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Please feel free to have a browse of the whole site and post on any article you like, but if you visit needing help (with anything from how you feel about the prospect of breastfeeding for the first time, past experience of breastfeeding, specific breastfeeding problems, stuff about legislation affecting breastfeeding, anything at all) and can’t find somewhere immediately obvious to comment, leave a reply here and I’ll do my best to answer myself or point you in the right direction to find somebody who can help you. Or if you see something you can help with, please post yourself!
My son is 13 months and recently I have cut out his afternoon breastfeed as I’m returning to work part-time. Since doing this a week or so ago, he has started to lose interest in his bedtime feed — he will feed for 3-4 mins before pulling away. In the morning he will still feed for 15 minutes.
Is it the start of self-weaning and will he start to lose interest in the mornings too? If he does drop the evening feed altogether, will I be likely to dry up if I’m only doing one feed a day?
I hadn’t planned on giving up BF any time soon so would be very sad if this was the beginning of the end…
Also if he does stop breastfeeding altogether, would I need to give him formula, or EBM in a cup? He can’t have cows’ milk as it brings him up in hives, although he is fine with other dairy and has a lot of cheese, yoghurt etc in his diet.
Hi Meg. Thank you for posting.
Expressed milk in a cup isn’t necessarily going to get him to regain interest in feeding from you, nor is it necessary if he does wean, but if you want to and are able and you feel it would ease the transition for you, do it. You don’t have to give him a cup full, just a swig or two if that’s what you express. Don’t put pressure on yourself to produce though!
This is from Kellymom:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/how_weaning_happens.html
It’s possibly more targeted at women who are finding their child won’t wean – but there are some tips on what to do for a child who self-weans under 12mo that you might find useful.
I would also not be over-worried about replacing the bfs with other milk – we’re a bit obsessed with kids needing copious amounts of the white stuff in the UK – but he’s eating cheese, yoghurt, etc – that’s fine. I wouldn’t bother faffing about with formula – he may well not drink it anyway.
He might continue the morning feed for a while yet – nice excuse to have a bit of a lie-in and a morning cuddle, I always found! It was the last feed my eldest son dropped too – when he was weaning, he used to pull away to have a swig from his water beaker during the evening feed(!)
Hi.
Do you know if it’s possible to breastfeed after having an unsuccessful nipple piercing? My friend is currently expecting her first child and is really keen to breastfeed, however she is worried that the piercings she had in the past will prevent her from being successful. She no longer wears jewellery in the piercings but doesn’t think they’ve ever really healed properly. I’d love to be able to give her some positive information to encourage her because I know she’d really like to breastfeed but is feeling quite discouraged at the moment.
Thanks,
Haley
Hi Haley – thank you for posting.
When she says they haven’t healed, are they causing her pain? Or are they open holes? Whereabouts on her nipple are they?
It is entirely possible to breastfeed with a nipple piercing – although not with jewellery in (see here for more info http://www.piercing.org/faq/breastfeeding.html) – that link says that they need to be healed, but that’s if you want to maintain pierced nipples post pregnancy/breastfeeding.
What is she worried about with regard to feeding? From what you’ve said, I can’t see why she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed, but if there’s something specific she’s concerned about, do post again and I’ll see if I can help
Hello Jane,
Thanks for responding. I believe the holes are horizontal through the nipples and whilst they don’t cause her any pain or soreness, they are open as far as I’m aware and occasionally produce some discharge (sorry!) It is this weepiness that she thinks will impede breastfeeding for her – is this possibly something she should just chat with her GP about?
Many thanks for the link, I will have a look and pass it on
Discharge since she’s been pregnant? Could be colostrum if that’s the case? How many weeks is she? Nipples don’t just have one hole that they produce milk from when you’re breastfeeding (you probably know that!). If they’re not sore, I wouldn’t imagine it’s anything to worry about – and she might be better talking to a breastfeeding counsellor than a GP, unless her GP is clued up about breastfeeding. Numbers on the right hand side of this page. Good luck – do let me know how she gets on.
So, I’ve got around 200 ounces of frozen breastmilk that is quickly approaching “expiration.” Any ideas on what to do with it? I know some people make soap, but I have no idea how to go about that.
Hi Coty
Wow, 200oz! When you say it’s approaching expiration, how long has it been in the freezer? Lots of places say you can only keep it a pretty short time, but breastmilk’s pretty robust stuff and is usually fine for longer periods than most mainstream information states. There are guidelines here you might find useful (although you may well have seen them before!): http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html
I’ve emailed someone I know who’s made breastmilk soap and pointed her in the direction of this post, so hopefully she’ll see it and give you some tips if you decide to go that route.
In the meantime, here are some other things you can do with it: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/ready-solids-links.html#momfoods
Let us know how you get on!
I have a question for which I don’t seem to be able to find an answer.
How does a mother’s diet affect the quality of her milk?
In typical mothering fashion, this question stems from guilt. I am still breastfeeding our 2 year old daughter but I am concerned about her health My biggest worry is her teeth. I have read extensively and I understand that in theory breast milk is kind to her teeth.
In reality she has several cavities (explained by weak enamel by the 2 dentists we consulted) . Could there be a link to my diet and her teeth because there does not appear to be an obvious link to her diet. She does not eat sweets; has never had a bottle or sippy cup; does not drink undiluted juice. I have restricted her diet as far as white wheat and anything else with hidden sugar but this leads me to worry more about her nutrition and leads her to want to breastfeed more often.
She is our fourth child and even our eldest has yet to have a cavity. I breastfed the older ones until they self weaned and I would love to be able to do the same with our youngest.
The biggest diet change for me has been the gradual introduction of coffee. It started out innocently enough but now I have a cup of coffee most mornings and I do add sugar.
Should I consider weaning her before she might choose to herself or would it make any difference.
Sorry for the long, convoluted post.
Hi Jane
I emailed you about this earlier, but then figured that this might be the best place to put my query.
I am currently 18 weeks pregnant and still feeding my 26 month old daughter. Following a glucose tolerance test last week, it appears that I am bordering on having gestational diabetes, and will need further monitoring before a diagnosis can be confirmed. If I do turn out to have it, and insulin is required, are there any implications that I should be aware of, both for my continued feeding of dd, and for the hopeful feeding of my second child?
Thanks
Margaret, I really don’t think that your diet could affect your breastmilk in the way you’re worried about – even sugary coffee. I would suggest if the dentists have said she has weak enamel, that might be the case. Have they said they’ll do anything to her teeth? There’s a coating they can put on teeth nowadays – although not sure how good it is or what age children they’ll do that for.
I just had a quick squiz at the British Dental Health Foundation’s page here: http://www.dentalhealth.org.uk/faqs/leafletdetail.php?LeafletID=23 but it doesn’t distinguish between breast and bottle feeding with its advice, which isn’t helpful, since they’re very separate things (the feeding action is different – a nipple will be further back in the child’s mouth and the milk is far less likely to “pool” in the mouth with breastfeeding)
This page has more information about dental health and breastfeeding http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/tooth-decay.html
It suggests that bacteria from parents’ mouths is part of the problem, which I thought was interesting and makes sense if you think about it!
Hope that helps a bit. Enjoy your coffee!
Hi Tabatha
Yes, here is an excellent place to put your query! You won’t just get my opinion this way – anyone can reply with their thoughts!
I’m sorry you’ve had a positive GTT result – although take heart from the “borderline”! Lots of pregnant women control gestational diabetes (GD) with their diet – it’s a bit dull if you have a sweet tooth, but the fact you have a baby inside you which may grow Rather Large if you don’t stop stuffing your face with cake concentrates the mind rather!
Have you been given a test kit with which to do blood prick tests? If you can keep your levels fairly stable, you shouldn’t need insulin. I found it quite interesting, once I was over the initial frustration of not being able to eat whatever the heck I liked – white rice was a major spiker of my sugar levels, as was granary bread. Wholemeal bread was fine and even white was better than granary (I guess because granary’s often malted?).
This is a list of food that might give you some pointers as to what is likely to spike your blood sugars and what will maintain them at acceptable levels: http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/
As far as breastfeeding your DD goes, I can’t see any reason why you’d need to stop. If you find your blood sugar levels drop after you’ve fed her, try eating a banana or something (another interesting experiment – maybe try thinking of yourself as lucky to be finding out such diverse things about your body – it’ll take your mind off the c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e!).
With regard to breastfeeding the new baby, once you’re no longer pregnant, you’ll very likely no longer be diabetic – although having GD does mean you’re more likely to develop it in future, so getting into the way of eating in a more low GI way is good for your longterm health. Your baby will no doubt have heelprick tests once born – see here for my experience of this: http://howbreastfeedingworks.com/2007/10/23/personal-experiences-please-share-them-here/
One thing to note with that is that the heelprick tests need to be done at a consistent interval after feeding – mine weren’t, which compounded the fact that the midwife “looking after” me knew precious little about breastfeeding in the first place.
You can also express colostrum antenatally so you can bodyswerve any declarations that you have to give formula from HCPs after the birth.
Hope that helps a bit – and feel free to post more if you have any other questions. Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy (and DS1′s very keen to come and see you again – he keeps talking about your garden attraction!).
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Barbara
Hi, I just wanted to give you a quick update on my situation (see the top of the page). After a couple of weeks during which I feared DS was dropping the bedtime feed, we put his bedtime back by half an hour as he’d been waking up around 5am (too blimmin’ early in my book). Hey presto, all of a sudden he starte taking more milk at the bedtime feed. Perhaps being more tired meant that he was less distracted so was less likely to pull away, who knows. Anyway he is now 16mo and still feeding well in the morning and at bedtime. Thanks for your support
Hi Meg
Thank you for the update! That’s lovely news – very glad that things have worked out so well for you and DS. And hope he continues to sleep longer in the morning – as someone who was up at 4am with a two-and-a-half year old this morning, I empathise hugely! (fortunately he did go back to sleep – magic stuff, breastmilk, eh?!)
What do you know about breastfeeding and conceiving? I want another and don’t want to stop feeding. (Have emailed this to you as well but thought others might see it if it was here)
OK this is so complicated I don’t know where to start!
My youngest son is 8 1/2 months old. Until about 1 month ago he was exclusively breastfed. We had planned to do baby led weaning with him, as we did with our last daughter, and had started slowly introducing a few things ( carrots, brocolli) but he showed little interest. He fed a lot – but more at nigh than in the day. He was so interested ineverything in the day it was hard for him to settle to feed! At night we were co-sleeping , but this stopped working for us at about 6 months – I was waking him up more than necessary by moving, and by about 4am he just wanted to play! So we moved him to his cot by our bed. He then woke about every 2 hours to feed, and I became exhausted. He really seemed to need to feed that much. When I tried to get him to feed less at night, my supply sufferred. So we tried him with some pureed foods ( home made veg etc..) which he now suddenly seemed to love, and which did seem to help with his sleeping – a bit. Then I got really ill with a stomach bug. I didn’t eat or drink for days. My suply dropped ff and he was starving. I was ill and exhausted so gave him a bottle of formula. Then another etc… immediately he seemed much more settled. And suddenly he was sleeping 6 – 7 hours a night! For the last 4 days he has had mostly bottles of formula. He is really hapy and sleeping well. But I am devastated now. My last daughter was breatfed till she was 2, when she self weaned, and I planned on doing the same again.
I am torn as to what to do. I so want to try to BF again. Could i build my supply up do yuo think? I haven’t fed him in over 24 hours now, and dont feel I have much milk.
And the other big issue is I have 5 other children aged 10 – 2. My husband works long hours and we have no other suport. I can’t be up every 2 hours at night cause I just can’t function for my other kids. I can spend a few days at home with the little ones working on my supply – but I still have to care for them , do school runs etc… and I have to sleep! ( at least for a few hours at a time – I’m not talking all night!) Do you think it would be possible to build my supply back up then get to a state where he was feeding maybe once or twice a night, and taking some pureed solids during the day as well as BF as oftebn as needed?
I’m so sad and confused right now.
Anyone help?
Lorayn, I know that I breastfed and conceived – my first son was a year old, almost to the week, when I fell pregnant.
It depends on the woman, from what I’ve read and anecdotally. If you’re breastfeeding exclusively, feeding at night and don’t have more than about four hours between feeds, you’re unlikely to be able to get pregnant. It’s nature’s way of making sure your newborn has the best chance, I guess. It’s not foolproof though, so I would personally never rely on breastfeeding as contraception!
Some women can’t get pregnant again until they’ve stopped breastfeeding entirely. Some women have irregular periods whilst they’re breastfeeding, but still manage to conceive. It’s trial and error, really – and it comes down to how important breastfeeding is to you – more important than conceiving another baby? What would happen if you stopped breastfeeding and still didn’t fall pregnant? That would be my personal benchmark if I was finding I needed to stop breastfeeding to conceive – when do I feel the baby I have now is ready to wean? Otherwise I would feel I’d weaned him too soon if I then didn’t get pregnant.
I hope that helps a bit. Report back, won’t you?
Louise, you poor thing – what a lot to deal with! I hope you’re over your stomach bug properly now. With regard to breastfeeding, the more you breastfeed, the more milk you’ll make.
What makes you think you haven’t got much milk? Breasts naturally don’t have the full-to-bursting thing about them when you’ve breastfed this long because they’ve adapted to making milk. But I can tell you’ve had your confidence knocked somewhat by the gap in feeding.
You breastfed your daughter until she was two – so you can breastfeed successfully. Maybe give one of the breastfeeding helplines a call to check you’re doing everything you could be, but otherwise, if you want to feed, feed – you’ll soon up your supply again, I reckon.
Good luck with it and do let me know how you get on.
Thanks for the reply.
I’ve decided that breastfeeding is more important to em than having another baby just yet. It feels almost like I’d be putting DS’s needs below mine or the new baby’s so we’ll just have to see what nature decides to do!