BF 'PEP TALK' For the Hospital ???

OK BF girls... Although I will have my pro-sister and a few LCs on staff at the hospital, the more info the merrier...

Refresh my memory and give me pointers and tips and tricks to getting a good start on this...

My problems last time were bad latch (never quite perfected it ) and also cracking, soreness, of course engorgement, and even shooting pains (which I thought were 'thrush' but were not). My bad habits were leaning in to the baby and not taking baby to boob, and just not latching properly and probably supplementing too soon...

What do you suggest about supplementing if I need to? What about the binky? Bottle?
Does your little one feed on both sides for each feeding or do you do one side per feeding and then switch off for the next time? (I do remember the rule of thumb to continue on the side you left off).... What else? *scratches head*....

Thanks.. I feel like Im getting back on a bike and need training wheels again..

Don't be afraid to take the baby off if he/she is not latched on correctly.

In the beginning I made this mistake and yowzer

I always feed on one side and let him empty the breast and then the next feeding I give him the other side.

The shooting pains are your boobs filling back up, I believe.(That's what I was told)

I never supplemented, but I was lucky and Damien latched on right away. Stand your groud though. When Damien lost weight in th hospital (he went from 8lbs to 7lbs 6oz) my DH wanted me to supplement, so make sure Daddy is educated too. I had the nurses talk to him so he felt better. It's actually funny one of our friends just had a baby and she is trying to BF and I heard him telling her not to worry if the baby loses weight because it's from the meconium(baby's first poop) and your milk hasn't come in yet I thought our friend would die

Good luck Anna

ok!

First of all, I think the best thing to do is relax and know that you can do this. You did it before, so you have the general idea. And maybe Baby #2 (a little girl I am sure) will be a little more agreeable for Mommy! So going into it just take it slow. Definitely ask to speak with the LC on duty. Explain your concerns, your fears, your experience and so on.

Pain:
My guess on the cracking and soreness..of course there is a lot of soreness. You kind of have to 'mind over matter' that - but I bet a LOT of it was that the baby wasn't latching on properly and you probably spent a lot of time having it done 'wrong' which can cause severe pain.

Oh - when you are done, express a tiny amount of whatever is coming out and rub it on your nipples - that will help the pain tremendously. Try to let them air dry for at least 5 minutes after that. Otherwise, just hold your breath when the latch happens and know that once a minute goes by it wont' hurt as bad! I have had that shooting pain thing. A warm shower has helped that. And taking a break on that breast for a while.

And change positions. Mix it up - football hold, cradle hold, etc. This REALLY helped me. It makes the baby approach from a different direction on the nipple so the irritation isn't so consistent.

Latching:
I learned a tremendous amount in the NICU, because we were one on one in there - the nurses are really attentive and were actually a lot more helpful than the LC. They taught me to handle the baby's head with a little more force than I would have thought okay to do on my own. The baby has to be directed to the breast as you know, kind of forcefully (obviously nothing dangerous..you know what I mean). And you have to keep goading her to continue feeding even as she dozes off. This will bring your milk, give her the colostrum and get you off to a good start. Rub under her chin, tickle her feet, and so on.

I found it helpful to hold my breast while nursing in the beginning. She would get lazy and lose the latch if I didnt' help keep the breast centered in front of her face! I don't have to do it now though.

I found the football hold to be the best way for me to not 'lean in'. We did it that way for at least 3 weeks.

Binky:
They gave Sophia a binky right off the bat. A very NICU thing I think - no problem with that at all. She didn't have any of this 'nipple confusion' I hear about.

Supplementing:
We had to start this when she was I think 2 weeks or so. She hadnt' gained enough weight. We gave her 2 oz after three feedings a day. She still takes to the breast and bottle nipples no problem. And her binky. She's nipple savvy!

Sides:
She still nurses both sides. At night though only one and she goes back to sleep. We do start on the one we left off with - if I can remember...when we do both sides.

*start eating oatmeal, drinking a lot of water, etc. Something I find REALLY helps with let-down is a nice glass of wine.

OMG Jenny I was reading your tips for Anna and all of a sudden my shirt is soaking wet I'm leaking

Buy a Nursing Mother's Compaion Guide or borrow it (I use Claud's) and bring it with you to the hospital. it is helpful to look stuff up when you aren't sure.
make a little sign for the bassinet that reads:

I am a breastfeed baby
NO bottles or pacifers without my mommy's permission.

and put it in the bassinet right away! I am glad I did that. It helps the staff to know right away if a bottle is given or not.

have the name /number of a good LC waiting at home for you on the frig. I used Dawn Frank in babylon and highly recommend her.
if you are having problems get prof. help right away because there is a very short window to fix them.
have oatmeal at home- it helps to build your supply.

Anna fm

Thanks for all the info ladies.
Stacey You need some tips on not leaking? Want some nursing pads?

Michele, funny you mentioned the sign for the bassinet. At JAs hospital, they had it circled on the card, but never paid attention to it so one night they decided to give him formula without asking or telling me until the next morning... I was annoyed, but I wasnt about to kill anyone over it.. But I thought it was VERY wrong of them. and I noticed alot of moms with those little signs, and I started cutting up a piece of paper yesterday to make one I couldnt beleive they didnt pay attention. and they asked me at least 4 times in the time I was there whether he was breast or bottle

I have my sisters copy of that book right here. Ive been flipping through it.

Stacey, I got so used to feeding on both sides last time. I think Im going to go back to that.. who knows, we'll see. Daddies always get nervous if the baby isnt eating enough.

Jenny I found I HAD to hold my boob to. I almost couldnt NOT hold it, it was such a force of habit, and I guess a 'beginner's thing' that I never outgrew I even felt like Id smother him if I didnt hold it

Jennbaby-going to check now.

Thanks girls

---

Posted by Stacey1403

OMG Jenny I was reading your tips for Anna and all of a sudden my shirt is soaking wet I'm leaking

---

OKAY that is a RIOT!

If I had pom-pom's I'd be cheering .... Go Anna .. you can do it!!!

Most of everything has been covered so I wanted to lend my support. Seems like you know where you'd like to change things for this baby, so the only thing I can say is

Stand your ground.

It is not only annoying but counterproductive for the nursing staff to give your baby formula without you knowing or approving!!! And right on about educating DH ... they need to be fully on board!

Also, try to have your baby with you as much as possible. Ask for a private room right away so they can't give you any of that .. baby needs to be in the nursery nonsense. We asked immediately & kept asking the whole time we were in labor ... (yeah, I say we were in labor! HA! ) But it paid off. They left the baby for the whole day & most of the night. I only sent her back when I really needed sleep or a shower.

Think about the support group we talked about. Its a great source of support & the LC is fantastic! You can get all the advice you need w/o having to pay someone to come in!

Any questions ... fm me! We can talk whenever you need!!!

I thought I'd throw in something that my DH did while 'we' were learning how to breastfeed.

So of course, you know Sophia was a bit premature, and had tons of magnesium in her system so she was extremely sleepy and hard to get to latch and hold, etc. So the milk wasnt' coming because she couldn't demand it and so on. My husband would stand there and be like - milk yet? milk yet? Like the hospital is gonna let her starve..

Anyway, they finally hooked me up with a pump and I am sitting in the glider all double hooked and suddenly my boobs are being triple suctioned high power into the cups and I look up startled of course to see him standing there having turned it up to the highest suction! Because he thought it would make the milk 'come' faster!

Now that would be fine for me NOW, but imagine that the first day?!!!

Jenny I would have killed him

From pumping last week because of getting my teeth pulled I turned up the suction to high and hurt my left boobie Now by the nightime feeding sometimes it's feels like when we first started

Anna: Obviously I know nothing about breast feeding. But I just wanted to wish you luck

Oh, good point. TRUST YOUR INSINCTS

If you have another c/s you will be in the hospital for a while...any problems demand a pump! I asked 4X and was told over and over again, 'you don't need to pump' well yes, I did. I KNEW I was right and finally told Scott to go to the nursery and not return without a pump in hand. Later that week the LC asked me why I wasn't given a pump the minute the baby started to lose too much weight Trust your gut!

What bothers me most is that the Nurses on staff should have a similar 'theory'/advice to offer new moms. I remember being told 2 totally different things to do within an hour of eachother from 2 different Nurses. Feed all on one side for as long as baby wanted , and then an hour later, someone walked in and asked 'WHO TOLD YOU THAT ??? (I was up to 40minutes when she asked me!!) and she made me pump the other side that was engorged as ever' God that was traumatizing....
YES, different nurses can have different opinions but as a hospital, as one staff serving the same moms, they should come to some sort of agreement on what they tell us

this is what was great about the NICU nurses. There are fewer of them in there, and they are a closer group. There were only 3 babies including Sophie in there, so the moms really got one on one attention. The night nurse would show me a trick, and then the day nurse would say - did so and so show you her trick? That works really well..and so does this...

It was just really supportive and they had the same mindset towards breastfeeding. The one thing they all agreed on was to not listen to the LC! There was one on staff that was just really nutty. But they all agreed I should pump immediately. I didn't get to see Sophia for 24 hours after her delivery, but was set up with a pump immediately. At my request, but they followed through. (A big difference in my case though was that Soph was fed intravenously in those first 2 days. so she was getting nutrition without the formula or bottle. )

Use a pillow to help boost the baby up to you when in the hospital. Once you are home I suggest trying the boppy pillow. It helps position the baby so you do not lean over to him/her.
I started to supplement Annalise at 5 days old because she was jaundiced. I never would have decided to do this on my own so soon, but it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. She had to be on all formula for 48 hours. I pumped in the meantime and my supply increased dramatically. My nipples had time to heal since pumping did not hurt at all. They were cracked and sometimes bled due to a poor latch at times. When she went back to nursing she latched on perfectly from the start like the bottle had actually taught her how to s uck. She was also very happy that there was a larger supply for her. I was afraid of nipple confusion but there was none. She also had a binky from day one since she was using me as a human pacifier more than I could handle. She nursed on both sides at each feeding for the first few months. When she seemed to only want one side we went with that. I took the cue from her.

I plan on bringing the boppy to the hospital, I did last time too
Only thing is, John Anthony is TOTALLY attached to the boppy and I REALLY dont want 2 boppies laying around my house

I got him into the habit of laying him in it for his bottles and now he even lays on it to watch tv, to relax and especially for that 'Latte'. Sometimes daddy leans on it while he's laying on the floor with JA and JA has a fit and pulls it from under daddy's head and drags it a few feet away!!
Anyway, that was my tangent there...

I hope I get as good help at the hospital as you all are! Please be ready for my 20 questions

Anna buy another Boppy

JA will probably be jealous of the baby and if he sees the baby getting 'his' things it may make it worse. So my advice definitely get another Boppy

anna don't forget to bring a nursing bra or two. I dont' know why - but I would have felt a million times more comfy getting started if I had the right equipment. I just felt so thrown into it, and having the right 'duds' would have made me feel more like a breastfeeding mommy!

Stacey, I was afraid someone would suggest getting another boppy My MIL wanted to buy one last week and I told her 'uhmm, nooo thanks... ' But maybe I will

and wait till he sees the baby with bottles and we're trying to get him off the bottle (slowly but surely )... and then in June his crib gets taken away, my poor baby but he'll get a 'big boy bed'

Jenny, Ive been meaning to get nursing bras and totally forgot to take my sisters when I was at her house last week to get me goin I got my Lansinoh and my pump all ready here at home. andI plan on stocking up on whatever they have at the hospital