New York Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
* Mrs. De
I think we might be joining the pumping club. DD hasn't had a happy easy feeding yet. So, we started giving her some formula from day 1, because I wasn't sure if she was getting much. She's a very happy bottle feeder. The LC helped and she was able to latch well when she was here. Now though she isn't opening as big and screaming with frustration. I'm going to keep trying, but at least with pumping she's getting breast milk and I won't keep getting so engorged. Insurance now won't pay for it, so I'm off to Target or Babies R Us. They could have said they wouldn't pay last week when they were on sale at BRU.
Any advice for a newbie? TIA
Re: * Mrs. De
butting in here.... (sorry, I'm nosey!)
My advice would be to certainly pump and give her a bottle to make sure she's getting enough, but to also keep trying at the breast. I had the same issues as you - getting her to latch was a stressful battle, and she would do it when the LC was with us but I had the worst time when I was on my own. Once I started pumping I could stop worrying that I was starving her and we could practice nursing without the stress. So, I would pump and give her bottles for the majority of her feedings but aim to get in at least 3 breast sessions a day - mostly for practice. Little by little it got easier and easier for her to latch, and I didn't care how long it took since she was eating fine with the bottle. Eventually, she got the hang of it and 9 months later you would never know she spent probably the first month of her life fighting the boob! It is worth it to continue working on because pumping royally sucks and it's much more convenient if you can eventually just feed her from the breast without having to worry about bottles and pumps and all that. I still pump because I work, but when I'm home I don't even want to look at that thing!
Anyway, just my two cents! Feel free to ignore or ask any other questions!
*Mrs. Kocal
Thanks for the advice. But in as much as you would like. lol. That's kind of what I'm trying to do. We tried for about 30 minutes this morning, but I couldn't get her to calm down enough in the end after trying so much. She won't latch when she's crying so much and her tongue is all over the place. We'll still try about 4 times a day, which is about 50%. With the pump, I got about 5 oz. for 2 feedings already. I promised both of us that we would try breastfeeding as best as we can, but not stress ourselves out about it.
Hi...sorry I haven't written sooner, this is the first time I've gotten on TN in the last few days.
I always thought BFing would come easy, but you are seeing first hand that that isn't always the case. =/ I'm sorry you are having a tough time. Looking back after 6 months of pumping, my 1st word of advice is to stick with seeing the LC...I wish I had. Also, like Danielle said, stick with putting the baby to your breast a few times a day. We both got frustrated very early on, so I gave up within the 1st week of trying and also wished I wouldn't have had...but, hindsight is 20/20. DD was also a NICU baby, so we didn't have any skin to skin contact after she was born. She was bottle fed right off the bat and I didn't get to see her until the day after she was born.
As for pumping, I rented a hospital grade pump the whole time I pumped and we were reimbursed by my husband's union...I think I called his insurance company and I'm pretty sure it wasn't covered. Pumping is definintely not an easy task. You can't go anywhere without it (or at least 2 hours) and mine was big and bulky and a HUGE PITA. But, if I couldn't BF, I wanted DD to at least get BM...at least for the 1st 6 months of her life. I weaned her off now. I'm going back to work in 5 weeks and I wouldn't be able to keep up with pumping every 2 hours. Plus, I was tired of being tied down to the pump. I ultimately would have liked to BF for 1 year, but overall, I am happy she got BM for 6 months.
If you have any specific questions, I'd be more than happy to help. Good luck! Post pics...I'd love to see pics of your beautiful little girl!
Hi,
i'm an oldy here, but rarely post. I had a rough time in the beginning too, but had a great LC. Can they pinpoint why she can't latch? for me that was key- dd had a high narrow pallate and i had flat nipples, so she couldn't tell they were in her mouth at all. I used a nipple shield for about a month and then weaned her off. My dd then became a champion nurser! In fact, I am still trying to wean her off her last feeding. Good luck!