Problems & Solutions Related to Breastfeeding

Problems & Solutions Related to Breastfeeding
Guest Post by Missy J.:
These are from my experiences. They are limited. However, I have had all my problems solved by a wonderful La Leche lady who has over twenty five years of experience. She never charged for phone call questions, although she does charge for personal consultations (highly recommended).
My sister would call her from London because "she knew more than most doctors". She was able to correctly diagnose two babies with tied tongues and one with flat palette when the pediatricians didn't even notice. Without her help, I wouldn't have had such successful nursing experiences. Her name is Dee Kassing in Illinois La Leche on this link: http://www.lowmilksupply.org/lc.shtml. Her phone number is 618-346-1919. Dee does this as a business, and she is the best I have ever had; I am sure my sister would agree.  I can't  recommend her enough for breastfeeding problems.

 INCORRECT LATCHING-
If a baby isn't nursing well, first check to make sure she/he has a wide enough mouth so that they are sucking correctly. You don't want the baby biting down on the nipple so be sure that they have a big enough mouthful of the breast when latching on. There are a lot of great books and magazines with pictures so I won't spend too much time on this.

 CLOGGED DUCT-
This can happen from engorgement. When a duct gets clogged, it will become irritated and red (very tender and a bit swollen). Sometimes a warm shower will help, but the tea bag is an easy fix. Take a warm used tea bag and set it on the clogged duct for no more than about two or three minutes. If you leave it on there too long it will hurt. Then gently massage the breast to the nipple to get it to unclog.

SORE NIPPLES-
Go to a pharmacy or health food store and ask for lanolin. It is made from sheep's wool (I believe it is the oil). It is very soothing and helpful. There is also a product that farmers will use for their cows that helps with chapped nipples. I know that sounds laughable, but I can't remember what it is called, and it works well (same type of product).

BITING-
For infants this can happen if the baby latches on wrong. It can also happen if the baby is passing gas or having a bowl movement. Gently put your finger in the mouth to break suction and pull away, then try replacing the baby again. However, I have also found that biting can happen if the baby has a flat palate, tied tongue, or weak sucking.

Biting, when just done because of teething, can be deterred by taking something bad tasting, a little bit of castor oil or something on your finger tip to touch to their inside mouth. Really it can start as easy as a biting from a bowel movement or teething and then can become funny for the baby to see you respond with a funny looking face. So, be sure to use a stern tone, saying with a firm no. If that doesn't work then use something safe but bad tasting on your finger to put inside mouth to cause an unconditioned response. I was able to nip this right away so I didn't have any more problems.

FLAT PALATE-
Although all mouths are a bit different, there should be a slight slope into the back of the mouth. If you put your finger in your mouth, you can feel that slope in your mouth. My youngest had a flat palate where this was not the case, making it impossible for her to nurse or even suck a bottle. I did nurse her for soothing, but I wasn't able to nurse her to sustain her (even though I had plenty of milk). So, I pumped most of it and altered the nipples of the bottles, and allowed her to suck a bit prior and/or after a feeding.

TIED TONGUE-
I had three babies with tied tongue. My genius La Leche lady, Dee, figured out this problem. The tongues were tied all the way to the tip. I took the baby to my pediatrician, and in his office, he clipped it (fast easy fix). The baby went right to breast and drank and gulped like the doctor had never heard before. My doctor, an older man, said if he hadn't witnessed the difference of before and after like that, he wouldn't have believed it. He said today's philosophy of leaving tied tongues alone is prevalent among the new doctors. After he witnessed what happened with before and after in his office with my baby, he said he knew that it is best to clip. With three tied tongues, I know that a baby can't nurse if the tongue is tied too much. Some partial ties might be able to nurse, but if interferes with sucking it might also interfere with speech later.

INVERTED NIPPLES-
There is a plastic device that you can get from a La Leche person that has holes in it for ventilation. You place it around your nipple. It forces the nipple out, making it easy for baby to latch and get milk. You take it off before the feeding.

FAILURE TO THRIVE-
I have nursed babies in both schedule and nonschedule (demand feeding) situations. My two babies that were nursed on demand were both failing to thrive, according to the pediatrician. However, when I changed over to schedule feeding, they would get very fat (28 pounds by six months). Scheduling for me was about what worked for baby,  not for me. I would schedule about every three and a half hours from start to start when they were just born and then work later to four hours when they were older. I focused on what baby's needs were, but just stretched them a bit so they were a bit hungry, feeding for about fifteen to twenty minutes (no more)....I would warn you to be careful about this. This was not about me. It was about what the baby needed. I would change things around to what their needs or growing needs were. My desire was to see them thrive. I would keep a close eye on wet diapers, weight, and poop. Keep a journal. The scheduling is really no different than what a hospital does with babies, feeding steady at each time. Not every mom finds this to be true for them. Some mom's find their babies thrive on demand feeding. My pediatricians were always upset if I did that because my babies would fail to thrive and grow on that type of feeding. So, I have to do schedule feeding. Perhaps, my milk is unusually rich and my babies wouldn't get the hind's milk, snacking and not getting that. However, follow what works for you and your baby. Watch weight, wet diapers, and poop. Make sure your baby thrives on whatever you decide.
Here are further tips to help baby gain weight while nursing:
Catnip Tea
Although I have had a history of very rich and fatty milk. I did have a baby that was recovering from the Rota Virus, and had difficult gaining weight after the sickness. I found that when my nursing babies need a little help with weight gain, catnip tea helped. My nutritionist mentioned having me drink Catnip tea. Wow, that did it! The baby would nurse a lot more with it.

However, beware because it will also cause you to want to eat more, too. You can put on extra pounds yourself, because it makes mom want to also eat more (he,he).

GarlicMom consumes garlic in her diet will also cause baby to really like the milk, sucking will be increased. Babies love the taste of garlic in mom's milk.

Flaxseed Oil
You can take this as a nursing mom, or you can give it to baby. It will really put on the weight!Be careful to get a good brand because this can go rancid easily, and some brands aren't careful in this. Check with a healthfood store, nutritionist, or go through www.nutriplexproducts.com to find a way to purchase this brand (it is organic and unrefined). You can give this to a toddler as well. It really fattens them up, which helped my Rota Virus recovering son gain needed weight.

Baby Has Problem with NursingI did find that after my third baby recovered from the Rota Virus, he didn't eat well because his colon hairs were unable to absorb the cows milk proteing that passed through my milk to him. My pediatrician explained all of this with drawings. Thus, I had to have my breatst milk expert, Dee Kassing (excellent LeLache lady-worth every cent to use her services), helped me find that milk doesn't just go as "milk" on the ingredient labels.  I had to learn all the other names it went under to eliminate it from my diet so my son could digest my milk.




COLDS-
 baby's can have a problem nursing when they have a runny nose. Ask your pediatrician for what salt solution you should buy for your baby. The pharmacy might also point you to one for the baby because I believe it is easy to obtain off the shelf. There is a salt spray you put in your baby's nose. Then you gently suction it out with a baby syringe before having the baby nurse. This helps the baby to breathe while trying to nurse.

NURSING TO BOTTLE AND BACK
If you need to leave baby for a bit then I recommend being careful to use a bottle that is recommended by LeLache. If you use the wrong bottle, you will create, what is called, confused sucking (baby will bite instead of sucking correctly to get milk). I found good success with Avent bottle, which are LeLache recommended. They don't confuse sucking. There might be some new ones on the market that I don't know about that LeLache recommends.