Mr. T has been a loud breather and nurser pretty much since he was born. I have mentioned here that he also had trouble sucking and wouldn't take a pacifier. We saw some improvement after the first cranio sacral treatment, but then things changed just before and then after the second treatment. I didn't understand why we were back tracking. He was taking a pacifier easier, but nursing wasn't going well and I was frustrated. He would gag, wheeze, and refuse to nurse. Then, if we did successfully nurse, he would be super fussy afterward and hated laying flat.
I began to notice that he would wheeze and do this weird hiccup thing (not hiccups, but kind of sounds like it) even when he was just laying there or if he was getting upset (regardless of position). I blamed most of the nursing issues on my over-supply of milk and started feeding him only from one breast at a time (versus swapping sides halfway through). However, I had no idea why he was making those other noises. I began to wonder if I just forgot that Superman did this or if this was really something abnormal.
Then I went to Moms Group on Monday.
Another mom announced that they finally figured out why she was having so many nursing issues. Her daughter was diagnosed with tracheomalacia (Some resources/explanations can be found here and here and here). She began to talk about the symptoms and I couldn't believe my ears. Mr. T had those same issues! I asked more questions and our leader told us more about it. I still didn't understand it completely, but I knew enough that made me want to schedule a doctor's appointment for as soon as we could.
The next day I got my confirmation. The pediatrician confirmed that Mr. T appeared to have a "typical" case of tracheomalacia. You cannot get a definitive diagnosis without having a scope done to see what is actually going on. However, our doctor didn't recommend going to the ENT . The doctor didn't want to us to have to put Mr. T under anesthesia if we didn't have to. If things get worse and he stops thriving, we will certainly reconsider.
At any rate, other than keeping him upright and giving us acid reflux medicine, he didn't have a lot of information to tell me. I have been nursing him upright in my sling pretty much exclusively and that definitely has improved things, but my shoulders are beginning to hurt having the sling on (what seems to be) 90% of my awake time.
Today I went to see a lactation consultant in search of a better solution to nursing. She wasn't my usual consultant, but she could see me today (and since Superman is at daycare today, I jumped all over it). She showed me a way to use the Breastfriend to help him sit up while nursing. We wrap it around both of us and the cushion supports his back (he is "sitting" in my lap, back up against it). It worked well at the office, so I am hoping that it will provide some much needed rest for my shoulders and back.
I am beginning to feel more comfortable with this diagnosis. I am still anxious that it will get worse or that he will get an upper respiratory infection. I worry that we are still missing something and that I am making the wrong decision not to go to the ENT specialist. However, all in all things are getting better. I will be sure to post an update if anything changes.
Showing posts with label lactation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lactation. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
It Takes Two...
I thought breastfeeding was going to be so easy from the beginning this time around. I mean, I am now an expert right? Okay, maybe that is a stretch, but I did feel like I knew what I was doing so things should go really well. What I didn't think about was the fact that breastfeeding takes two people. I may know what I am doing, but Mr. T is brand new at this!
When I first fed Mr. T after his birth, things went really well. He seemed to latch fine and nurse for some time. It was the following feedings that we learned that things weren't going to be as easy as I had hoped...at least in the beginning.
The latch...
Mr. T has a strong gag reflex and, for whatever reason, also struggled to actually latch on. This was also a problem when we tried to get him to suck on a pacifier or someone's finger. He would open his mouth wide, but just wouldn't close it and begin to suck. He would get frantic and it would take several attempts (with some calming down in between) before he would settle down and latch. Because I was so thrilled that he was finally latched on, I allowed him to have a poor latch and my nipples were killing me. The lactation consultant at the hospital had me start using a nipple shield which initially seemed to not only save my nipples, but helped Mr. T with how quickly he would latch.
My milk began to come in on Monday evening and was fully in by Tuesday. At this time, Mr. T started having issues AGAIN with the latch. At one point I ditched the nipple shield out of frustration and he latched almost immediately! We have been nipple shield free since then and he no longer struggles to latch!
Interestingly, he still is not a fan of the pacifier. After a little bit of struggling, he will take a finger or the pacifier from my mom or my husband (occasionally), but I think he is a smart little boy that knows that I am the one with the milk and he would prefer that. LOL
Timing...
When I nursed S I felt like I was a slave to the paper where I recorded all his feedings (and then eventually the app on my phone). No one was making me record it, but since we struggled with my supply in the beginning, I wanted to make sure he was getting enough.
This time around I still used the recording paper and I have now switched the app on my phone, but I am much more relaxed about it all. I know he is getting enough milk and knowing that has lead to a confidence in our nursing relationship.
At one week old he currently nurses about every 2.5-3 hours during the day (with some mini-snacks occasionally throughout the day) and every 3.5-4 hours at night. I am going to go weigh him on Monday and I am hoping to see that he is up to his birth weight again so we can let him sleep at night. He usually wakes just before the 4 hours mark for the first early morning feeding (like 1-2am), but I have been waking him up for the later morning feeding (5-6am). It would be lovely to let him (and me) sleep!
My supply...
I had heard that your milk comes in sooner and in greater quantity with your second child and it is surely true for me. My milk came in 3 days earlier than with Superman and it seems like there is a great supply for Mr. T. I started pumping after the wake-up feeding this morning. I didn't get much, but I think that was true in the beginning with S as well. So we will give it a few days and see if I end up pumping enough for one feeding a day. If not, I will be adding a pumping session.
Overall breastfeeding is going superb! He seems to really have gotten the hang of it and I am beginning to learn his hunger cues (before he starts crying). I feel so lucky to have things going so well!
When I first fed Mr. T after his birth, things went really well. He seemed to latch fine and nurse for some time. It was the following feedings that we learned that things weren't going to be as easy as I had hoped...at least in the beginning.
The latch...
Mr. T has a strong gag reflex and, for whatever reason, also struggled to actually latch on. This was also a problem when we tried to get him to suck on a pacifier or someone's finger. He would open his mouth wide, but just wouldn't close it and begin to suck. He would get frantic and it would take several attempts (with some calming down in between) before he would settle down and latch. Because I was so thrilled that he was finally latched on, I allowed him to have a poor latch and my nipples were killing me. The lactation consultant at the hospital had me start using a nipple shield which initially seemed to not only save my nipples, but helped Mr. T with how quickly he would latch.
My milk began to come in on Monday evening and was fully in by Tuesday. At this time, Mr. T started having issues AGAIN with the latch. At one point I ditched the nipple shield out of frustration and he latched almost immediately! We have been nipple shield free since then and he no longer struggles to latch!
Interestingly, he still is not a fan of the pacifier. After a little bit of struggling, he will take a finger or the pacifier from my mom or my husband (occasionally), but I think he is a smart little boy that knows that I am the one with the milk and he would prefer that. LOL
Timing...
When I nursed S I felt like I was a slave to the paper where I recorded all his feedings (and then eventually the app on my phone). No one was making me record it, but since we struggled with my supply in the beginning, I wanted to make sure he was getting enough.
This time around I still used the recording paper and I have now switched the app on my phone, but I am much more relaxed about it all. I know he is getting enough milk and knowing that has lead to a confidence in our nursing relationship.
At one week old he currently nurses about every 2.5-3 hours during the day (with some mini-snacks occasionally throughout the day) and every 3.5-4 hours at night. I am going to go weigh him on Monday and I am hoping to see that he is up to his birth weight again so we can let him sleep at night. He usually wakes just before the 4 hours mark for the first early morning feeding (like 1-2am), but I have been waking him up for the later morning feeding (5-6am). It would be lovely to let him (and me) sleep!
My supply...
I had heard that your milk comes in sooner and in greater quantity with your second child and it is surely true for me. My milk came in 3 days earlier than with Superman and it seems like there is a great supply for Mr. T. I started pumping after the wake-up feeding this morning. I didn't get much, but I think that was true in the beginning with S as well. So we will give it a few days and see if I end up pumping enough for one feeding a day. If not, I will be adding a pumping session.
Overall breastfeeding is going superb! He seems to really have gotten the hang of it and I am beginning to learn his hunger cues (before he starts crying). I feel so lucky to have things going so well!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Breastfeeding Blues Part #2
If you didn't read the first part of Breastfeeding Blues, please go read that first here.
December 6, 2010
So I saw Nancy and (like always) she made me feel so much better! She said to keep nursing morning and night, give him a bottle of breastmilk/whole milk before each nap and forget that the feeding after the naps ever existed. She said if Superman continues to hurt me when I am feeding him, to "vote him off the island" and give him a bottle.
She said it all so matter-of-factly that it was hard to add the "but I want to breastfeed till he wanted to stop", but I did. Her response was that he is going to get breastmilk till he is 1 or almost 1 and that is good enough...that if I had to stop today that it would be great, that he will be just fine. I don't know why hearing it from her made such a difference, but it did.
Update on December 30, 2010: Since I haven't posted this post yet and I really don't want a 3rd post of all this, I am going to just update what is going on here.
Superman was all good for a few days and then decided that he didn't want the bottle before naps. I would then spend the time from when he woke up till it was time to nap again, trying to get milk in him. So not the way I want things to go. I tried dropping snacks and that didn't really help at first. Finally I started giving him the bottle downstairs, letting him drink a few ounces and then bringing him up for his nap. My sister suggested giving it to him while we read stories and that worked pretty well too. What I have learned is that he will take the milk downstairs, while getting his diaper changed, and while reading books, but as soon as I start the real bedtime procedures like closing the blinds or turning on the white noise...he wants nothing to do with the bottle. At first I was frustrated by this, but now I love that cuddle time. He settles in with his head on my chest and we rock as I sing his "night, night" song. Occasionally he doesn't drink all the milk so when I get him up from his nap I usually bring the bottle back up with me and sometimes he wants and sometimes he doesn't...either way not a big deal. He is getting plenty of milk now and I am much less worried about this whole transition.
December 6, 2010
So I saw Nancy and (like always) she made me feel so much better! She said to keep nursing morning and night, give him a bottle of breastmilk/whole milk before each nap and forget that the feeding after the naps ever existed. She said if Superman continues to hurt me when I am feeding him, to "vote him off the island" and give him a bottle.
She said it all so matter-of-factly that it was hard to add the "but I want to breastfeed till he wanted to stop", but I did. Her response was that he is going to get breastmilk till he is 1 or almost 1 and that is good enough...that if I had to stop today that it would be great, that he will be just fine. I don't know why hearing it from her made such a difference, but it did.
Update on December 30, 2010: Since I haven't posted this post yet and I really don't want a 3rd post of all this, I am going to just update what is going on here.
Superman was all good for a few days and then decided that he didn't want the bottle before naps. I would then spend the time from when he woke up till it was time to nap again, trying to get milk in him. So not the way I want things to go. I tried dropping snacks and that didn't really help at first. Finally I started giving him the bottle downstairs, letting him drink a few ounces and then bringing him up for his nap. My sister suggested giving it to him while we read stories and that worked pretty well too. What I have learned is that he will take the milk downstairs, while getting his diaper changed, and while reading books, but as soon as I start the real bedtime procedures like closing the blinds or turning on the white noise...he wants nothing to do with the bottle. At first I was frustrated by this, but now I love that cuddle time. He settles in with his head on my chest and we rock as I sing his "night, night" song. Occasionally he doesn't drink all the milk so when I get him up from his nap I usually bring the bottle back up with me and sometimes he wants and sometimes he doesn't...either way not a big deal. He is getting plenty of milk now and I am much less worried about this whole transition.
Breastfeeding Blues - Part 1
December 3, 2010
I am beginning to hate breastfeeding. No, wait. Actually, I think I actually hate it right now. I hate the pain that comes with Superman latching on. I hate the feeling that I being completely drained each time. I hate that I am once again worrying about supply and weight gain.
So what to do? What to do? Give up completely? Try and push through with some of the feedings and supplement with others? Just keep plugging along and deal with it all later.
Fortunately, I have about 60 3oz. bags of pumped milk in the freezer. I am currently breastfeeding 6 times a day. So enough milk to last about a week if I completely give up. There is a problem though...I feel really strongly about breastfeeding for at least 1 year and really wanted to breastfeed till Superman wanted to wean (not when I wanted to). So even though I am really, really close to that year, I feel like I am failing, like I am letting Superman and myself down.
This all makes me want to try and stick it out, but that doesn't help the fact that I cringe every time Superman goes to latch on. So I wonder what it would be like to just nurse less. Maybe I could take those 60 something bags, drop two nursing sessions a day and make it the month easy peasy? (I say hopefully).
I guess this decision is better than some of the alternatives and I shouldn't do anything drastic anyway. Stay tuned to find out what happened!
Update: After I wrote this I decided that my husband'splea recommendation that I go see the lactation consultant was a good one and made an appointment for Monday. I will write another post with an update after the appointment.
I am beginning to hate breastfeeding. No, wait. Actually, I think I actually hate it right now. I hate the pain that comes with Superman latching on. I hate the feeling that I being completely drained each time. I hate that I am once again worrying about supply and weight gain.
So what to do? What to do? Give up completely? Try and push through with some of the feedings and supplement with others? Just keep plugging along and deal with it all later.
Fortunately, I have about 60 3oz. bags of pumped milk in the freezer. I am currently breastfeeding 6 times a day. So enough milk to last about a week if I completely give up. There is a problem though...I feel really strongly about breastfeeding for at least 1 year and really wanted to breastfeed till Superman wanted to wean (not when I wanted to). So even though I am really, really close to that year, I feel like I am failing, like I am letting Superman and myself down.
This all makes me want to try and stick it out, but that doesn't help the fact that I cringe every time Superman goes to latch on. So I wonder what it would be like to just nurse less. Maybe I could take those 60 something bags, drop two nursing sessions a day and make it the month easy peasy? (I say hopefully).
I guess this decision is better than some of the alternatives and I shouldn't do anything drastic anyway. Stay tuned to find out what happened!
Update: After I wrote this I decided that my husband's
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