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Taffy
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 11:22am | IP Logged
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Little Emily was born in late August. After about 10 days of trying to nurse her, I had to give up and feed her expressed milk via a bottle. She was losing weight steadily, had been returned to the hospital for jaundice, and was fighting a return of jaundice, very sleepy and not looking good at all. After several weeks of bottle feeding expressed milk, she is looking great now.
Last night I thought, "What the heck, let's see if she'll nurse" and, surprisingly, she did! This is after 4.5 weeks of nothing but bottle feeding expressed milk and liberal use of a pacifier! I'm stunned, when I tried to do this with her older brothers it was always hopeless.
So, I'm thinking of trying to wean her off the bottle for good. Do you have any suggestions?
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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
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DominaCaeli
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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No advice here, Susan--but I just wanted to say congratulations! 
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LisaR
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 12:07pm | IP Logged
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I had to pump and feed by bottle our Maria, for about 6 weeks or so. She was tongue tied and had to have surgery. anyway, per advice of a wonderful lactation consultant I put us both on "bedrest". Maybe easier for me as I really AM on strict bedrest during pregnancy, but I literally camped out in our bedroom with Maria for about 48 hours. The older kids or dh brought me food and drink, and all I did was focus on nursing. we lay down alot skin to skin, and I basically held her and worked at nursing for 2 days! whew! It was SO worth it as pumping around the clock was getting to be very time consuming and difficult too, so I figured if I wanted her to have the benefits of breast milk, she needed to try to reestablish nursing. It might sound radical to check out of the household goings on for 48 hours, but the long term benefits are so worth it!!
Praying for you both!
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 12:08pm | IP Logged
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hmmm since you've been expressing the milk the supply is there.. I would try going cold turkey.. put her to the breast when you'd normally pump (since that's when your body is used to) and just keep an eye on her weight/diapers and see how she does.
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LisaR
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PS, Maria had lost over a lb before I started pumping/bottle feeding, (and using a paci, too) so I know the stress and agony of watching a newborn wither away. congrats on getting your little one back on track weight wise.
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
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Taffy
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone! We had a couple of good nursing sessions today so I am hopeful. Pumping exclusively has become very time consuming and hard to manage here too so I'm hopeful that this will work out although dh and I are concerned that she not lose weight again.
Lisa, like your Maria, Emily lost over a pound too after birth and, especially when she became jaundiced, we were very concerned.
I'll let you know how it goes...
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Susan
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JodieLyn
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How's it going?
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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Taffy
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| Posted: Oct 18 2007 at 7:20pm | IP Logged
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So far, so good! Milk supply has never been a problem so I had no worries there. In fact, yesterday was quite uncomfortable as I was very engorged! She got 2 bottles on Tuesday and none yesterday or today and seems to be doing fine.
It's all so amazing to me that this happened! None of my other children would nurse either and I've exclusively pumped for all of them. The longest I could keep that up, though, was 9 months with my last one. Now with homeschooling the oldest, the time commitment of pumping all the time was getting pretty draining. I'm SO happy that Emily seems to be nursing just fine now. Hopefully, this will last and she'll be able to receive the benefits of breastmilk for a longer time than her brothers did.
Thanks for all your help!
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Susan
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kingvozzo
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This is wonderful, Susan. Glad to hear it's going well!
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LisaR
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| Posted: Oct 18 2007 at 8:11pm | IP Logged
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congrats Susan!! and kudos to you for pumping and feeding your other kids- 6 weeks with Maria and I thought I was going to lose my mind!! It was a huge pain and sacrifice, IMHO.
here is to a peaceful and long nursing relationship!
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
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Taffy
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| Posted: Oct 22 2007 at 8:59am | IP Logged
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Well, things are taking a turn for the worse.  I'm not sure how much longer I can take this given the rest of our childrens' needs and the lack of help for me. Blech! I know that she'll do well with me exclusively pumping but I was hoping that breastfeeding alone would be easier. So far, it's been a lot harder.
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Susan
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LisaR
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Susan, I have been praying for you. Can you do as I suggested, and just put yourself and baby on "bedrest" for about 48 hours?? Let the house go, put the kids in from of PBS, whatever? Is there a friend that can take your other kids for 1/2 of a day? I really think that if nursing was established and your supply was good, you would find it much easier and less time consuming for sure than pumping and bottle feeding.
JMHO, the 6 weeks I spent doing it were pure torture- plus with the double pump I really HAD to pump in private, but with nursing, I could nurse and teach my kids, for example.
Praying for you,
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
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Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
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Angie Mc
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Susan, what you are doing is harder...for now. You are establishing a new habit, skill, and routine. Whenever I establish something new, it is so much harder than doing what I already know how to do. It's like when you first learn how to drive a car and you have to concentrate on every little thing - how exhausting! But once you learn how, you don't even think about it (I'm actually a bit concerned at how little some drivers think about their driving but I digress  .) Please give yourself time. A concentrated 48 hours would get you off to a good start. Then set a goal to strive for that you think is realistic (a general rule of thumb for habit formation is 6 weeks.) Set up some motivational stuff like little encouraging notes around the house, conversations with supporters, and rewards (I'm not above them!) to help ease your way through this tough time.
Your goal to feed from your breast is an awesome one. I give you a big  for your efforts. I'm praying that you will find your way through this difficult time and regardless of outcome, find peace in your heart that your efforts have been worthy and purposeful.
Love,
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Angie Mc
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LisaR
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beautifully said, Angie!! where were you when I needed you a few years ago?? 
Susan, I sure wish that I could help you with meals, cleaning, and your kids right now. Trying to establish a new routine is very very difficult!!
continuing to pray,
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
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Taffy
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| Posted: Oct 22 2007 at 12:55pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the encouragement, Lisa and Angie. You're right, a big part of the problem is trying to change our habits around here. While pumping is time consuming, I did have it down to a routine and was able to get more done than this past week with breastfeeding.
There is no hope for help here. Not that people aren't willing, it's just that we're in an isolated area so there's no one really close by who's available. My oldest is autistic and has been really missing his routines - his stimming has been going through the roof and has really been adding to my stress load. Plus, he's currently on a restricted diet to try and deal with some issues he's having. This means that everything cooked for him has to be made from scratch and I've been having a tough time keeping up. Dh has been REALLY helpful but simply can't take time off work and is already needing to put in long days at his outside job. My mom came to help out for three weeks which was great but also caused some stress since I had to explain ds's diet needs repeatedly and correct things. I need someone who can simply get things done without supervision and it's not available.
I've decided to return to exclusively pumping for these reasons. It's time consuming but has been working well. I checked out the La Leche forum for some help and found that some are able to do this for over a year with the newer pumps that are available now. And, at least I can keep up with my workload a bit better this way. A year's not that long, after all.
Thanks again for all your help and encouragement. It's very appreciated.
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Susan
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LisaR
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| Posted: Oct 22 2007 at 1:35pm | IP Logged
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(((Susan))) you have such alot on your plate. I admire your commitment to give your children the best nutrition possible. I can also relate to how it can be both a help and a hindrance to have a mother or MIL "helping".
I'll be thinking of you!
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Weaning off the bottle...
