Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Could it be the beginning of some thrush? You might try swabbing some coconut oil on - it supposedly has anti-fungal properties and is pretty soothing...if you do try it though put a nursing pad or a bra you don't like on because I have several shirts now with lovely permanent "oily" stains over both nipple areas now.

I hope you feel better soon. Isn't if funny how they have a favorite side? Giles WAY prefers the left side - when I pump the left side has a faster flow so maybe that is why.

yeah so that session was just a fluke I guess, but I am noticing that I'm not getting as much when I pump for the last week or so. I feel like if I'm not careful, Sierra will end up weaned because she is not as interested in nursing when we're together either - she gets super-distracted (eh I can usually fix that by hiding from Dahlia for a bit to nurse haha), and I'm starting to cut out the midnight nursing session because I want her to start sleeping in her crib from 9pm to at least 3am. I found a lot online about 9 month-old nursing strikes too, so this all seems common. Can't decide if I should start taking MoreMilkPlus again to make sure I don't lose my milk completely!

Eek. Has he been pulling or biting you at all? I get some sort of "tissue damage" (don't know what it really is) when Freya is chewy and then it hurts like hell for a few days.

Yeast infection? (ETA someone beat me to saying this, that's what I get for not refreshing)

So sorry PB! Do you think it could be a plugged duct? Can you feel any raised or warm spots? Hope you feel better soon!

Nothing to add on top of what other people suggested poopie, but I hope it's better soon.

I'm starting to come to terms with the idea of stopping pumping in the daytime. I had wanted to go through the end of the semester (end of May) but I just don't think it's going to happen. I'm so tired of having to wash the pump, the bottles, etc. I'm tired of lugging the thing around, of having to carry two bags (pump and backpack for my school stuff) on the bus and around campus. I'm tired of losing an hour of my already extremely limited work time to pumping.

M will be okay. I've been topping off his bottles with soy or coconut milk sometimes anyhow, and some days he's only even drinking 2 bottles at school.

I can't even understand why I feel so sad about the idea though. Maybe just because it's the beginning of the end for nursing him, and I will probably never nurse a baby again after this.

I totally understand! I'm not nursing after nursing for 4-2/3 years straight and it's weird. I can wear whatever bra or shirt I want (except that I'm pregnant, so I can't, but my clothes don't have to have easy boob-access, even though by this time, they all pretty much do, but they don't *have* to) and don't have to boob anybody to sleep. I can whip my boobs out at home without the kids lining up for a drink. Not that I am whipping my boobs out, but I could. I even double-checked with Raygold to see if he wanted to nurse at all and he said he is full. It's weird! I'm glad for the short break, but it's a tiny bit sad.

I'm sorry about the possibly sad transition, C&S. This might be totally obvious and a stupid comment, but do you have a dishwasher and if so, are you using it to wash bottles/pump parts? It took us awhile to learn/figure out that we could do that and it totally changed our irritation level around bottles and pumping (I only pumped for about two and a half months, but that was plenty annoying and I did it multiple times a day so it was hard to fit in either at home or at work, but we're still using 5-6 bottles a day). Before that, we hand-washed and then boiled and then for awhile we hand-washed and used a countertop sterilizer. Extreme attention to sterilizing was crucial in finally kicking a bad case of thrush and keeping it away.

But then we discovered that not only are all those things dishwasher safe (duh), but the dishwasher will sterilize for you. We got a couple super cheap dishwasher containers for the nipples and collars and we run the dishwasher every night. The load is usually done by the time we head to bed so we just put on the drying cycle one more time before bed and then if someone wakes up in the middle of the night (for Malka duty or whatever), they put the drying cycle on again. That usually leaves us with sufficiently dry bottles (important for putting dry formula in) and used to leave us with dry pump parts (important for pump function) by the morning, so you're ready to pack up and go. Now I hardly mind washing bottles at all, at least no more than I mind washing anything else.

Any redness? Feel feverish?
Or white patches on your nipple or in his mouth?

C&S... I came here to post about the same thing!

Will has had a cold on and off for probably the last 3 weeks. I don't know if it's the stuffiness or if he's just ready to start weaning, but it's a struggle to get him to nurse more than 5 minutes at a time. He doesn't "ask" to nurse, but will usually oblige if I offer. On top of that, I was at a conference yesterday and didn't pump at lunch. By the time I got home (which was the same time we usually get home during the week), I was full but not uncomfortable. Part of me thinks I should drop my lunch pumping... part of me is freaked out... part of me wants to take this cold as an opportunity to start daytime weaning... part of me is, again, freaked out by the thought. I pump enough in the morning to provide him milk for the day and I can still nurse after school, but ahhhh. I don't know.

Even now, I just tried to nurse before his nap... he screamed and turned his head, but was quiet as soon as I laid him in the crib. Good for him, sad for momma.

Thank you for all the advice, everyone! I still don't really know what the cause was/is, but I've been putting coconut oil on it, and it's getting a lot better! Every day it's a bit less sore, almost back to normal now. Thanks again, you guys are a fount of knowledge!

sounds like thrush to me... coconut oil or GSE got rid of it for me :)

any one have any tips for encouraging a reluctant baby to accept expressed milk from a bottle?

I'm generally fine with the fact that she's not keen, but my best mate is coming home from London next week to get married here and I need to do bridesmaidly things in a few weeks time so I was really hoping westiebaby would be ok with a bottle by then in case she is hungry during the ceremony...

I've tried three different types of bottle and have been offering it to her almost daily since she was three weeks old [nearly nine weeks now] and aside from the first day when she drank 130ml without a second thought, she's only taken up to 30ml twice and even then only with a lot of coaxing and has otherwise straight up refused.

Are you the one trying to give her the bottle? I've heard that some babies won't take a bottle from mom, but are more likely to take one from someone else.

I'm worried that I'm developing a plugged duct... M has been doing this annoying thing he used to do as a younger baby where he doesn't wake up all the way but sort of just grabs at the nipple with a snapping motion (that sounds terrifying, doesn't it) and catches just a little bit. Not such a big deal back when he was gummy, but dude has teeth now and that is just not cool. He gave me quite a chomp in this fashion the other day, and now that breast is starting to hurt so much. Ugh. I really, really, really don't have time to have breast drama right now.

I have offered it to her occasionally but usually it is my mum or dad when they visit, and my husband has tried a few times.

Plugged ducts sound horrible!

I don't know of any super secret tricks to get a baby to take a bottle but have you thought doing cup feeding while you are away instead? It is a little slow and messy but is such a different way of feeding from breastfeeding there isn't any chance of "nipple confusion" or the whole "flow preference" that my son had. It is also stinkin' cute to see them lapping away like a little kitten :)

sooo freakin' hungry all.the.time (I'm talking about me, not the baby!) When the hell does this end? I'm happy to say I've really cut back on sugar since Sierra was born, so at least I'm not trying to fill up on sweet treats but I'm so tired of being hungry! I mean, sometimes in the morning I have the option to sleep in while H gets up with Sierra and I'm too hungry to even stay in bed - horrors!

It ends when they start eating large amounts of solids, but I think it gets a little better after maybe...4 months? It is even crazier breastfeeding in tandem -- the carnal hunger and thirst -- I just ate constantly and had to bring a flask of water with me everywhere. It was horrible. A bunch of people were all, "it must be great getting to eat all the time!" No.

Stop tweaking my nipple.

Oh Audrey, I think we are secretly living the same life. Sometimes I am so hungry in the middle of the night that I want to go eat a snack, but am afraid to get up if tiny wu is actually sleeping... it's just full-time ravenous-ness around here!

Will is 13 months and I still feel ravenously hungry! Honestly, I can barely go 3 hours without eating something.

Sven is 14 months and I still keep a sandwich on my bedside table!

I've always been starving...breastfeeding or not. I don't think it's ever going to go away.

I kind of have that problem, too (I always have a bunch of emergency rations in my handbag), but breastfeeding in tandem turned me into a food vacuum or something -- it's not even that bad now and I have the 3rd trimester munchies.