One month old

yup

I gave it to Ari as a newborn (he’s only 2 months old) & will still give it here & there- just a ml or even 1/2 a ml at a time, using a skinny syringe- only 2 or 3mls tops over the course of a 24hour period

Ari doesn’t have reflux, but I used it to see if it helped when I wasn’t sure what was going on with him-just like you

I think even non-reflux babies can get some sort of relief from mylanta, well that’s my experience so far– I think the shock of a squirt of something other than milk helps put a pause in the shrieking, lol

for a while (first month to 6wks) I was convinced ari had mild reflux, but I mean MILD, but now I think he’s just a normal baby- I just have no clue whatsoever what a normal baby is like

Amy,

I’m sorry things are so hard right now. I can’t really give you any nursing advice because none of my babies would nurse…I pumped for all of them and I wanted to quit that every single day. From all the women I’ve known who did nurse, they describe it a lot like Laura does. That it really gets much, much easier with time.

Is she fine when you don’t eat anything “bad” and when she doesn’t have any formula? Maybe it’s not reflux but just intolerances. Are you on an elimination diet?

I hope you get it all worked out soon.

Amy, I’m sorry that you’re going through such a hard time. I really hope that BF gets easier for you soon. For what it’s worth, I did notice that it got easier in a similar pattern that Laura mentioned, but then Hailey’s reflux kicked in full force and complicated issues. I agree that maybe an LC can help. I was convinced that I wasn’t producing enough milk when I looked at Hailey’s feeding behaviour, but I was actually producing fine. Then I took the blessed thistle and the fenugreek (which made me smell like a strange pickle for some reason) and my milk production went so overboard, that I actually developed issues with engorgement. I hope it works for you though. Some of the behaviours that you describe make me wonder if she is feeding to soothe herself, rather than for actual nourishment. Hailey did the same thing, feeding for hours, bobbing on and off, very unhappy unless sucking. It turns out that she was trying to comfort herself. Good luck to you guys whatever route you end up taking. I hope that you can catch a break soon. BTW, how does Henry like his little sister?

amy,

pumping isn’t necessarily quite a clear indication of what you’re producing- your baby is much much more efficient at getting milk from your breasts than a pump is- (for instance, when you think you’re empty, try hand expressing & my guess is you’ll see milk- that’s what makes me think that perhaps your supply is there? but this is just me guessing over the internet) -that’s why I say to ask you LC about what she thinks your supply is like

I think what I would do (well I’d go see my LC bcse I love her!) is to see what happens if I didn’t pump and only offered the breast- if that’s possible- sounds like you have a frantic nurser over there! what is the longest kind of stretch will she give you at night? (or ever?)

my breasts haven’t regulated yet- I’m waiting! they are getting better- ie: more times during the day when they’re soft rather than full/hard…

for me, if I happen to be blessed with a long stretch of sleep (5hrs) I wind up pumping after I feed Ari…

I really don’t do a whole lot of pumping (I’m lazy)

baby crying- more later

~laura

hellbennt2006-9-22 8:11:43

Hi Lucy. Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your questions.

Hailey’s feeding behaviour started out that she needed to bed all the time or she would screech hysterically. The breast was literally the only thing that would soothe her. She’d latch on ravenously, and feed frantically for as long as I’d let her on each side. But then when I took her off, she would start screaming again. If I put her back on, then she would suck happily again. I mistook this to mean that she was still hungry. But if I let her keep sucking, she would suck for 4 or 5 hours. At that point, I did notice that her suck was not the deep sucking that you get with nutritive feeding, but more of a shallow suck, which I did learn was to soothe herself. She was using me as a soother, and unfortunately, my breast was the only thing that could quiet her. She wouldn’t take the pacifier. The LC we saw, looked at the situation and told me that I must not have enough milk which is why she wanted to be at the breast all the time. She checked out my latch, and said that it was fine. But things kept going on like that until my nipples were so raw from constant feeding. We hired a private LC and she said that she didn’t know, that her suspicion was also that my milk hadn’t come in fully yet and so she was hungry. So she had me take the supplements you mentioned to get a really good supply. But she also did a test. I had a supplemental feeding system (the kind that has a little bottle and a tiny tube that you tape to your breast). We filled the bottle with expressed breast milk, and then put Hailey on at a point where she was on the 4 hour binge. We saw that she still didn’t do deep sucking and was trying to suck shallow to avoid getting the milk. That’s when I knew that she was just trying to soothe herself. But I kept up with the supplements anyhow, which gave me the most ridiculously huge milk supply- it also gave me a very forceful letdown which Hailey couldn’t tolerate. I did try to give her other things to soothe her during that long stretch becaue I knew it couldn’t be a hunger issue at that point. Things progressed until it got worse- the screaming was nonstop and when I would go to nurse her, she would go frantically, then when I’d get a letdown, she would pull off. She would do this over and over, and she’d choke and sputter, and milk would come out of her nose. She’d have stridor sounds. It got increasingly harder to feed her. She would do shallow non-nutritive sucking, I thought that I didn’t have enough milk again, but if I would pump, I could get another 6 ounces in 20 minutes. So I figured that if I could get that from a pump, then she could extract even more milk then that if she wanted to. At that point I took her to the doc who diagnosed her with reflux. I continued nursing and pumping and tried to give it in a bottle which wasn’t any better. For us, I think that it was all reflux all along that just got progressively worse. But I’ve heard of other babies doing what Lucy is doing just because they want to soothe themselves during their fussy period. After you feed her, can you try offering her something else to suck, like your finger or a paci (if that won’t interfere with the latching)? Maybe that will keep her happy and give you a break.

Good luck. I hope that things get easier and that it’s just a colicky phase. Keep us posted.

amy,

I wish I could teach you how to nurse wearing a ring sling! then you could wear her w/ open access to your breast (no one can see) and you can walk around & shop, do stuff in the house, etc

I was ring sling challenged with jonah – it was really intimidating and I just couldn’t figure it out- but this time around I was hellbennt () to figure it out- so anyway: where are you? I can look to see if there are local babywearers (a group. etc) so someone could help you figure out how to nurse in a carrier so you can be more mobile-

this would be a temporary solution- I also think that trying reflux meds would be good- if they help- then it’s reflux…testing isn’t necessary right away,at least I wouldn’t think so? will your ped humour you and prescribe zantac? you can look up here the highest dose for her weight & start there (not to tell you to dose your baby on your own, but…)- apparently there’s a new efferdose that doesn’t taste so horrible- & if you can only get the ‘regular’ kind, then you can mix it w/ a bit of mylanta to mask the taste a bit…