Breastfeeding Questions

Helloooo ladies

Apologies for only replying now. I'm NOT getting any notifications on this thread

Karmie has given some great advice.

Congrats on the pregnancies. Ninies, please don't beat yourself up about not bf the first one successfully. Once you know better, you do better

I'm just going to comment in general of what I've read here as it will apply to both you and MommywannaB

Please don't purchase a pump now. There is really no need for it now. What works for one mother, might not work for the next.
Some women prefer electric over manual and others express more by hand. I was never successful with hand expressing but had to do the odd hand expressing occasionally when I forgot my pump at home.

You will need to decide what will work for you. I preferred a double pump to stimulate my supply on both breasts. I expressed 3 times a day at work, every 2-3 hours.

Please don't start expressing now. You can go into early labour!

I would ditch the jungle juice recipe completely. There is nothing in it that proves it will increase milk supply. It is loaded with sugar and can cause thrush in both you & baby & can upset their tummies. It is more an energy boost.

The best way to increase supply is to demand feed. I know in the hospital they prefer a schedule. Please don't follow their advice. A bf baby can't overfeed. Bm digests in about 90mins, so it's normal if they want to feed every hour, 1 1/2 hours or 2. Don't watch the clock. Your breasts are their to comfort your baby, feed them, console them etc. I don't believe in dummies overall but more so in the first few weeks of life because it can interfere with breastfeeding. Some moms will argue with me on this but it can cause nipple confusion or you miss their hunger cues because they cried & you thought by giving a dummy it will calm them and then that causes your breasts to make less milk.

It is all about supply and demand. The more you feed, the more milk you will make.

Ninies, I know A LOT of moms preferred the Spectra Dew 350 above Tommee Tippee. I first had the Lansinoh & then moved over to the Medela Swing Maxi. Both good pumps but each person's body reacts different to a pump. Remember, what you express is NO indication of your supply. Your baby extracts way more milk than a pump <3

Eat as healthy as possible, get as much rests as you can (hard, I know) and keep well hydrated while bf & enjoy the journey!

I hope I didn't miss anything else hahaha

@MommywannaB - your question just got me thinking...
"If you have decided to start before birth would you express and save or discard?"
I dont know if my body will even make milk before the birth. And the first few days is only Colostrum so I dont think there will be anything to pump before the birth. But I was thinking if I start taking Jungle berry juice before the birth will it make a difference to my milk after birth? Not sure.

@Karmie - thanks for the interesting article on the Oatmeal. I will definitely eat Oatmeal every morning as I do believe it is the food of champions. My baby is due in April so there is nothing as nice as a hot bowl of porridge on a cold day.

I am with gloei on jungle juice. Unfortunately it did nothing for my milk supply. What did help immensely was oats porridge. see exclusivepumping.com/oatmeal-experiment-...-increase-my-supply/

But what may work for one person, may not work for another, but everything is worth a try

Mommywanabe, the nurse was right. The more you feed your baby, the more milk your body will start making. Your body will get the message that because you are nursing/pumping frequently it needs to make sufficient milk to keep up. Our bodies are amazing!

On pumping, I would hold off on pumping (unless you really have to) during the first two weeks after baby's birth. Rather feed baby as frequently as you can and he/she wants to. Babies are much better to remove milk than a pump can ever be.

Double pumping is generally better, as you get more milk than single pumping.

If you want to read up on the science and some usefull tips on breastfeeding and punping, Kellymom.com is a trusted website with good information.

Mommywanabe, don't feel anxious, you will be fine! There are actually thousands of books out there. Some better than others. But even as good a guideline a book can give you, babies don't read books (yet) and sometimes they just throw us a curve-ball - typically just when you think you have everything figured out Best is to keep a sense of humour and just to go with it, you will be absolutely great

Well at least your milk did not dry up, I am afraid of something like that for myself.

When I went for my 4D scan the nurse there asked me if I would be breastfeeding and she mentioned something interesting, she said that the more you feed or pump the more milk you will have. I am no expert but what other moms saying that you should trust your instinct (feed when you feel you have to) maybe things would be different.

Good to know, cause I am looking at breast pumps at the moment . Would it be better to get a double pump or single?

It’s a pleasure, the one PA at the office said the juice worked wonders for her so we might as well try it.

If you have decided to start before birth would you express and save or discard?

This whole mother thing is giving me anxiety. Some days it feels like I have failed already seeing that I don’t know anything. Sometimes I wish there was a book

gloeiwurmpie - Thank you for the warning. I can only think that the sugar in the drink can be a bit to much. Seeing that baby gets what ever we are eating or drinking I am wondering about the sugar content for them? Who knows

Hi ladies!

I just would like to caution against the famous Jungle Juice from my personal experience. We ended up with thrush for the first 4 months after the birth and I believe it is due to the high sugar content in that recipe. I would rather encourage to drink lots of water and eat a well balanced diet with enough protein. Just my 2 cents. xx

Hi Ladies

@MommywannaB - In my most honest opinion, I dont think my milk dried up the first time. I think I just did not try hard enough the first time. I am not entirely sure what I did wrong but think that I did not feed enough on demand. In the hospital they told us that baby will feed every 3 hours and I think I tried to stick to that and was not flexible on feeding on demand.

The manual pump did not work for me so I would not buy one again. It will have to be an electric one - but the question is which one.

Thanks for the recipe. This is the recipe for the Jungle berry juice which they say may help increase milk supply. I also used this the previous time. I even drank milk stout.... I have been thinking of starting to drink this jungle berry juice before the birth? I just dont know if it will be beneficial at all. I still need to do some homework on that...

Hi Ladies,

Ninies - I am so glad you have asked the questions, I am also unclear on the breast pumps etc. I am a 1st time mom and I really don't know what to expect. All I know is that I would really like to breast feed him. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a pump unless the thing will work.

My main concern is my milk drying up like a lot of woman say happened to them (or it was an excuse not to) anyway I have found a recipe that they claim helps with increase breast milk but I am not so sure if it helps or if it will do harm.

Herewith the recipe if someone can give advice.

Makes 2 Litre
• 1Ltr apple or berry juice (can be up to 2ltr depending on how much flavour you want)
• 1ltr water
• 50ml HerbaForce Schlehen Blackthorn Berry Flixer
• 1 sachet blackcurrent Rehydrate
• 1 Cal-C-Vita tablet
• 10 drops of rescue remedy

Thank you for your input.