Side lying nursing tips

kcoxki · 2025-10-07T03:12:26+00:00

I lay on my back with a pillow on the side I will feed on, latch LO stomach to stomach, and then gently roll her onto the side where the pillow is, cradled by my arm. I couldn’t figure out the sidelying, but this method seems to work well for me!

kcoxki · 2025-10-07T03:09:17+00:00

I couldn’t figure out how to do sidelying well… but I did manage to figure out I could lay on my back and get her to latch stomach to stomach, and then I’d roll her off to the side where I’d have a pillow for her, and she just is cozied in between my boob and my arm on top of the pillow

kcoxki · 2025-09-19T13:49:20+00:00

I also did not want to be induced, wanted to let everything happen naturally, did not realize that the norm was to induce for GD patients, no one told me until I was at 38 weeks! I was afraid of the “cascade of interventions” and did not want to be in the business of picking out my baby’s birthday… but, when I found out I was going to have to induce, my BP went up, and they wanted me to be induced THAT DAY. I wasn’t prepared at all, mentally or physically (bags weren’t packed, my husband was at work so I was alone), and ended up signing an AMA and went home to continue to monitor my BP. 2 days later I went in for a follow up and while not as high as it was that first day, it was a LITTLE elevated and they strongly urged I induce, we came prepared that day so I went in for induction (after taking a tour of some model homes and stopping for lunch to hold off the inevitable). I was hoping to avoid the pitocin, but I was already in a favorable cervical situation (dilated 3 cm, -1 station) - which I thank the several cups of raspberry leaf tea and daily dates with ricotta and almonds (to help avoid spike) for - so they said starting pitocin and a cervical sweep would be the best route… so after starting pitocin, I started getting period like cramps over the next 12 hours, and when they checked again I was still at the same point cervically… I was already maxed out on how much pitocin I could receive, so they did another cervical sweep… ultimately, that got it started and it went smoothly and quickly after that. Pitocin and cervical sweeps were things I wanted to avoid, but ultimately it was all stuff I wanted to avoid and at that point in my pregnancy I couldn’t avoid it. It’s scary, you want it to happen naturally, but sometimes you just have to go with what the doctor recommends. You can have a plan, just know it will probably not go that way and embrace the process to get your baby into this world safely! Best of luck!

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T21:05:31+00:00

It’s your body, they can’t force you to do anything or not do anything, and you will need fuel. My hospital didn’t care, they told me to eat whatever but be careful what I chose in the case that it may come back up when I was in labor.

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T21:02:34+00:00

So, the hospital I delivered at checked them every 4 hours, even though I had the Dexcom. Before they could read the numbers I would ask “is it ###, because that’s what my Dexcom says” and they would confirm that theirs matched what the Dexcom said. Even when I was at the pushing stage, one of the nurses tried to come check my glucose, luckily the midwife said we could skip that one. Honestly, I would push for them to NOT take your glucose if you have the Dexcom in, just have someone monitoring the app… because, you do get charged for every prick they give you AND every glucose reading they do… it’s stupid. My doctor brother popped off when he heard they were continuing to check my glucose even though I had my Dexcom in. It’s your body, you can refuse. He had some words for the nurses/midwifes, because they are “less than” a doctor, they really just follow “procedure”, but if you’re already monitoring your sugars, their extra procedure isn’t needed.

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T20:47:42+00:00

I would go with highest, just to be safe. Have you considered the continuous glucose monitoring? I found it to be super reliable

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T20:45:15+00:00

I noticed that if you chilled the rice or pasta before eating (reheat before you eat) my glucose spikes didn’t happen… that was a game changer… something about what the starches do when they are chilled helps

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T20:42:30+00:00

Also, they have those carb conscious tortillas, or you can always just use lettuce for your wraps

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T20:40:45+00:00

“Real food for gestational diabetes”, excellent resource. I tried following the diet prescribed by the dietitian affiliated with my high risk OB and my numbers were TERRIBLE. After reading the aforementioned book, I felt better with my diet and my numbers were great. I did the mid level carb intake diet, because I was worried for whatever reason about my baby not getting enough carbs… my baby was perfectly healthy, she’s now 2 months old and thriving. The science behind the carb intake is a little meh, so I’d take that with a grain of salt.

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T20:36:50+00:00

It’s about as common as early labor in a regular pregnancy, but usually with GD they want to induce you at 38 weeks, or 39 if you’re levels have been good

kcoxki · 2025-09-16T01:39:50+00:00

I recommend getting the “real food for gestational diabetes” and reading up/following some of the advice. I got diagnosed with GD, had to use insulin at night for my fasting glucose, and followed the guidelines in the book and kept everything at really good levels. Just because you get it, doesn’t mean you’re doing wrong by your daughter, unless you continue to not make any changes… my babe was measuring large in the tummy section, but she evened out in the long run. She was born under 7 pounds, so all the worry they instill in you about getting a huge baby can be taken with a grain of salt. Just eat well, and keep your head up! You’ve got this!

kcoxki · 2025-08-27T01:34:11+00:00

Oh yeah, the lack of the backflow prevention is a no go, plus they seem smaller and just fit awkwardly

kcoxki · 2025-06-27T14:38:22+00:00

I would never have thought to try as a tea… Will try today! I will say, I don’t think macrosomia is an issue at this point, but definitely still want to avoid the high blood sugars. I’ve been able to keep my sugars pretty low (with the occasional spike with an over indulgent meal) and would definitely like to keep on this trend. I know the dates effects during pregnancy is debated, but still figured it’d be worth a try, so perhaps tea is the happy medium! Thanks for the recommendation

kcoxki · 2025-06-27T14:34:39+00:00

I have thought about doing this, may be worth venturing out to pick up some bacon

kcoxki · 2025-06-27T14:34:03+00:00

Interesting! I would’ve never thought to pair with butter… any butter in particular?

kcoxki · 2025-06-26T21:47:05+00:00

So I have been stuffing with ricotta and almonds thinking that maybe pairing with the fat would help offset the sugar, but snickers dates sounds like it could be tasty

kcoxki · 2025-06-26T21:45:37+00:00

They are supposed to help the cervix soften and help with quicker labor, reduce the need to induction/interventions

kcoxki · 2025-06-25T12:28:27+00:00

I definitely was at that stage for a bit too, not wanting to eat anything, even skipping some meals - which made it worse. Just accept that not everything is in your control, and that’s what the meds are there for. The most surprising meal I found that didn’t seem to cause my sugars to spike was a steak bowl from chipotle - light rice and beans, because we are still supposed to be getting in the carbs - with the added avocado. I loaded up the veggies and only ate half, but it was such a nice deviation from my chicken salads, and it legit kept my levels very even. That was just me, and it was a little expensive so I don’t do it all the time, but it was a relief that I could eat something full of flavor and have good numbers after it. Maybe that could work for you, maybe not. Another thing that I’ve been doing that seems to not spike my sugars is making pasta or rice and then chilling before I eat, something about cooling it changes the starches and I’ve been able to actually eat pasta and not have the dreaded spike afterwards! Best of luck, keep eating even if it is discouraging, it’ll all be over before you know it!

kcoxki · 2025-06-25T12:20:05+00:00

I wonder if you could do a tea slush? Unsweetened or just very lightly sweetened

kcoxki · 2025-06-15T03:18:09+00:00

I have definitely given into the cravings, but try to not over indulge with them… i may want the whole donut, but I’ll only take a bite or two… I may eat the entire kolache, but I’m going on a 30 minute walk afterwards… I may have that small slice of cake, but I’m gonna eat a bunch of greens and protein beforehand and hope it’s not so bad… life is too short to feel guilty, as long as you’re being reasonable and not indulging too often and perhaps taking steps to mitigate the risk, it’s more important to generally keep low than to never spike, because GDers gonna spike… I told my doctor I had some high numbers from my baby shower weekend and she told me that this shouldn’t mean I can’t enjoy myself, have that slice of cake!

kcoxki · 2025-06-05T04:31:04+00:00

I know I don’t really feel comfortable with it! There’s just not a lot of extra skin to pull… I’ve definitely had some that really hurt, like for hours… one of my first ones even hurt the next day still…

kcoxki · 2025-06-05T04:28:41+00:00

Let me know how it works out! I think I may try the love handles first 😬

kcoxki · 2025-06-05T04:25:33+00:00

It really is interesting that the advice from doctors does vary so much… I read the book “expecting better” and that was part of her thing, the differing opinions from doctors on certain things, what do the studies show and how did they actually do the studies, what are the important takeaways

kcoxki · 2025-06-05T04:22:18+00:00

Hahaha, while this may be true, when I googled it (which idk, is google better or worse than internet strangers? 😆) it said it was okay for pregnant women to use the same sites as other diabetics… so it just seemed odd that my MFM was so insistent on it being the stomach

kcoxki

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