OAL

OK, I've read that some of you have great management ideas for OAL. What
are some of these? My DD is now 8w3d and I always feel like I am either
drowning her or me. I am tired of waking up soaking wet; having to decide
on what shirt to wear determined by how much leakage will be obvious; seeing
my DD choke on milk that comes out too fast - you get the idea.
What can I do about this, besides wean her? I'm hoping to nurse at least 2
years..
THANKS!
Edith
DD (Lizard) napping on lap

E wrote:

OK, I've read that some of you have great management ideas for OAL. What
are some of these? My DD is now 8w3d and I always feel like I am either
drowning her or me. I am tired of waking up soaking wet; having to decide
on what shirt to wear determined by how much leakage will be obvious; seeing
my DD choke on milk that comes out too fast - you get the idea.
What can I do about this, besides wean her? I'm hoping to nurse at least 2
years..

My letdown calmed down as time went by -- it's still very active, but
I don't feel like a freak of nature any more. So... patience? And
nursing pads?

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

I check this e-mail account infrequently

I have the same problem. He is going on 3 months tomorrow. It's really hard
to nurse in public. If I'm not watching him he drowns in milk or I get a
huge wet spot. It's impossible to discreetly put a blanket over him because
I always need to watch him. poor kid is always choking on it.
It's also not that convenient to squirt some out in public. How do you do
that without getting attention?
Kris
"Sara" wrote in message
...
E wrote:

OK, I've read that some of you have great management ideas for OAL.
What
are some of these? My DD is now 8w3d and I always feel like I am either
drowning her or me. I am tired of waking up soaking wet; having to
decide
on what shirt to wear determined by how much leakage will be obvious;
seeing
my DD choke on milk that comes out too fast - you get the idea.
What can I do about this, besides wean her? I'm hoping to nurse at
least 2
years..

My letdown calmed down as time went by -- it's still very active, but
I don't feel like a freak of nature any more. So... patience? And
nursing pads?

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

I check this e-mail account infrequently

K.B. wrote:

It's also not that convenient to squirt some out in public. How do you do
that without getting attention?

I never have done it. Sometimes Ollie pulls off and I look like a
human squirtgun, but only from my perspective -- I don't think anyone
else sees it. It gets my arm, or Ollie's neck, or I quickly pull up my
bra and let my nursing pad soak it up.

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

I check this e-mail account infrequently

E wrote in message ...
OK, I've read that some of you have great management ideas for OAL. What
are some of these? My DD is now 8w3d and I always feel like I am either
drowning her or me. I am tired of waking up soaking wet; having to decide
on what shirt to wear determined by how much leakage will be obvious;
seeing
my DD choke on milk that comes out too fast - you get the idea.
What can I do about this, besides wean her? I'm hoping to nurse at least 2
years..
THANKS!
Edith
DD (Lizard) napping on lap


OAL was very difficult for me the first several weeks, so I completely
understand. Something that sounds like no big deal to someone who hasn't
been through it is really something quite difficult to deal with!!!!

Many people suggested that I try latching on, getting a letdown, and then
popping baby off to let the flow go into a cloth diaper or something
similar. I tried this for a week and it just didn't help. Christopher
would be hysterical, I'd be soaked as the spray would go everywhere and he
would still choke after expressing what seemed like loads. Finally, I gave
in and started pumping 2-3 times a day. I would leave the pump set up in the
same place, wash it as soon as I could after I had pumped, and set it right
back up so that it was ready when I needed it. What I did was the
following:

Pump before first am feed (after getting out of bed). At first sign he
wanted to eat, before any crying, I'm head over to the pump, pump on ONE
side until letdown, and pump about 1.5-2 oz. That's how much *I* needed to
pump for him to nurse happily. You may not need to do so much. Only pump as
little as you need to, or you'll just increase your supply. After that
pumping, I'd just feed off that same side that I pumped for the next several
hours. Usually, pump around 8 or 9ish and use that side until about 1 pm or
so.

Early afternoon, 1 or 2 pm, first sign of hunger, pump off the other side
that i hadn't used since early morning. Then, same thing; nurse off that
side for the next few feeds until dinnertime. Then at dinnertime, do the
same thing with the first side.

I found that I was able to nurse him a few times off the one side with only
pumping that side once. And by nighttime, supply usually drops a bit so I
didn't have to pump then. The days I'd skip a pumping, I payed for it. He
got really fussy and popped off, on etc. And would be eating every 5
minutes. After a couple weeks I went to twice a day, then just first am for
a week or so and right around 10 weeks I was able to stop pumping. So maybe
you're almost there!

Does this all make sense?

laurie
mommy to Jessica, 27 months
and Christopher, 13 weeks

*This email address is now valid*

Sara wrote in message ...
E wrote:

OK, I've read that some of you have great management ideas for OAL. What
are some of these? My DD is now 8w3d and I always feel like I am either
drowning her or me. I am tired of waking up soaking wet; having to
decide
on what shirt to wear determined by how much leakage will be obvious;
seeing
my DD choke on milk that comes out too fast - you get the idea.
What can I do about this, besides wean her? I'm hoping to nurse at least
2
years..

My letdown calmed down as time went by -- it's still very active, but
I don't feel like a freak of nature any more. So... patience? And
nursing pads?

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

That wasn't enough for me, though;. Christopher was literally miserable if I
didn't try to control it.

laurie
mommy to Jessica, 27 months
and Christopher, 13 weeks

*This email address is now valid*

I check this e-mail account infrequently