My random : Breastfeeding is so hard, omg. It's just a cycle of pain and blood and tears. Every three hours.
i'm so sorry you're having a tough time. the first few weeks are so awful. i'm SO impressed that you're sticking with it after all the separation you guys have been through. you're doing awesome!!!
her latch sounds great! imagine how good it feels for her to be all cuddled up and warm and secure after having such a bumpy start! i would definitely not break her latch unless you need to readjust and get comfortable. let her go on one side until she pops off, then switch. the next time, start with the side you ended on. some people wear a stretchy bracelet on the wrist that corresponds to the side they used second, so they know which one to start with the next time. sleep deprivation makes your memory oatmeal. she knows what she's doing as far as how long to stay on each side. staying on one side until she's done also ensures that she's doing that all foremilk/hindmilk stuff right.
if you apply a little breastmilk to your nipples and let them air dry (i know), they will heal quicker than they would with lanolin or neosporin. the more air-time your nipples get, and they dryer you are able to keep them, the faster they will heal. cold or warm compresses may help and an OTC anti-inflammatory is completely safe.
if you want it, PM and i'll send you my cell number. you can call/text ANYTIME if you need help or have questions. boobs are my jam.
eta: look into side-lying positions for BFing at night. i know everybody says that it's not safe to lay down with your baby, but falling asleep lying next to her is way safer than falling asleep holding her in a rocking chair or sitting on the couch.
I'm having an IUD inserted within the next few days. It's probably going to be painful, and I'm not looking forward to it. And I'm also worried about being one of those people whose body chemistry doesn't seem to mesh with the IUD and have complications. But since my insurance company has decided that they know what is best for my body, and decided not to cover my old form of BC, here I am.
I was in the same boat insurance wise. I LOVE mine. I've had it for 4 months and have had one very short period and i have felt so much better health wise since.
My random : Breastfeeding is so hard, omg. It's just a cycle of pain and blood and tears. Every three hours.
i'm so sorry you're having a tough time. the first few weeks are so awful. i'm SO impressed that you're sticking with it after all the separation you guys have been through. you're doing awesome!!!
her latch sounds great! imagine how good it feels for her to be all cuddled up and warm and secure after having such a bumpy start! i would definitely not break her latch unless you need to readjust and get comfortable. let her go on one side until she pops off, then switch. the next time, start with the side you ended on. some people wear a stretchy bracelet on the wrist that corresponds to the side they used second, so they know which one to start with the next time. sleep deprivation makes your memory oatmeal. she knows what she's doing as far as how long to stay on each side. staying on one side until she's done also ensures that she's doing that all foremilk/hindmilk stuff right.
if you apply a little breastmilk to your nipples and let them air dry (i know), they will heal quicker than they would with lanolin or neosporin. the more air-time your nipples get, and they dryer you are able to keep them, the faster they will heal. cold or warm compresses may help and an OTC anti-inflammatory is completely safe.
if you want it, PM and i'll send you my cell number. you can call/text ANYTIME if you need help or have questions. boobs are my jam.
eta: look into side-lying positions for BFing at night. i know everybody says that it's not safe to lay down with your baby, but falling asleep lying next to her is way safer than falling asleep holding her in a rocking chair or sitting on the couch.
Post by firedancer49 on Jun 3, 2015 16:18:08 GMT -5
I'm leaving ds (almost 10mo) for the first time for 5 nights. I'm cool with leaving dd, but him it's hard. I'll be drinking on the flight. Than fully my mom is staying with them.
Let's talk about this while frkls is here. What's going on, friend? Pain and blood and tears are not the goal.
I will also tell you this. My sister told me where bfing was concerned, the first month SUCKS. And she was right. When things were in the throes of their suckitude, I would count how many days old she was, and how many days I had to go to get to 30. By 30 days it was better.
She has a good latch. I'm trying to feed her on both sides, so I try to break her latch at around 10 minutes. Except I have no idea how to do it because she is like a vacuum stuck to my breast. So I ended up tearing both nipples and now it hurts every time. Just have to wait for them to heal, I guess. I really do hope we get the hang of it by 30 days. I mostly struggle with night time feeding. I'm exhausted. She eats for half hour every 3 hours. Waking up every couple of hours is just impossible I'm doing it but it's too hard.
Ok, I'm going to put in my 2 cents, though I'm sure frkls has covered it. First, don't just pull her off. Slip your finger in her mouth to break the seal, then pull her off.
Second, I fed on one side almost exclusively for about 5 weeks. We are finally to the point where we switch sides every time and I can be fairly confident that he'll be done on one side after 4-6 minutes. It's ok to feed on one side and do the other at the next feeding. My kid was sort of unpredictable and would eat for anywhere from 5-15 minutes those first several weeks, so I never knew when to switch sides anyway. It was just easier to do it that way. My supply has been great and the discomfort is basically nonexistent now. The first month was rough. It does get better. Hang in there!
Eta: I use the baby feed app to track how long and which side he's eaten on. It times him and then tracks how long it's been since he last ate. I've found it helpful because I still have a hard time knowing when he's hungry and timing it helps a lot.
I used a few different kinds of nipple butter, but this one was my favorite by far.
My random : Breastfeeding is so hard, omg. It's just a cycle of pain and blood and tears. Every three hours.
It's really hard. I used a nipple shield for almost 6 months.
What did a shield do for you? I had s hell of a time bfing lucy, because my skin was so cracked and my nipples basically fell apart. It was horrifying. I'm considering combo or ep-ing, but would love to try bfing again too.
sequins, if you decide you want to break the latch, stick your finger in her mouth to break the suction before trying to pull her off. Sounds like frkls already gave you good advice about when to switch, but I had to break the latch a few times because she wasn't on quite right or w/e. Pain free this way.
I went to my dds second high school iep transition meeting today (first one was a bust and I wouldn't sign the paperwork) and they were so incredibly supportive and gave me everything I asked for. One of the teachers actually told me she was proud of me for pushing so hard for my kid.
I am beginning to think they have to take stuff away but if you ask they actually appreciate it and provide it. Such a screwed up system.
It's really hard. I used a nipple shield for almost 6 months.
What did a shield do for you? I had s hell of a time bfing lucy, because my skin was so cracked and my nipples basically fell apart. It was horrifying. I'm considering combo or ep-ing, but would love to try bfing again too.
I am not an expert by any means, but what I did was to start toughening up my nipples before DD was born. Use a washcloth in the shower, and just rub like you're washing them. I used a washcloth that was a bit rough, but don't scrub like you're trying to remove a stain, just regular cleaning. Also, I slept topless as much as I could. When I was as far along as you were, I had already started leaking, so I slept on a towel. Exposing them to the air did a lot to toughen them up. There is still going to be some discomfort, but hopefully these ideas will help out some.
It's really hard. I used a nipple shield for almost 6 months.
What did a shield do for you? I had s hell of a time bfing lucy, because my skin was so cracked and my nipples basically fell apart. It was horrifying. I'm considering combo or ep-ing, but would love to try bfing again too.
I originally used it, because D was too small to get a good latch. It then became my go-to, so my nipples didn't get super sore. Around 6 months, I went somewhere without it, and I never looked back.
Thank you, it really does help to hear that I don't need to add all these qualifiers to how I'm feeling and that I'm allowed to acknowledge that it just sucks ass. I'm just telling myself these things about the deployment so I have some positivity about it. I'm dreading it quite honestly. H is my best friend and I'm gonna miss him. I'm worried about how our older daughter will handle him being gone, the only other long separation we had was when she was too young to really notice. I don't know how to prepare her for him being gone, I will look into the doll that was mentioned. I'm also sad that he is going to miss the majority of the baby's first year and a lot of milestones.
I am trying to plan things already to fill up our time while he is gone. I just need to remember that he will be safe and it looks like we'll get to communicate fairly regularly, which are obviously huge positives. I'd much rather have him here though.
My mom was nearly in tears last night telling me about her doctor's appointment she'd had earlier in the day. You all may remember when I posted about her major surgery she had just over a year ago. She had fusion of almost all her lumbar vertebrae and then they'd flipped her over and gone in through her stomach to clean up bone spurs and chip away at the GOD DAMN CYST that's caused her 20 years of constant, chronic, debilitating pain.
It's now a year later. She is still - STILL - in constant pain. She has major bursitis in her hips, her knees need to be replaced, and she has unexplained constant pins-and-needles from her waist through the bottoms of her feet all.the.time. Nonstop. Her back still goes out occasionally, too. So, she's seen specialists and PCPs, and finally yesterday they told her there isn't really anything else they can do except send her to a pain clinic. She was nearly crying, and it makes me want to cry even now thinking about how my mom has been in this horrid pain since she was 40 years old and will likely live the rest of her life in the same pain. It just kills me. She's trying to lose weight, but can basically hardly exercise at all - even walking most days is too painful for her in one part of her body or another, so she's kind of stuck where she's at, despite keeping food logs and trying her hardest to eat healthy.