussiness because it turns out, my daughter is just fussy in general...) by nursing on one side at a time, alternating at each feed. I never had to block feed on one side for multiple sessions. DD would nurse for 5-6 minutes on one side only and be done.
As far as the funky poops, your DD could be teething a bit (my DD got her first teeth at 4.5 months) which can cause crazy poops!! Also, if you've eaten something different (citrus? spicy?), it can have an effect on DD's poops too (I had to avoid citrus and anything spicy until DD was 9ish months old).
Also, just to make you feel like you're normal, DD would sleep 10 hours straight from 2 months to 4 months of age. Then, she started waking every 45 minutes all night long (4 month wakeful/sleep regression). Only nursing would get her back to sleep (she was never good about taking a paci). At 6 months we got hardcore, moved her to her own room and crib, and got rid of the swaddle. We used the methods in the No Cry Sleep Solution to work things out but it was really tough for a while.
Good luck, mama! You can get through it!!
Thank you! I guess it's a lot to think all of this is related to my over supply. We have the no cry sleep solution book, but I have yet to open it. I know we'll get through this, I was just in a bad mood today. I had to remind myself she is only four months old more than once. I'm fortunate that she's a happy baby and after everything she went through in the beginning, this is the "easy stuff". It helps to vent and hear that I'm normal.
thanks!
Of course! Being a mommy is so so SO hard!!! And you never know if you're doing anything right, you just kind of cross your fingers and go with your gut! ; )
I do suggest reading the book asap. We waited till Emma was 6 months before reading about sleep habits and such and we really regret it! We would have started the methods from No Cry Sleep Solution around 2-3 months if we had been more informed! We set Emma up for some really bad habits and sleep dependencies and we're STILL dealing with them from time to time. Read the book!! With a glass of wine in hand, of course ; )
Remember you're doing great! You care tremendously which makes you a great parent for your daughter!
DS 09/08
I also don't really think oversupply is a problem for your DD. with my oversupply, DD would nurse and then pull off like she was ready to switch really quickly. When we did switch she would scream and feeding became a big crying mess for both of us. We started feeding from one side each feeding and switched sides the next feeding and it made a world of difference. The problem with oversupply is that baby is getting too much foremilk and not enough o the good fatty hind milk.
You could try alternating sides each feeding an see if that helps her sleep longer. Really though, they change so much so quickly and its hard to expect the same behaviors to continue without being affected by the major developments baby is going through. Give her and yourself a break. Once up in the night is pretty good for that age. My DD didn't sttn until 8 months consistently and she still wake up about twice a month. Hang in there! As with everything baby related, this too shall pass.
This all sounds so normal to me. There is so much that goes on during the first year that impact sleep patterns and levels of fussiness. This baby is my super sleeper and has already slept through the night many times and still, last night she was up from 3-6 eating. There are growth spurts, developmental milestones, teething. All of those things impact mood and sleep.
FWIW - I'm a big fan of bed sharing and don't think it's a bad habit at all. In fact, I think it makes middle of the night waking less disruptive encouraging better long term sleep habits. We didn't bedshare with Gavin until he was older (4-6 months or so) and even when we started we made night waking a big ordeal involving getting him out of the crib, changing his diaper, etc. By the time all was said and done we had made him more awake than anything, causing fragmented sleep and a waking habit. This time, I just slide LO over into bed with me and nurse her. Neither of us wakes much and most nights neither of our sleep is fragmented.
Really, she was only up 2 times which is less than many babies wake regularly at that age (trust me, I've had experience). Try to make sure she's getting enough total sleep. If she truly seems unhappy/fussy, consult your pediatrician
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
Thank you all very much for the feedback. I started reading tncss book last night and I'm starting her sleep logs today.
Last night it took her 1.5-2 hours to actually go to sleep for good and she was up 4 times, three of them I fed her, and she was up for the day at 7. I realize this is probably normal for her age. Its just so hard for me to be productive after a night like that!
Patience...
I know I'll miss her being this age soon, but I sure am looking forward to getting good sleep again.
What do you do if she has a dirty diaper? Nathan still poops during or shortly after every single feeding. Do you change her if she poops? I feel like our nighttime feedings are a big ordeal. I pick him up out of the rock and play and get him latched on. I feed him, burp him (otherwise he is an angry screaming baby), and then he usually needs a diaper change. How do you get around burping and changing?
I'm headed to bed, so I didn't read through all of the replies, but just wanted to say that I would suggest trying to nurse from one side each feeding, alternating sides for every time. DD was super fussy and had vinegary smelling poop for forever. Why we didn't research the vinegar smell then, I don't know...but when I was preg with DS, looked it up and found that it was perhaps due to an imabalance of foremilk and hindmilk (getting too much liquidy, thirst quenching foremilk and not enough satisfying, fatty hindmilk) which was caused by switching at every feeding or switching too soon. I would definitely recommend nursing until empty on one side before even considering offering the other side if at all.
Hope that helps!
DD doesn't poop over night
If she did, I would. DS did poop, every single time he ate. I would change diapers if they are poopy, but try to keep it low key. Leave the lights off if you can. I only burp when baby complains of being gassy (the eh, eh, burp me sound)
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
Do you think she might be overtired? 1.5 hours is a long time to spend getting a baby down
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!