Co-Nursing IRL 1 Month Update

Lesbian mommies, Jillian and Tara, give an update on how co-nursing in real life is going 1 month in with their son, Auggie.  Topics include power pumping, cracked nipples, Jillian going back to work, the challenges and rewards.

Howdy mamas!  Jillian here – sharing an update on how co-nursing is going for us 1 month in.  

When you have a newborn time really does fly!   I just read back through our first week post and It seems like a distant memory.  Things change so fast and I’m so happy I’m capturing it all here not only to share with all of you, but for reference for me as well 🙂

So much happens every week as a first-time-parent – it literally seems like week are double the amount of time because we’re learning SO many things. Here’s our week-by-week take of everything that happened during the first month of co-nursing.  

Week 2: Pump, pump, pump it up!

Getting through 1 whole week of co-nursing felt like a huge achievement!  Auggie getting back up to birth weight was a huge sigh of relief and allowed us to stop having to track everything (which was nice).  This was also the week we started to feel like we had a grasp on parenting and co-nursing. If you forgot the classic early ‘00 Pump It Up reference listen here.

Once we knew Auggie was getting all the nourishment he needed (and the OK from the doctors) our two big goals were to nurse longer and build our milk supply.

Co-Nursing Schedule

• During the Day: We would switch off breastfeeding Auggie until our breasts were emptied and feed him formula is he was still hungry.  We would always pump while the other was nursing. We would also pump after breastfeeding to try and increase milk supply
• During Night: We followed pretty much the same schedule, but weren’t totally religious about pumping while the other fed.  

Progress

At the end of the week we had our 2 week check in with our pediatrician and Auggie got an A+.  He was up to 10 lbs + and definitely earned his milk monster status.  We were both producing more milk, but Auggie had what felt like an insatiable thirst so we were still supplementing with about 8-12 oz of formula/day,

Unexpected Challenge

Cracked Nipples

Because we weren’t producing enough milk we both started pumping after we would feed every time.  For Tara, this combo caused her to get a crack on the top of one of her nipples.  So on that side Tara stopped breastfeeding and would only do very light pumping. Then used the softshell covers, earth mama angel baby nipple cream and lanolin to try and heal it as quickly as possible.

Gas

Auggie ended up having a real problem with gas (even if we were extra careful with burping).  We did 3 things that all helped a lot:

1. Switch to the MAM Bottle
2. Little Remedies Gas Relief
3. Tummy Pressure “Exercises”

Week 3 – I Went Back to Work, Power Pumping, Clogged Ducts, and Trush

This was a crazy week.  There were LOTS of things that happened from a co-nursing perspective.

Going Back to Work While Co-Nursing

Oh man… I have to admit that going back to work was a totally mixed bag of emotions and practicalities for me.  I wasn’t really ready to leave my baby, but I went back and actually do love my job, so then I felt guilty for not feeling as guilty as I thought I was supposed to, all while trying to figure out what our new co-nursing schedule should be… it was a bit crazy to say the least.

The first night I attempted to get up and pump or nurse, but on Tuesday I was literally a zombie, so Tara and I talked and decided she would take the night shift:

Jillian Back-to-Work Co-Nursing Schedule

• From Beadtime: Tara took the night shift with Auggie – would breastfeed then started pumping after feeding to increase milk production.

• Morning: I would wake up for work, feed Auggie if he was hungry and pump if not then head to work.

• During the Day: Tara breastfeeds then pumps after having to supplement less than week 2 and milk production started to increase.  I would pump twice while at work.
• Evening:  As soon as I get home I breastfeed Auggie and pump after and take “lead” to give Tara and break plus get in bonding time after being away all day.

Power Pumping FTW

Are you familiar with power pumping?  The idea is to pump simulating a baby going through a growth spurt to help produce more milk.  The protocol is pumping 20 mins on, rest for 10 mins, 10 mins on, rest for 10 mins, 10 more mins on then your done.  So it’s 3 mini sessions in an hour.  We were researching all the different ways we could increase supply and this sounded worth a try.  We both did it 3 mornings in a row and the results were amazing.  By the end of the week we were down to supplementing only a couple ounces/day.

Unexpected Challenge: Clogged Duct & Thrush

Clogged Duct

Tara got a clogged duct but didn’t even know it was clogged because the combo of still being in pain from all the sutures and being on pain meds led to a late discovery of the clogged duct.  All of a sudden i look down into the bottle Tara was pumping and there as a big reddish pinkish blob.  I screamed, “OMG WHAT IS THAT” and then googling pursued.  The next couple days consisted of heating packs on her boobs and lots of pumping sessions to clear the duct.  

Thrush

Auggie ended up getting a staph infection on his thigh from the hospital and had to take a 10-day course of antibiotics.  Our doctor told us to keep an eye out for Thrush (a mouth yeast infection common in babies) because antibiotics kill the good bacteria (along with the bad).  We noticed he tongue was white and wouldn’t wipe off, so we called the advice nurse and we got a mouth antifungal prescribed.  Thrush is especially a pain in the ass when you’re co-nursing because you want to be cautious not to transfer Thrush from baby to mommies and for us that meant WAY more dishes and sanitizing.   The antifungal also made Auggie fussie… bottom line is Thrush SUCKS.  

Week 4 – No Longer Needing Formula

Bye Bye Formula

Week for was a huge milestone for us because it marked a month of co-nursing plus we were finally producing enough milk to no longer need to supplement with formula.  This was such an amazing moment for both of us.  It was really validating to not only product enough for him to eat, but we were consistently producing enough to start freezing excess milk as well.  We didn’t have to power pump any more, but the few days of power pumping in week 3 really continued to do magic for both of our milk supply.

Milk Production

We were both pumping a lot more (compared to breastfeeding) because of a couple reasons.  For me going back to work obviously means I’m away from baby and couldn’t feed on demand othen than when I was home at night (which I did).  For Tara, her cracked nipple lead to more pumping plus the fact that we had a people over constantly made it easier for her to bottle feed pumped milk about 50% of the time. Because of this we have a good idea of how much we were pumping in addition to feeding.  

• Tara: Pumping 20 ounces/day – breastfeeding 8 times a day for about 15-20 mins (on one side)
• Jill: Pumping 4 ounces/day – breastfeeding 2-3 times at night for about 15 mins (total on both sides)

More Info on Induced Lactation & Co-Nursing

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