Tricks to using Lact-Aid-determining flow of supplement

Great thread!! I had tons of questions when first using mine. I admit i hated to use it the first few days, but we really got the hang of it pretty quick in reality. I can usually feel the milk hitting my nipple when he first starts to suck, so i know that its coming out. If i dont have the tube in far enough, or in too far, he fusses and squirms around cuz he isnt getting the milk like he usually is. I just make him un latch and then reposition the tube and start over. I can tell usually because if you watch the bag for a minute or two, you can see it go down a little. I tried putting him on the breast and then trying to insert the tube, it didnt work for me at all. His latch was so strong and the tube is so flimsy that you cant shove it in his mouth at all. It takes a little while to get used to it but its worth using. I was VERY skeptical that i would continue to use it, but ive been doing it for 3 weeks now and not planning on stopping any time soon. I do find though that if you use all formula in it that its definetly alot thicker and harder for the baby to suck. I have donated breastmilk and always add some to make it thinner. Once that runs out i think i will just pump once or twice a day inbetween feedings and then keep that milk to mix in with the formula. It wont make a huge difference, but it will help. I would also suggest the multiple units. I have 4 that i use and thats just about right. I mix up 3 at a time and it works well for overnight. I have 2 for when he wakes up at night and one for in the morning right away. Then i mix the daytime ones as i go and mix the 3 for nighttime before bed. It does kinda suck when my son falls asleep nursing at 2am and then i have to go put him down upstairs, come back downstairs and clean the tube out, but i forgot about one last week and found it a day later, and its completely clogged. I cant get it to work now, so i guess 5 minutes of cleaning is worth it. Also, i played around with the height of the bag alot. Right now at 3 weeks old, i have the middle of the bag about even with my nipple. I put it higher for the first 2 weeks because he was getting so tired from sucking so hard that he would fall asleep half way through. Ive gradually dropped it down a little bit each day. i think i like the height of it now and maybe as he gets older i can drop it down even more. Its alot of trial and error, but definetly worth a try for those of you who are on the fence about using it. Good luck, Rach

Thank for your post! I am glad that things are going well for you! Your statement that you hated the Lact-Aid, at first, but then got the hang of it after a few days, is really important for other moms to read. I have known many moms who have tried it a time or two and decide it was too difficult and they would never get the hang of it and give up. I got to the point where I didn't need the bag hanger anymore and could literally put them together in the dark without putting the baby down. Of course, that didn't happen until I had been using it for months.I could never insert the tube with the baby at the breast, either. I either couldn't get it in far enough, or had to put my finger in so far that it broke the latch. I know Dr. Newman does that, but he is using a gavage tube (I think) which I am pretty sure is stiffer. If you don't want the baby to get the supplement right away, you can use some kind of small hair clip to keep the milk from flowing through the tube until you want it to. I usually just let them have the milk from the Lact-Aid right away. If it was a situation where the mom's milk production was enough that the baby only needed a little bit of supplement, it might be good to clip the tube. For the clogged Lact-Aid, I figured out how to get just about anything unplugged. If there is dried milk you can see in the tube, soak it in hot water to soften it a bit and then massage the tube gently with your fingers, to break up the dried milk. If you can't get water to go through it, after that, get a pot of boiling water, preferable distilled, if you live where the water is hard, add some vinegar to it and soak the Lact-Aid in it for a while. Then, with some kind of tongs, pick up the Lact-Aid, suck up some of the very hot water into the bulb syringe and force it through the tube. I wasn't always good about taking care of the Lact-Aids when I first got done with them. Occasionally, I would take one off and forget about it and then find it under a couch cushion weeks later. After lots of trying, I finally found that the above way would work to get out almost any clog. I had one that I had to give up on, but I'd used that one through two different babies, so it had been through a lot! I ran all my Lact-Aids through that every couple weeks or so, to make sure they didn't get any mineral deposits or anything to slow the flow. Happy nursing!Darillyn