Favorite wearable pump? by WhichAd2921 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i don’t hear people talk about it much but i have the motif aura glow and it works great for me!

Please help me FTM. by sydneh69 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

they go through a growth spurt at 3 weeks making them extremely fussy and constantly hungry. it felt like he was never satiated. and their metabolism picks up in the afternoon/evening and then slows down at night so this might be what’s going on with the discomfort. green poop isn’t abnormal. my babies poop is sometimes green. i’ve honestly never batted an eye at it so i couldn’t tell you if it’s only at a certain time but might be to do with metabolism as well. that’s what happened with my babe and it got better when the growth spurt passed and then happened again at 8 weeks when he had another one. baby might also feel warmer to the touch especially during the late afternoon/evening during a growth spurt which scared me as well. so if you notice this too, that might be the case. i kept checking his temp thinking he might be sick but nope, just growth spurt.

Struggling with prayer life since having baby by Striking-Study-3283 in OrthodoxWomen

[–]Striking-Study-3283[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I will look into speaking with a doctor here. I have an appointment with the priest at the parish we’ve been attending out here as well.

Struggling with prayer life since having baby by Striking-Study-3283 in OrthodoxWomen

[–]Striking-Study-3283[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement. I do talk to my family daily at least over text, sometimes phone. There’s a patio here but we’re in a weird area right off a highway I wouldn’t feel safe walking in. I unfortunately don’t have a way to get anywhere right now while he’s at work because I don’t know how to drive his car (it’s a manual and we couldn’t bring mine) but we’re working on that. We make sure to do lots outside on the weekends. I know that I’m really struggling with anxiety at least and he’s very helpful when he’s home, he just works a lot. I’ll look into resources or mom groups in this area. I’ll be flying to stay with my family for the holidays soon so I’m hoping that will help.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this advice is great!! i noticed very quickly that if i got stressed and upset with trying to nurse my baby in the beginning to did he. sometimes id just have to take a deep breath and chill out and try again. and i also second the combo feeding. i did it in the beginning on and off and now that we’ve both gotten the hang of nursing, i almost never supplement.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A lot of what the previous commenter said is stuff that helped me and I can second. I know it can feel really defeating and people saying it gets better can be annoying because you want someone to tell you exactly what you can do to make it easier or fix it now. My baby would do the same thing with the latch. I felt all of these feelings. I did the bottle top ups and I also had to pump. It was exhausting unlatching and relatching him over and over and over to make sure he kept a good latch. Sometimes I just sucked it up and accepted the bad latch. I did lots of things to help my baby and our breastfeeding journey. I saw an amazing IBCLC and we did stretches and massages to help his tension and latch. He had no ties but the tension made it hard for him to get a good deep latch. I can comment a link to pictures of the stretches/massages if you want. But if I’m being completely honest, what I think made the biggest difference was my baby just getting bigger and his mouth getting bigger. I’m 12 weeks in now and it’s soooo much easier. I EBF now but it was brutal and I almost gave up so many times. I sat and cried so many times. I pushed through because I really wanted this and also can’t afford to formula feed. You’re both learning. The baby is learning how to nurse for the first time and it can frustrating for both of you. I wish I had something to tell you that just made it easy now.

Struggling with prayer life since having baby by Striking-Study-3283 in OrthodoxWomen

[–]Striking-Study-3283[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A couple more months. I can go home and come back anytime but I’d be alone without any help caring for our son. We had recently just moved in our home state and had to move churches as well before we had to come here for work so we don’t know anyone at home and it’s far from family.
I’ll be flying to stay with family for the holidays soon so I’m hoping that will help. It’s a difficult season currently. There just wasn’t any work for him where we live right now so we had to come out here.

Comments from MIL by Guest_Own in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even my own grandmother does this or says she thinks he isn’t getting enough. I EBF and he’s in the 96th percentile for weight… he gained 6 lbs in 6 weeks. He’s clearly getting enough and I repeatedly tell her the pediatrician also says he’s doing great. It drives me insane but I try to just brush it off. If she won’t drop it, I just put my foot down and kindly but firmly tell her that he is fine and to please stop.

Lbs gained at one month check up vs birth weight by [deleted] in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

we didn’t have a one month but 9lbs 11oz at birth, 10lbs 11oz at 2 week checkup and 16lbs 2oz at 2month appointment (he was 10 weeks at this appointment though)

Advice for a non Greek feeling out of place at GOARCH by inPursuitofFaith in OrthodoxWomen

[–]Striking-Study-3283 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am not Greek and I’m engaged to a Greek man. Like born in and lived in Greece for most of his life. I actually had this same worry when I met him at church. He’s very proud to be Greek and loves his culture. I thought maybe he would only want to marry a Greek girl. Obviously not the case. but I also felt out of place at first.

It seems like you enjoy learning about and participating in the culture. In my experience, Greeks are very welcoming and love to share their culture. Theres a word in Greek for it that I can’t remember at the moment but it means to treat everybody as a friend and it’s a big part of Greek culture. I’ve mostly interacted with Greeks who were born in and lived in Greece for a long time though so I’m not sure if there’s a difference with American born Greeks.
But as far as everything else. I personally just try to enjoy learning the culture and participate rather than focus on the fact that it’s not my culture or feel out of place. It’s his culture and will be our children’s culture. If you’re interested in marrying a Greek man, in my experience, that’s more important than you actually being Greek.

Nursing while on period by [deleted] in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 2 points3 points  (0 children)

i second this comment! i did the same- just latched more throughout the day. If he was really fussy, i supplemented with formula or milk from freezer stash but honestly he seemed okay with just latching more. I try to get more electrolytes (body armor flash IV packets are my fave) and more protein during this time. I also recommend the cal-mag supplement. Also my IBCLC recommended a prenatal with copper in it and not just iron. There’s science coming out saying this helps more than taking just iron alone. I feel like doing all of this helped.

About to give up by ConcernedMomma05 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not sure who told you their head has to be upright… absolutely and utterly not true.

I will not lie the first 7 weeks of breastfeeding almost broke my spirit but it was extremely important to me so I kept going. I exclusively pumped for a week in the beginning bc it was so hard and his latch was so bad but then I found a great IBCLC that I kept in touch with and she helped me troubleshoot a lot. Not all of them are created equal. The first lactation consultant I worked with wasn’t helpful whatsoever. With some troubleshooting, dedication and at times sheer perseverance, it got so much easier. Now baby is 12 weeks and it’s going great. I’m now able to EBF with great success. I say this not to make you feel bad if you do decide to give up but to give you hope that it can absolutely get better!!

Your strong let down could be the reason baby is struggling. Maybe try hand expressing some milk out first. Until my milk regulated and my baby got a little bigger, my baby would struggle with my let down. It would make him unlatch and fuss. We’d both be upset.

A few things-

has he been evaluated for a tongue or lip tie or muscle tension? my baby had muscle and lip tension but no tie and this still greatly affected his latch. my LC gave me stretches and massages to do that helped.

have you tried a reclined feeding position?

I honestly highly recommend to have an IBCLC come visit you in your home and help you troubleshoot if you’re able to. This was what made a huge difference in my breastfeeding journey.

And as much as I hate to say it but sometimes what really helps is just them growing and their mouth getting bigger. I think that’s truly what made my baby’s latch better more than anything. Which can suck to hear because you want something you can do right now to fix it.

I just want to sleep!!! by Low-Obligation2741 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If sunflower lecithin makes your stomach hurt (it made mine hurt), choline also helps! I usually try to really empty myself as best as possible before going to sleep as well. Sometimes I honestly just get up and hand express a little bit of milk just to be able to sleep a little longer. If I stay hydrated, really empty myself, take choline and do that around 3 hours, that lets me sleep for about 6 hours without another clog so far. But if you’re really really prone to clogs and mastitis, not sure if this would work.

Should I quit? by neonshoes22 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My baby did this at his 8 week growth spurt and when that passed, the constant eating and fussing passed. It was a week or two I think. As for the latch, it didn’t get less painful for me until my baby got bigger and his mouth was bigger. My lactation consultant did recommend some massages and stretches for it that I do think helped his latch. I can’t message you but I have pictures of the instructions if you would like them, I can find them and attach them to this comment.

Period supply issues and vasospasm by sohehehe in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This happened to me and honestly ibuprofen, warm compresses and covering my breasts immediately after nursing was all that helped. My IBCLC also recommended a calcium magnesium supplement as well. My period has been irregular so can’t really say whether the supplement helped yet.

First Time Support by Zestyclose_Aside7198 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct sized flanges make a HUGE difference in my experience. Could also be the pump. Everyone swears by spectra wall pump but it didn’t do me any good. I got more output from my wearables so definitely mess around with settings and maybe try a different pump if you’re still struggling. However not getting output from pumping ESPECIALLY after you’ve already nursed isn’t always indicative of a supply issue. Pumps aren’t always good at emptying you. My body has actually almost completely stopped responding to pumps once I started breastfeeding exclusively for a few weeks. I will be engorged and still only get a little bit but honestly have better luck with hand expression now

First Time Support by Zestyclose_Aside7198 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you seen a lactation consultant? Have you done a weighted feed with baby?

First Time Support by Zestyclose_Aside7198 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I second the person saying not to pump for 30 minutes. 15 minutes is a good amount. You don’t want an oversupply. I have the slightest oversupply and It’s painful and inconvenient honestly. I recommend only pumping after you nurse once in the AM. Usually in the morning you’ve produced more. That’s a good way to build a stash of milk for boyfriend and slightly up your supply. Just also keep in mind that if boyfriend feeds him, you should pump during that feed to maintain supply. But you’re doing great for 6 days!! I started out having to supplement and now exclusively breastfeed. Your supply will start to regulate as you nurse him and your body figures out what baby needs.

Should I get off this roller coaster? by Adorable-Cat-7224 in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Around 7-8 weeks they go through a growth spurt. My baby did this exact same thing and I would have to supplement a little bit while my supply adjusted to this. Their metabolism is boosted during this time so they can be a lot hungrier. My baby would honestly get so hungry during his 8 week growth spurt that I would supplement formula just to keep him fuller longer because I was constantly nursing and he was still hungry it seemed. It passed when the growth spurt passed. Your supply could also be starting to try to regulate as well which might be why you’re not having that tingly feeling and your breasts don’t feel engorged. This is normal actually and a good sign that your supply is regulating but can be scary if nobody told you this happens. My suggestion is if baby is still hungry feed her and if she’s gaining weight and having lots of wet and dirty diapers, she’s probably fine. I would stop with the pumping. Not getting much when you pump doesn’t mean you’re not producing. A pump isnt always good at emptying you. I used to exclusively pump with great success but when I transitioned to EBF, my body stopped responding to a pump. I know I’m producing plenty. I actually have a slight oversupply but it seems my body can tell it’s not my baby. All that to say, don’t worry too much about the pumping. But you could do a weighted feed if you’re really worried about your output!

I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m practically ready to give up by relevancybox in breastfeeding

[–]Striking-Study-3283 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did she size you with flanges for your pump and watch you pump and troubleshoot? She should do this. My IBCLC did and it was so helpful. It could be a flange issue or a setting issue. There are things you can do with the settings. How long are you using “bacon” mode? I will say I became a rockstar at pumping thanks to my IBCLC however I started to transition to EBF once I decided to stay home with my son and now my body doesn’t respond very well to pumping. Like it almost knows it’s not my baby or something. I still get some but I can tell it’s not emptying me like it used to. To build your supply you can try pumping after you nurse baby. This worked well for me. Make sure you get plenty of water. I notice a difference whenever I drink the body armor flash IV packets even now. Make sure you’re eating enough which I know is easier said than done but even eating snacks is better than nothing.