2 days old, breast feeding for over 4 hours?!?!
Hi guys, my little boy has finally arrived, born 4:40 am sept 11th. They discharged us from hospital yesterday. We did have some troubles with feeding at first, poor little guy found it hard to latch on and we only had a few good feeds in hospital but they didn't think it was an issue. Anyway, we get home and have a nice feed before I went to bed (hubs stayed up with him for a while after). Early in the morning 3am ish we start our last feed, it lasts for more like 5hours or more but with him and me falling asleep from time to time probably more like 4 hours of 'proper' feeding I am guessing. I do have the health visitor coming round today at some point (not sure when since she isn't coming from 'my' hospital but from the one in my area) and I will be able to ask her then but in the mean time, my nipples are pretty much too sore for more feeds and I am just letting him suck my finger to keep him from fussing since daddy needs sleep (he let me sleep as long as he could, until feed time).
Do you guys know about this stuff? Why so much feeding? Any ideas?
I really don't know if letting him suck my finger is OK so I can have a break....
Hey Kirsten, I breastfed all six of mine, including a set of twins so hope I can help:)
For a start, 4 hours is too long. You do end up with sore nipples, especially at the start if they feed too long.
Your milk won't be through at day 2. All baby is getting is colostrum, and in tiny amounts.
He is probably comfort sucking.
There are creams you can get to soothe your nipples, or your health visitor can bring round a sun-lamp that will quickly heal cracked or broken skin on the nipples.
Once baby settles down to a routine, the chances are you will not suffer again from such sore nipples, but it is horrible at the time.
I'm with prettydarkhorse, buy some formula milk and give baby a little if he still seems hungry after 20 - 30 mins of so feeding.
The health visitor will advise strongly against this, but it is not her having to sit up for hours with a fractious baby
The risk with giving formula milk is that the more formula milk you give, the less milk you will produce. This is true but you can use a breast-pump to increase your own milk production.
Actually, just feeding baby little and often increases milk supply, but when your milk comes through, you produce too much at first anyway.
Expect to have a soaking front top anytime you hear a baby cry while at the shops! (Use breast pads to stop this).
If baby is fed and dry, it doesn't do him any harm to cry for a bit. You cannot possibly hold him close all night long, and he needs to learn that.
If he keeps it up, consider getting a dummy (pacifier). I know the movement is against them, but none of my kids grew up with buck teeth!
And a huge congratulations on his safe arrival from me
Congrats, kirsten! All the best to you and your family!
Babies are wonderful.
Unfortunately, I have no advice, but I really wanted to wish you well.
Congrats Kirsten! It was a historic day for you - your baby was born on Sept 11.
it is good that you are breastfeeding. That must be painful sore nipples, you can ask your health provider who will visit you if they can give you something to soothe your nipple as that will be painful, the baby will suck on it because he is hungry. Is there milk coming out already, usually it becomes sore when the baby keeps on sucking for long period of time and there is no milk coming out just yet, but then he needs to suck so that your milk will engage. As that will be painful (sore nipples), I hope they can allow you mix feeding, buy a formula milk (ask your health provider) for the meantime and you alternate it with breastfeeding until the sore is diminished. Then you can throw the can of formula milk afterwards. Four hours is long enough, that is why it is sore. You can buy a breast pump, use it if you like for the meantime that it is sore.
For the meantime get some rest, sleep when you can while he is sleeping and eat healthy.
Welcome to the world of being a mom, it is the most wonderful feeling!Firstly Kirsten, congratulations to you and hubby on the birth of your little boy.
As long as your finger is clean (which I'm sure it is) I can't see any problem, he probably just wants to suckle for the comfort rather than the feed. I didn't breast feed either of my two, the first one I had no milk, and the second one I'd had a C section and needed two blood transfusions, I was too ill. So I can't offer much advice there. I'd wait for the midwife, if your son's really hungry he'll let you know in no uncertain terms.
Once again, many congratulations. .- EmpressFelicityposted 11 years ago
0 Kirsten, congratulations on your wonderful boy!!!!! My partner is expecting our first in a couple of weeks
I have had a lot of exposure to breastfeeding and have heard many conversations between my partner and her lactation consultants. I've also attended a couple of meetings for the Australian Breastfeeding Association and expect to have a lactation consultant come over in the initial days after birth just to make sure its all working OK.
As far as I know, roughly four hour on demand feeding by breast is natural and he should actually feed for . If your nipples are sore, you have probably not had a chance to 'milk' your breasts to bring on colostrum before the wonderful birth. Therefore your child is not quite latching fully onto your breast (this is the most common cause of sore nipples).
I can as a male suggest you see if your hospital of birth can provide a contact for a lactation consultant.
At least you can also get some useful information from http://www.abm.me.uk/
Hope this helps Kirsten and again, congrats!!!!Sorry but bull. Yes, sometimes poor latch causes pain.
But fair skinned women in particular are likely to experience pain. I did with both daughters and they both had a great latch.
And you don't need to milk colostrum before birth some midwives recommend storing it, but that just means there will be less feeding due to supplementing with the store, therefore taking longer to bring in milk from supply and demand.
Oh, Melissa! I knew there was a reason you hadn't been around as much lately!
Congratulations and lots of love to you as well!
BIG HUGS to you and the little one.Congrats on your little guy!
I hope maybe my milk coming in will see things improve. I do wonder if he is ready for it but since my body isn't he is getting a bit stroppy when a feed is over, like he is distinctly disappointed
If so then milk coming in should help with that, and of course see us changing nappies more often (I thought he was supposed to be a pop factory, he isn't soiling nappies very often at all atm).Trust me he will, has he peed when you've been changing him yet? It's like a sprinkler system.
And just wait until you start weening him, it's like pooh but all colours of the spectrum. 
He has managed to turn 3 onezies yellow so far during a change and the poo is not that sticky meconium anymore (doesn't that sound like a made up element in a comic book or something? lol) and is starting to have a smell so thats actually helpful to know when a change is needed
Ohhh, you have green,purple and who knows how many colours left before he reaches brown.
Just goes to show though, every thing seems to be in perfect working order! I remember bringing my son home and he appeared to pee every single time I changed his nappy; it landed in my slippers, face, PJs it was like taking a mini shower every time I changed him.
Sorry to take so long to get back to you guys, as you can imagine even when I can read posts my hands are not always free to reply
Neo does seem to have a good latch, when the midwife came round for a visit yesterday she arrived in time for a feed and commented straight away that his latch was good (lots of areola in his mouth). I just shouldn't let him go on for so long that first night because of not knowing better, it never even occurred to me that a baby might feed for too long, would have thought the little guy would get full eventually
It hasn't gotten worse and I keep using the lanolin cream which is good cause its safe for baby to have when feeding so there is some protection there. The pads may be a bit early to be using but frankly they do seem to offer some comfort after a feed as well (the padding feels nice with the fresh cream applied). I do wonder if the problem is that Neo is hungry enough for proper milk but since I am still just producing colostrum he isn't getting that satisfied feeling that stops us from over eating. I hope that the milk comes in soon
I have also done one soak in slightly salted water (warm) to help sooth and ensure nothing can properly grow (I have heard of the nipples getting thrush
). Luckily I do have access to some good support, my MIL is always good to ask questions of as she knows a lot of the natural remedies that would interest me, but also there is a reasonable support being offered by the community midwifes.
I actually found something sort of weird, when I first went in to meet the midwifes and such I made it clear that I had had depression and had been in foster care etc. We talked about it and decided that post natal depression was no more of a risk for me then others but we would just keep an eye on it and that was it. At the end of the pregnancy I went in to visit the birth centre (for the all natural birth option, no access to epidural but a nice mellow environment) as I was interested in a natural birth. The midwife there saw my old faded scars and asked about them, like I had before I told her about my past and showed the notes in my paperwork about it. Turns out that if a woman has been in foster care it is automatic that they are supposed to be given a dedicated midwife for extra support. I was at that point given one but found it a bit insulting at first. The midwife turned out to be wonderful and damn if I don't wish she had been there the whole time! Even now, discharged from her care, if I call her she will try to direct me to whatever answer I am looking for (the midwife yesterday came late in the day and we got worried so called my midwife and she happy to answer our nipple question and chase up the community midwife who was on her way at the time. Frankly, every first time mom should get a dedicated midwife imo, the month or so I had her was A LOT easier.Sounds like you are getting well taken care of
They always used to say colostrum, even in teeny amounts, was all baby needed. Something to do with its high fat content.
That never explained why some babies are never satisfied with it!
Hope your milk is coming through now, if not it will soon.
Rough time!
Been there. done it LOL. It is great the support that is there nowIt's actually really nice to have so much support, we even were told who we can call at 2am when we don't know why Neo is doing something or how to deal with something, like what happened with the marathon feed
Had I known, I might have saved myself some trouble but oh well! Live and learnI may well pop along to your hub as its easy to worry and just want to know more
So far I have had "weepy" moments, often when tired at night and poor Neo is crying and cannot be comforted, try burping, tummy rub for wind, clean nappy and still fussy. It is heart breaking in those moments but the funny thing is hubs gets the exact same. Thankfully it hasn't happened that we both get weepy at the same time
This way at least one of us can go have a little cry while the other keep calmly trying to offer comfort to Neo and usually, with enough patience and time Neo does calm down. Then we can go offer the other comfort
Daddy is being so sweet, it's touching really to see. Not many dads seem to get so passionate about wanting to be a good dad. When he had to leave the hosptial after the birth because visiting hours were over, he was about to cry and told me later that once off ward he did cry, he just didn't want to leave us and was worried about me being tired and having to do feeds and such (not that the midwifes on the ward wouldn't do whatever was needed if my energy/health were not up to whatever job I might need to do).
I only had Google for my first. But in my case that's all I need *nerd glasses*
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