I found that new baby smell almost intoxicating. I dunno how to describe it other than that.
We did that. Eventually.
Do not believe that every person can breast-feed. Most can, but some small minority can’t. My wife put herself though hell trying every possible method, without success. As did I - many feedings with tubes taped to my fingers.
The kid is now nearly 9, and the fact he got pumped milk and formula really isn’t a big deal.
The frustrating thing is that I have PLENTY of milk. (Well, Lefty does. I am disappointed with Righty’s performance and believe you me I will not forget come evaluation time!) If Tater were getting it himself instead of this less efficient pump I could be winning awards at the State Fair.
Heh, thank you. I’d only ever heard that expression metaphorically and had been looking for a decent translation for defecto de frenillo for decades 
You just gave me that translation! One of by deacheds hazit - a’d a name full of Rs
Whaaat? Depending on the woman, that can be a whole lotta tit for such a little mouth!
Which is why it wasn’t necessary in my case, and I can’t believe the LC insisted on it, but it was a “rule,” which if not followed supposedly resulted in pain, and a high number of women giving up.
I never had any pain, except when I had mastitis, and it was pretty obvious that’s what the problem was, because it was just on one side, it was warm to the touch, and the pain was only when he first latched-- it went away once he got going. I knew enough to take my antibiotics for the whole ten days, but the pain went away after I’d been on them for 24 hours.
It is kind of crazy when you see the diagram of the inside of the baby’s mouth just what they’re doing with your nipples in there. They do take a surprisingly big bite and then they suck that bad boy halfway down to their livers, it looks like.
Oh, and look who wins Most Improved Smell!
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a baby smell good. It’s not like puppy breath, after all. 
StG
They smell good for about an hour after they’ve had a bath.
Yeah, the baby shampoo smells good.
Well, I think I’m reaching the end of this goddamned “Breastfeeding Journey” and I am so freaking upset about it. So first he didn’t gain and we had to use bottles and I was pumping around the clock and hating it. But he gained. Then Friday I had another appointment with the LC to see if we could manage to nurse now that he’s bigger and stronger and has more head control, etc. and he had a great feeding there! Well, great for him - for me it was excruciating, but that seems to be part of the bargain with him. He’s just gonna chew. But i thought, if we can just get it going… So we tried doing half of his feedings at the breast and I went in for a weight check today and he flunked.
I don’t know if I can go back to pumping. Last night I just laid in bed sobbing about the whole thing. It just seems so ridiculously wasteful to go to formula - I have all this milk! I just can’t get it into the baby with any degree of efficiency and it just all fucking sucks. And breastmilk is free, and we don’t have a ton of spare money just hanging around on the money tree, and the whole thing is just awful.
Oh, and he’s losing his hair, but not all over. My adorable baby now looks like the guy who’s denying you a loan at the credit union. AND he hasn’t pooped in three days so you just know that’s gonna be a barrel of laughs.
We also started using pacifiers because we are awful parents and hey, I guess the world needs ditchdiggers too.
Hey! I was a bottle baby, and I’m a freaking GENIUS! And half of my kids used pacifiers. You can’t tell, based on their intelligence, which ones. (I’d have used pacifiers, or anything else that worked, for all of 'em, but some just refused.)
You’re fine. Peanut is awesome. I understand the worry about the cost of formula, but how much would you anticipate spending on your mental therapy while trying to soldier through breastfeeding? And, do you really want to spend the next ?? months being miserable, instead of enjoying your amazing kid, and learning how to be a family?
It’s not worth it. Pitch the pump. Enjoy your kid. And be kind to yourself. You’ll have plenty of shit to beat yourself up about as you take this journey. This isn’t one of those things.
Ugh, I’m sorry about the breastfeeding. If you go to formula – which is awesome! I was a formula baby – see if you can get free formula samples from your doctor and from other people you know who are having babies. I got a bunch of samples from my ob-gyn and pediatrician, only about half of which we ended up using (they all had end dates at the same time, and we were doing half-and-half bf/formula) and I would have loved to have given them to people who could have used them.
I mostly wanted to chime in to say that pacifiers are AWESOME. We started at about this time (~1 month, right?) – when the Medium One was a baby, all the first-time baby parents were talking about how it would be SO EVIL to use pacifiers, and all the parents who had already been through the toddler stage told me, “USE THEM. Pacifiers are WAY easier to get rid of than fingers in the mouth.”
Fast-forward four years. All those first-time baby moms I know who eschewed the pacifier? Their kids are ALL still sucking their fingers and their parents are tearing out their hair about it. The ones who used pacifiers (including my child)? Not a single one, and all those kids have given up the pacifier by now.
My son would not use a pacifier, and I wish he had, because maybe he would have slept better. Didn’t suck his thumb, either.
Breastfeed him if it’s comfortable, and then give him a couple of bottles of formula as well-- or decide how many times you will pump a day-- 2, 4, 5, whatever is below exhaustion, and give him additional formula.
There is absolutely no reason not to do 1/2 & 1/2. The way doctors, La Leche, and WIC all talk, you have to choose, but you don’t. Maybe you will pump in the morning, and the evening, so he’ll have breastmilk at lunch and bedtime. That’s still beneficial.
Check into WIC. It’s surprising how much money you actually can make and still qualify, so you may be able to get help paying for formula that way. You don’t have to be below the poverty line. Also, talk to your pediatrician. I think the generic stuff is pretty much just like the brand names.
Just so you know, it’s normal for breastfed babies not to poop much. The food is so efficient, there’s not much waste. My son pooped just once or twice a week.
I know it is hard to hear, but please, please do not stress yourself out about breastfeeding! The exact scenario you describe happened to us, and we now have a lovely 9 year old boy.
Some people have way over-sold the importance of ‘the breastfeeding experience’ to the point where my wife was in total dispair over the whole thing, feeling like a failure. Finally, we just said ‘enough is enough. We will pump and bottle feed, even if this makes us worse than Nazis’.
Know what? It really makes very little difference. The important thing is a healthy, happy baby, and a healthy, happy mom. If you are worrying yourself sick over it, you are doing yourself and the kid no good. If you have to go to the bottle, then so be it.
Allegedly, modern studies show there is little difference.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/is-breast-feeding-really-better/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
“Sir, you cannot seriously expect this institution to extend credit without appropriate collateral!”
You were hilarious about it! You’ll be fine!
(I’m hilarious about my 3-day delivery, too. Someday if you’re up to it, ask me about it.)
wonder congrats omg baby how love wah to you! ~ tapu, la mama de Asa
That’s still the cutest thing I’ve seen in a donkey’s age! And only half the hair to wash. Mommy saves time, and half the cost of shampoo (until it grows back in. And it will. I promise.)
Hell, every one of my kids were bald as a cue ball for up to a year. I despaired that the teenage boy would ever grow any hair, and he now possesses the most beautiful head of thick, wavy auburn hair you’ve ever seen. My girls have hair that ranges from “medium dishwater blonde” to just plain brown. They’re all jealous of my boys’ wavy auburn hair. “But it’s not FAIR! That hair is just wasted on Zack and William!”
Feed the baby formula and don’t have another thought about it, hon. You tried. It didn’t work. No matter what La Leche League says, the truth is that mothers and babies have been having this problem since the dawn of history, and that’s what wet nurses were for. You ain’t have trouble because of anything that anyone did, it just is.
As I’ve said in this thread before (I think), I lasted two weeks and two days. All formula after that. My daughter is tall, slim, strong, smart, and has no allergies. It’s fine.
And money? Yep, kids cost money. This is just the start.
Tell La Leche to keep the nose out of your breasts.
And the baby looks a good bit like Clint Howard.
StG