I'm currently in the hospital and am supposed to be pumping every couple of hours for my son, who is in the nursery hooked up to an IV until they feel he is stable enough to be released, which I am hoping will be today. Anyway, I haven't managed to pump every two hours. I ended up sleeping most of those hours. I pumped once and got a verrrrrry tiny bit of colostrum from the left breast and none from my right (though, I can squeeze a tiny bit from my right). I pumped a second time, and the same thing happened. The third time, I didn't manage to get anything from either breast. I'm not sure if it was just too soon, if I messed up the settings on the pump and wasn't using the right speed/style of sucking, or what. I just pumped for the fourth time on my right breast and still got nothing from that one and decided to squeeze a little out afterward (don't know if that helps). I'll try the left breast in a bit, but I'm waiting for the nurse to come and check my vitals first, 'cause it's about that time. I'm hoping for similar success as the first couple of times. It's hardly anything at all, but that's the way it is with colostrum, right?

Anyway, any tips or advice? I want to be out of here today or to be given the chance to try to breastfeed today, at least, but I have a small, upsetting suspicion that they are not going to be ready to release my son yet. ): Is this going to affect my milk supply? Will my regular milk still come in even if I don't adequately stimulate production while there's colostrum? I suppose I should really be getting in touch with a lactation consultant, but I'm not too sure how to go about doing that right now. Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. Any information from people who were in similar situations or weren't but now how to best handle such situations would be really great. Thanks so much.

I honestly can't express how worried I am about our breastfeeding situation. I wanted him to have the chance to latch right away, but how could I argue when they were worried about his breathing? I don't believe he has been supplemented with anything yet, and I've asked them to stick to what I can produce, but I'm not sure what they'll do. When I last went to the nursery to see him, he had a pacifier. I'm hoping he doesn't start to prefer sucking on things like that. ): They said that he was hungry but that they aren't feeding him just yet, sooo I really hope the tiny bit of colostrum I'm able to give them (seriously tiny--like 5 drops; is that okay?) will be enough. I just want to get home with him and establish a healthy breastfeeding relationship. I may end up needing all the support I can get. I'm beyond thankful that there are resources like this available to those of us who need them.

I checked the tags and there were questions regarding donating blood while breastfeeding, but not about plasma. Google is conflicting, like much of the advice out there for breastfeeding.

For the record, my baby is 9 months old, has solids throughout the day and sometimes a bit of really watered down juice. We have a pretty steady supply right now. I don't usually feel too full, he doesn't usually seem like I'm not letting out enough. Oatmeal tends to increase my supply. I tend to not drink enough water, which I can easily fix.

What do you say? Yay? Nay? Why?

As of this past Sunday we have been breastfeeding for 6 weeks and already we have dealt with bad latch, high palette, labial frenulum tie, low supply, suspected insufficient glandular tissue, supplementing, and pumping and dumping for 5 days because my MS flared up and I had to go on high doses of Solu-Medrol.
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I found this website a couple of weeks ago and forgot to bookmark it, it was a funny website with a list of things about breastfeeding and/or boobs that you shouldn't post about on Facebook. I loved it because it pretty much had everything I've ever posted, but I don't remember what it was!

Anyone know the website I'm talking about?


EDIT: found it! it was http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/

As an uppdate to this post, I just wanted to say that whatever caused him to stop gaining/lose weight seems to have passed. He turned 5 months on Tuesday and for the last two weeks has gained 100g a week which is at least consistent. I'm hopeful that he'll continue to gain well as he's already fed 12 times today and despite being able to move forward awkwardly, he still can't crawl, but he's working on it. :P

We haven't started solids, and I have no intention of starting solids until he can sit up properly, but he's waking up a lot in the night (4-8 times) and feeding really frequently during the day. I'm starting to worry that he's not getting enough from me because this has been going on for weeks. I'm struggling to eat myself because I always have a baby on my boob! Is it a normal phase or is something else going on?

Just so it's not all text, have some pictures. ( Pictures )

An update to my friends' abscess under her arms here - she has been diagnosed with MRSA.

Because of the medicine she is being told she will be prescribed, they're telling her to pump and dump when the time comes.

She's currently on this:

current is Cefadroxil 500mg twice a day

the new one will be Bactrim DS twice a day but dont know anything else since i dont have it yet

She was told Cefadroxil is safe but the Bactrim is not.

 

Anyone have any experience or can look this up for me?  Anyone have any MRSA information???

Yesterday was the first time in the 8 months I've been nursing that I've ever been approached by a stranger while nursing my daughter in public. We were at an outdoor wedding and it was VERY hot outside, so I took my daughter into the nearby air conditioned building to nurse when she got hungry in the middle of the ceremony. I found a bench, pulled my boob out of my dress, and my daughter started nursing. I noticed a woman with a young girl (3 years old) walking straight toward me very purposefully, and I got a little nervous that I was about to get scolded or something. :x

Instead, she said that her daughter loved babies, and would I mind if she had a look? I told her that was fine, so she lifted her daughter up to see my daughter nursing. After a minute or so, they moved on, walking around the little building, and then came back a few minutes later, when the woman said "You're so lucky. I exclusively pumped for 6 months because she just wouldn't latch." I thanked her and told her that her daughter was very lucky that she took on the challenge of exculisively pumping in order to provide her with breastmilk! It was just awesome that the first time a stranger approached me while NIP, she had something positive to say. :)

As long as I'm here, I'm curious if anyone could help me figure out which size Glamourmom nursing tank I would wear, if I wear a 36D/E in the Bravado tanks?

Also, if anyone is interested, I have some ( nursing bras for sale )

My almost three year old daughter is in the hospital, we don't know what's wrong with her, but hopefully the MRI we're waiting on will give us some clue. A week ago,she was a normal three year old, now she can't talk, she can't walk, she can't stand or sit up or even hold her head up. She's like a newborn. She doesn't respond to us, she doesn't move, she just lays on the bed and cries.

She won't eat or drink anything, we keep offering her favorites and special treats. She doesn't even want ice cream or soda. Today is the sixth day of exclusive breastfeeding. She was on an IV for a couple of days, but they took it out yesterday.

The doctor was trying to criticize me for nursing her, but my milk is the only sustenance she's getting. Maybe they should figure out how to get some food in her, instead of dumping on me for keeping her alive.

I'm also nursing my newborn, and the doctor says I shouldn't be tandem nursing because they need different types of milk. I know that, but my body is producing newborn milk, and there's nothing wrong with giving my older daughter newborn milk, especially considering the alternative is nothing.

They said that if I stop nursing her,she'll decide to eat, but it doesn't work like that. I went home last night while my mom stayed with her, she didn't nurse for over 12 hours, and she still wouldn't eat or drink.

And nursing is the only thing that consoles her. When she's not nursing, she's crying. We try holding her, singing to her, offering all her favorite things, etc. Nothing has any effect, except nursing her.

I guess I'm just looking for people to comfort me and tell me I'm doing the right thing. And has anyone been through something like this? Does anyone have any idea what this might be?

'They call it the double football hold': Modern Family actress shows snap of her breastfeeding twin
Actress Julie Bowen shows off a photo of how she saves time - by breastfeeding both of her twin babies at the same time.

The American star of comedy show Modern Family lets one-year-old brothers John and Gus suckle from her simultaneously.

Speaking on U.S. late night talk show Lopez Tonight, 40-year-old Bowen quipped: 'It's like two little liposuction machines on you.


'They suck the fat out of you. They call it the "double football hold".

'You hold one here, and here [gesturing to her breasts], like two footballs.'

She followed up her remarks by joking: '[This is] the end of my career.

'They're doing God's work right there - helping me return to my birth weight.'

Bowen recently threw a birthday party for the twin boys, who celebrated turning one earlier this month.

The actress also has a three-year-old son, Oliver with her software developer husband Scott Phillips.

( cute pic )

anytime im about to wrap up a pumping session, i feel a letdown coming. does this happen to anyone else??

My son is 6 weeks old. He was born 6 weeks early so adjusted I suppose he's about 3 days. He couldn't coordinate suck/swallow at the hospital so I've been pumping and feeding him bottles. We'd try to nurse a few times a day and sometimes he would latch on and sometimes not. Recently (as in the last couple days) he's been latching and nursing pretty reliably.

I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone here can help with. When I nurse him it seems to take him much longer to get full and he'll stay full for a shorter period of time than if I had given him a bottle. He tends to fall asleep while nursing and usually I'll wake him up and latch him back on but I'm wondering if he's not getting enough from nursing. Should I be alternating nursing with bottles or just keep feeding him from the breast as he cues that hes hungry? I guess I'm worried that the nursing is wearing him out and hes not eating enough...

I was out with a friend of mine, we took our kids to the farm and her DD wanted 'milkies' Thought you guys might enjoy the pictures of her getting mauled by the locals.

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A friend of mine is having trouble with thrush. She's used gentian violet, but the thrush keeps coming back every 10 days or so.

Does anyone know how long you should treat with GV to keep thrush from coming back?

Thanks!

does anybody know whether it is safe to do an extended (5 or 6 hour) glucose tolerance test while breastfeeding (a 4 month old)? i am talking about the test which is done when hypoglycemia is suspected, not the shorter test for diabetes.

I got this email today from a friend:

I'm asking this on behalf of my cousin. She has been lactating and she isn't pregnant. They don't use protection because they are ready for their first child. She got a pregnancy test and it was negative both blood and otc. The gyno also tested her prolactin levels and they were fine. Do you have any insight on why this would be happening to her?  She has never had a baby or been pregnant. The gyno has no idea what is going on. It's enough to come through her shirt and it has been going on for a week or two. She is about six weeks late with her period. She took 4 at home tests and a blood test. Which were all clearly negative. Her gyno is giving her a pill that starts her period? She is super confused.

Obviously something is going on with her hormonally but I wanted to ask you guys if you had any idea?