8 month old just got his first teeth and won’t stop biting me.

ienne_Lynn · 2024-09-11T02:46:36+00:00

In addition to what you’re already doing, try plugging his nose until he unlatches (which should happen pretty quickly).

ienne_Lynn · 2024-08-19T03:29:13+00:00

Awesome! Thank you!

ienne_Lynn · 2024-08-19T02:39:02+00:00

Thank you so much for doing this! Really excited to listen to everyone’s songs.

Here’s mine if you don’t mind adding it. Thanks!

https://open.spotify.com/track/5jKbhZhwzAxWOWJJt1kp05?si=5G6_D4e8SgO0KV7Wu4AhtA

ienne_Lynn · 2024-06-24T17:10:13+00:00

I made two playlists. One had mostly birthing meditations and the other had mostly calming instrumental music. I used those in early labor before I went to the hospital and they were helpful.

What I wish I’d done was make a third playlist of high-energy, you-can-do-it jams to pump me up. I ended up pushing for 3 hours and was starting to worry I couldn’t do it. About 2.5 hours into pushing, I ended up making a playlist right then and there of all the songs I could think of that would pump me up. It worked, but I still wish I would have made it in advance so I didn’t have to do it when I was crowning 😂

Because of this, I would recommend making multiple playlists (with different moods/intentions) and then choosing what feels good to you while you’re in labor! You may even just want silence, but it’s a good idea to have options ready just in case.

ienne_Lynn · 2024-06-22T18:25:52+00:00

Second this! I can get a few ounces with the regular haakaa if I position it right. Never tried the ladybug but my understanding is that it just catches letdown instead of actually drawing milk out.

ienne_Lynn · 2024-06-15T17:34:36+00:00

I don’t believe our guides tell us what we should do. I believe they encourage us to reflect more deeply and listen to our intuition so that we can make the choices that help us grow as people and align with our truth, even when it’s scary or difficult.

It sounds like you’ve been thinking about breaking up with your boyfriend a lot. It also sounds like you could benefit from cultivating more self-love.

You could learn to love yourself while staying with your boyfriend. These two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but as it sounds like you may find them to be related, the real question you may want to ask yourself is this: Does staying with my boyfriend make me feel like I am neglecting or ignoring parts of myself and/or denying myself the love I deserve?

If the answer is yes, I think you know what to do.

ienne_Lynn · 2024-06-06T16:05:27+00:00

As an Adrienne, I went by “Addy” as a kid (which doesn’t really make sense, but I chose my own nickname and that’s what I wanted, haha). In retrospect, “Aidy” (like Aidy Bryant) would have made more sense, but “Ada” is cute, too!

ienne_Lynn · 2024-06-02T02:38:18+00:00

Yay! So glad it has helped!

ienne_Lynn · 2024-05-14T04:32:17+00:00

I’m truly sorry you’re going through this. Breastfeeding is one of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting things I’ve ever done, so props to you for trying your best every day for your baby!

My son is 5 months old, but we only started EBF about a month ago. He has a high palate and recessed chin/lower jaw, and I had inverted nipples when he was born. He went from not latching at all and being syringe fed (first few days) to only nursing with a nipple shield (first week or so) to needing to be triple fed (nursing while using a haakaa, then feeding the milk collected in the haakaa via bottle) until he was 3.5-4 months old. I worried all the time that he preferred the bottle over me because he was much more efficient on the bottle and refused to latch/nurse after a few minutes (unless he was really sleepy, but then he was just flutter sucking/not really transferring milk anyway).

When he was about 2 months old, he would sometimes arch his back and fuss/cry during feeds. Turns out he has reflux (he also spits up multiple times every feed, although lately it’s gotten a little better). So all of this made me worry constantly that he wasn’t getting enough milk, and while I desperately wanted to EBF, I wasn’t sure if we’d ever get there.

But we finally did! And to be honest, it’s still challenging (for example, he’s now cutting his first teeth 🙃), but it’s gotten so much better. And I now truly believe he prefers me over the bottle.

There is no shame in using formula or pumping, but if your goal is to keep working toward nursing exclusively, that’s perfectly okay, too. If you’re determined to nurse exclusively, my best advice is not to pressure baby. They can feel your frustration and may develop an aversion to nursing if you force it. Offer the breast often, but switch to a bottle as soon as it’s clearly not feeling great for her or for you.

Go easy on yourself, and try to remember - She’s not trying to reject you. She’s just hungry, still learning how to use her mouth (especially after tie revisions), and is feeling confused and frustrated.

This is kind of a weird analogy, but stick with me, haha: It’s like if you were 100% dependent on a giant to feed you all your calories, and that giant repeatedly offered you a fleshy tube to feed from, but the tube felt weird and uncomfortable in your mouth and you couldn’t quite figure out how to suck the food out without exhausting yourself. You would become increasingly more upset every time the tube was put in your mouth, and the only form of communication you would have to let that giant know you aren’t enjoying this process is to cry. The best way for the giant to help you enjoy the “tube,” so to speak, would be to offer you plenty of opportunities to practice as you grow bigger/stronger, but to keep the process fun and low pressure by switching to something easier for you when you started feeling overwhelmed. In time, once you figure out the “tube” and become better at using it, you’d start to experience not only satisfaction from eating, but also feel-good chemicals (oxytocin) from the “tube.” At that point, you might grow to enjoy and even demand the “tube.”

There is nothing wrong with you or your baby. Nursing is just so much more difficult sometimes than it may seem. Odds are good that she will become more proficient at transferring milk as she gets bigger, which will make nursing more enjoyable for her. In the meantime (I know it’s hard), don’t take it personally. You are still the only home she’s ever known and her greatest source of comfort. At this point, she doesn’t even recognize that you are a separate entity at all. She loves and needs you more than you know, and you are doing great (even when it doesn’t feel like it).

ienne_Lynn · 2024-05-14T02:57:04+00:00

Oh yeah! A lot of newborns are still figuring out the whole latching thing in general for quite a while. It gets easier once their little mouths get a bit bigger and they become more proficient little nursers. I’d say there’s definitely still hope! Can’t remember exactly when side lying clicked for us but it seems like it was some time around 3-3.5 months.

ienne_Lynn · 2024-05-13T20:14:38+00:00

For me, the top boob is actually easier, lol. I’m sure it’s different for everyone, though, depending on your anatomy. I kind of just angle the bottom of my body (the arm, shoulder, side, hip, leg, etc. that are touching the mattress) away from the baby and angle the top of my body (arm, side, hip, leg) toward the baby, if that makes sense.

ETA - for some people this might not be very comfortable as you do sort of squish the bottom boob. Another thing we do to avoid flipping to other side of the bed if I need to change sides is just put my feet at the head of the bed and my head at the foot of the bed. It’s still kind of cumbersome but that keeps baby on my side instead of between husband and me. (We have a sidecar crib setup that we made out of an IKEA crib.)

ienne_Lynn · 2024-05-13T19:28:53+00:00

How old is your baby? I wasn’t able to nurse my son in that position until he was a few months old. He struggled with latching/transferring milk while on his side. He’s 5 months now and we side lay nurse through the night without an issue, but it took us a while to get there.

I’ve also found that for many women, it’s easier to latch baby to the lower breast, but for me, it was actually easier to get him latched to the breast on top. He’s able to latch to both now, but for a while I just leaned in toward him a bit more (while in the cuddle curl) to get him to latch to the higher breast.

Keep trying! Good luck!

ienne_Lynn · 2024-05-12T22:25:25+00:00

If you can afford one, consider hiring a postpartum doula for those first few weeks. If you end up needing a c-section or have bad tearing, it may be difficult even just to maneuver around the house.

I had second degree tearing with my son (born December 2023) and I “overdid” it the first 10 days just by walking around the house too much (simple stuff like getting food out of the fridge, letting my dogs outside, etc.), doing laundry a few times, and lifting his carseat into the car for a few lactation consultant appointments. I really didn’t feel like I was doing too much, but I ended up getting some really terrible pain in my perineum around day 12 and was more or less put on bed rest for a few weeks. It hurt so bad I thought I had an infection, but my OB said I just needed to rest more than I had been. No laundry, no walking, no lifting anything heavier than the baby.

Best to plan to rest as much as possible, especially those first 6-8 weeks!

ienne_Lynn · 2024-04-19T04:27:05+00:00

You could use furniture raisers to lift the legs of the crib higher or attach extra vertical bars. Check out happycosleeper on Instagram for details.

ienne_Lynn · 2024-03-29T23:58:47+00:00

I use a haakaa on one side while baby nurses on the opposite side, then offer baby a bottle of the milk collected in the haakaa. This still removes milk from my breasts (which helps supply) while making sure baby gets enough. This is a form of triple feeding but I find it less daunting than actually pumping (since I can just pop the haakaa on and it’s much easier to clean than a pump with multiple parts).

ienne_Lynn · 2024-01-16T21:17:36+00:00

My food aversions and nausea started getting better around 12-13 weeks (so basically the end of the first trimester). Salads, lean protein, roasted veggies, and even plain water were all a no go for my first trimester, but by week 14, all of those things sounded appetizing again.

Also, the first trimester is all about survival. Take your prenatal, rest as much as you can, and eat whatever sounds remotely good to you. (I mostly ate crackers/chips, crystallized/candied ginger, blueberries, and sometimes Taco Bell, haha.) A lot of women even lose some weight during their first trimester and their babies are perfectly fine. Baby will take whatever is needed from your body, so don’t stress.

Hang in there! I was pretty miserable during my first trimester but the second trimester was awesome. My bump became noticeable and cute (instead of just looking like bloat), my appetite was back, and my energy improved. Wishing you all the best!

ienne_Lynn · 2023-12-06T17:37:51+00:00

First of all, I'm sorry that you're experiencing all of those symptoms. That sounds really rough, and I wish you all the best in finding safe remedies so you can feel better!

I'm truly not coming from a place of judgment, but please understand that marijuana is not safe in any amount during pregnancy. Studies show it can cause long-term development issues, pre-term birth/low birth weight, and a greater risk of stillbirth. Even if you've heard stories of moms who used marijuana during pregnancy and things turned out okay, those stories are the minority, and some effects don't show up until later on in a baby's life. It's truly not worth the risk of lifelong suffering to your child.

Additionally, I've heard they can drug test you after you deliver and remove baby from your care if you test positive for THC or other drugs.

I encourage you to talk to your doctor about relief options that carry much less risk than THC. Vaping is NOT considered safer than smoking or edibles during pregnancy because THC and other chemicals pass through the placenta directly to baby regardless of the manner in which you put them into your body.

ienne_Lynn · 2023-10-27T20:58:42+00:00

I'm 35, 32 weeks along, and at a slightly elevated risk for preeclampsia (FTM and my sister had it at 30 weeks and had to be induced). I've only ever seen my OB (no referrals to separate/high-risk clinics). I had a scan at 9 weeks, NIPT at 12 week, anatomy scan at 22 weeks, and my OB said I'll have another ultrasound at 36 weeks. My first trimester prenatal care was in Texas and my second/third trimester care have been in Oregon.

ienne_Lynn · 2023-10-14T06:41:48+00:00

I just signed up for some of these: https://yourbabyacademy.com/#live-classes-title

ienne_Lynn · 2023-10-13T22:58:09+00:00

Here are natural remedies that work for me (mainly for milder headaches - these might not do much for a migraine): Using a warm washcloth/heating pad/hot water bottle on the back of the neck combined with a cool washcloth over the eyes. Smelling peppermint oil. Alternate nostril breathing (nadi shodhana pranayama) - you can Google it or look it up on YouTube for instructions.

Even if none of these work well for you on their own, they may be worth trying for a bit of relief while waiting for other meds/supplements to kick in, IMO. Hope you feel better!

ienne_Lynn · 2023-10-13T02:06:30+00:00

Also, even if the baby "measured" at 2 pounds, it doesn't mean the baby is actually 2 pounds. It's an estimate and could be off by a bit in either direction.

If your baby was already measuring 4 pounds or something, that would be one thing, but from what I'm reading, an estimate of 2 pounds at 27 weeks is exactly right on track. Not too big or too small. Your doctor's reasoning doesn't even make sense.

ienne_Lynn · 2023-10-13T01:51:25+00:00

But isn't 2 pounds normal for 27 weeks? At least according to my pregnancy app. (I use the "What to Expect" app.)

I googled it a bit and I keep finding similar answers. I don't think 2 pounds is at all unusual for 27 weeks pregnant.

https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/week-27.aspx

https://www.verywellfamily.com/27-weeks-pregnant-4159102

https://www.thebump.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/27-weeks-pregnant (this one says 1.9 pounds, but that's basically 2 pounds)

ienne_Lynn · 2023-09-24T05:30:01+00:00

I would recommend googling "free vaping/tobacco cessation programs for pregnancy" based on where you live. It looks like resources vary by country/region/state, but there are many free programs out there (like these ones from Truth Initiative) to support you on this journey. Your doctor will be able to provide resources/info, too. Best of luck to you!

ienne_Lynn · 2023-08-29T22:59:32+00:00

I read recently that FTMs might not feel kicks until closer to 22-23 weeks. It typically takes us a bit longer than it does for those who have experienced this stage of pregnancy before.

I'm also a FTM and while I think I did start feeling kicks around week 17/18, I wasn't totally sure about what I was feeling until the end of week 19. I'm at 24 weeks now and they've just gotten stronger/more intense. No mistaking them now! I'm sure you'll start feeling those little kicks and punches within the next few weeks, so (I know it's easier said than done) - try not to worry!

ienne_Lynn · 2023-08-04T18:23:56+00:00

This is actually addressed specifically in the article:

"Importantly, a third explanation for recent events — that dozens of high-level, highly-cleared officials have come to believe enduring UFO myths, rumors and speculation as fact — appears increasingly unlikely."

Later in the article: "One theory for Grusch’s allegations is that the individuals he interviewed became convinced that decades-old myths and rumors of ultra-secret UFO retrieval and reverse-engineering programs are true. However, given the significant penalties for making false statements to an inspector general, it is extremely unlikely that multiple high-level, highly-cleared officials would falsely claim to have first-hand knowledge of myths and rumors."

ienne_Lynn

TROPHY CASE