I'm happy... sad... confused.... breastfeeding stuff

[J&K Mom]

I have Katie on formula/bottle during the day. I am still nursing at night 3-4 times per night. :( :rolleyes: :mad:

In one way it's nice. I'm not tied to her. Mike can feed her a bottle. We can take a bottle with us in public. My boobs have deflated a whole cup size. (I am very happy about that one! :D :D )

BUT. She doesn't seem as healthy as she used to be. It seem as though she's getting allergies. Under her eyes have gotten dark and she sneezes alot. SHe's also cranky alot. Not to mention she "asks" to nurse all the time. (She bangs on my chest)

I pumped the other day and got a TOTAL of 1/4 oz. :eek: That's both sides put together! SO I'm wondering if the reason she's up so many times at night could be I'm no longer producing enough to fill her tummy and keep her asleep.

I'm emotionally ready to be done with nursing. In the past I would be sad or guilty thinking about it but now I'm not. I was ok with it until I started seeing allergies and how upset she gets when I won't let her nurse. She doesn't understand. Her evals came back and it has her skewed from 4-8 months.

I just don't know if I should start back nursing. I know lots of people do the extended nursing, but I can't see a 2, 8, 10 year old hangin' from my breast!! :p just kidding!

If Katie CAN take a bottle and will continue to be able to go between breast and bottle should I let her nurse ? Or do I draw a line and say not at all?

If I start to let her nurse more often, will my production pick back up?

[wheeliebird]

Gee Micky wish I could help, never been there or done that!!:rolleyes: Sending you supportive {{{HUGS}}}!

[mama z]

Micky,

How is Katie doing on solid foods? Sorry, I can't remember. Seems like at 14 months she should be up to whole milk by now. If she's needing calorie suplimentation then should be on a different kind of formula than baby formula. It could be she's fussy because she's not getting enough. Andrew's nutritionist started him on Pediasure at about Katie's age.

Take care,
Laura

[Bec]

Yes, your supply will pick up again.

A couple of options that may or may not include nursing.

1. What formula does she eat? If you see allergies, change her formula.

2. Is she tired? Is she getting enough sleep waking to eat 3 - 4 times a night? After you nurse before you put her down for the night, you could "top her off". Give her a bottle of formula to see if it helps her sleep.

3. If you really want to be done nursing, try different formulas. If you don't mind nursing and want to get going again, every time she eats, have her nurse first. She won't get much but the law of supply and demand will kick in. Your body will begin producing more milk.

4. See an allergist. What allergies do other family members have? Spencer had piles of profuse vomiting when I stopped nursing. After 6 months of Docs telling us it was something else, we changed formula. I have a milk and corn allergy. So, I found a soy formula with brown rice syrup base. The Docs could never tell me if the vomiting stopped because I changed formula or if it stopped because he was coming out of the Encephalopathy following the vaccine. We still don't really know. I still don't let him have milk or corn.

* If you do see an allergist, remember that just because a test comes back saying she doesn't have an allergy to a food doesn't mean that is the case. Our Allergists says that the tests are 70% accurate. In my case, that was true. My test says I don't have an allergy to soy or corn. I don't have an IMMEDIATE reaction to these foods. I could eat a little popcorn today and be fine. If I ate it several days in a row, I would get red cheeks and a migraine. So, corn and soy require a build up in my system.

If you do decide to resume nursing, you will need to continue the bottle until your supply is back. I suggest in the meantime changing your formula.

Good luck.

[kathleenandjoe]

She ideally should be drinking whole milk and getting most of her nutrients through "solid" food by 12 months.

There are toddler formulas out there, but are really not necessary to use.

If you are emotionally ready to stop breastfeeding, then do it. I do not really know any child . . . especially between 8 and 15 months . . . that did not have a bit of a hard time giving up the breast. I kept thinking though - it would be even harder the longer I waited for both of us.

Even though she may be behind cognitivelly and motor-wise. . .she is still a 14 month old with nutritional needs of that age.

Any changes like this are bound to come with adjustments and possible allergies. Sometimes it's not an allergy - just a new thing the body is not used to.

Breastmilk is wonderful, but the physical/nutritional benefits of breastfeeding past 9 months are very much lacking proof. Past that, it is mainly for bonding and shoudl be done as long as mom and baby want. So if you are ready, then stop.

[J&K Mom]

Katie can't have milk or pediasure becuase of it has too much protein. Her "solids" have gotten better but still no where near enough. She eats maybe 2 oz 3 times per day, with a snack or 2 of baby stuff (puffs, zwieback)

She gets 2-4 oz at night in a bottle (with er meds in it) and then nurses to sleep.

They want her on the formula cause she had lost weight with just the nursing. that's the reason we started formula in the first place.

[Bec]

Yes, ideally for typical children, you do want to move to solids and whole milk at a year.

Spencer wasn't able to take anything other than formula until he was 16 months old or better.

He chucked everything thicker than formula.

I stopped nursing because I was afraid that my milk was causing him problems. But, that is when the vomiting kicked into high gear.

One of the biggest tricks with our kiddos is to manage their nutrition within the parameters of what works for them and their sensitive systems.

Can she do Soy formulas? That is a "different" kind of protein. Spencer couldn't do milk protein, still can't.

You might try something different (talk to your Ped first, then trust your gut) to see what happens. The reason I said the part in ()s is because the Docs at the hospital strongly didn't want me to change formulas.

He was chucking and keeping nothing down. To keep food in his tummy, I had to give him 10 ccs every 10 minutes. After an hour, I had to wait another hour for that to stay in his stomach before I could feed him again. 1st, he wasn't going to grow on that. 2nd, that is no way to live. They were talking feeding tube.

Oh, and the anti-vomiting meds they had him on were causing seizures that we needed to add anti-seizure meds to treat.

I thought, gee, change his formula and see what happens. Worst case, is nothing changes and we add a feeding tube. Best case, the vomiting stops, we ditch the anti-vomiting meds and the anti-seizure meds.

In Spencer's case, the last paragraph is exactly what happened. The Docs insist it was time for the vomiting to subside and had nothing to do with the change in formula. I don't know. Just seemed strange the timing was spot on.

Try something different, that is safe and healthy. If it doesn't help, try something else that is safe and healthy. Even when the Docs disagreed with my approach, see previous paragraph, I still informed them what I was doing. They were surprised that my approach worked.

[J&K Mom]

Katie can't have any kind of protein at all. It's not a specific type of protein. All protein is made up of 4 amino acids. Those 4 amino acids are converted to something else and then used by the body. With Katie's metabolic disorder, her body can't use 2 of those amino acids. They are not converted for use as energy/growth/whatever. The metabolic process for these stop with them causing a build up of methylmalonic acid, which poisons the body causing seizures, mental retardation, coma, and possibly death.

Thankfully we are not dealing with the full "version" of this disorder. A normal mm level is below 200, and people with full blown MMA can have levels of 20,000. Katie's WAS a 2400 and with her shot and avoiding protein, it is now a normal 156.

Jake vomited profusely as a baby. I always assumed it was just he couldn't tolerate the formulas. We changed them several times and he ended up on one of those nasty ones, but it didn't help. I REALLY think that he had high mma levels back then too. Vomiting after protein intake is a symptom.


OOOOOKKKKKKKKKay, enough of the medical lesson. :D :D Back to the question at hand. :D

That's bad that they put Spenc on meds because of meds. Crazy.

I give Katie her supper around 7 pm with the hopes it will keep her full for night. But it doesn't. Jake has never slept, and neither will KAtie.

[Carly'sMa]

My recollection is that the immunities a baby gets are in the first few days of breast feeding. I'm not sure that those protections would still be building up at this point.

I agree that allergies are more likely from introduction to solids.

How about a soft pasta at night. Carbs would make her sleep and fill her up. Would that be low enough in protein?

Do you see a nutritionist? I would think with the metabolic problem a nutritionist could help you. If she is not eating a lot of protein she probably is hungry during the night. And if you are not producing as much milk then she would need to nurse more frequently.

[PaulaScott]

All breastmilk has immunological properties no matter what the age of the child because it is made from white blood cells. So for as long as any baby continues to receive breastmilk, either directly from mom or by bottled expressed milk, she is receiving immunities from mom. The really cool thing is that if Mom is exposed to any illness, Mom starts building her own antibodies and the baby gets them immediately, therefore building the baby's immunity to the illness.

My source: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T020600.asp

Also, the amount that one pumps really isn't an indicator of how much baby is getting because many women will not respond to a pump as well as a baby and baby is more efficient at extracting milk than a man-made pump.

On the one hand, having been a bf'ing mom to all three of my kids and a former La Leche League member, I would really encourage your continuing to breastfeed Katie. On the other hand, I don't walk in your shoes and I do really really understand how hard it is to continue when you are sleep deprived, tired and stressed. And you are caring for not just one but 2 special needs kids! Ultimately you have to figure out what is best for your whole family. If continuing to bf works best for all of you, then by all means, and if not, then take comfort in the knowledge that you have provided the absolute you could for Katie for over a year and that's something pretty amazing.

Hugs to you!

[Firewing]

I quit nursing Donovan at 7 weeks,b/c he wanted to be attached all the time. With all of Tehya's needs too, I wasn't able to feed him enough to satisfy him. He now eats bottles only. I kind of felt guilty about stopping so early but my doc said that he already got all the antibodies and stuff so it would be ok.I miss the snuggly feeling of nursing tho.

[Bec]

Micky,

If she has problems with protein of any kind, you really shouldn't be nursing her at all since you can't filter out the protein that your body naturally provides her...

Unless I totally misunderstood your deal on the protein.

[J&K Mom]

Bec-
Breastmilk has the least amount of protein per oz. They were very glad that I was breastfeeding, up until she stopped gaining weight, that's when we started supplementing with formula.

There is a pro-free formula, but because Katie's levels aren't "dangerously" high, we haven't had to go that route. There is actually small amount of protein in about everything, but because they are so small, they can list it as 0 grams. We have a book that lists protein amounts in foods, and it even breaks it down into which foods are highest in the 2 amino acids that affect her.

If she had "true" methylmalonic acidemia. It would be a STRICT regimin. But because her levels aren't THAT high and with the aid of her shots, she can have SOME protein.

We do have a nutritionalist who specializes in metabolic issues. She has ok'ed us to start adding baby food meat blends and see how it affects her levels. No full meats and a big NO to whole milk. I asked. She said there is way too much protein in whole milk and that it is not as nutritionally complete as baby formula, and because she can't have a regular diet, she still needs her nutrients from the formula.

[Bec]

Ok, that makes sense. What a juggling act. :p

One day at a time and trust your gut.