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Practically given up BFing - not happy :0(

So after all my debates around what to do with Holland I have nearly exclusively gone to expressing and feeding Holland Breast milk from the bottle as she constantly seemed hungry after feeds and took FOREVER to feed. I feel bad and upset about it as I really enjoyed feeding her from the breast, it was 'our' time together iykwim, I have tried feeding her for the last couple of mornings from the breast and she was on over an hour this morning on one side and I still managed to express nearly 1oz afterwards from it, so I know even if I sit with her she is not an effective BFer. So at least by expressing and feeding her I know she is getting it all including the hind milk. I will continue to try and do a feed a day from the breast just to see if she gets more efficient as she gets a little older - what do you ladies think?

Replies

  • ive been topping up with forumla in the evening as my milk supply seems to be quite low at that time of day. it does seem to make a difference and keeps her satisfied for a bit longer.



    its hard to say, i dont think your boobs ever "fully" run out of milk so its possible uve been able to express after shes finshed feeding. does she fall asleep at the breast? is she putting on weight well? if she is then i wouldnt worry about what your doing too much, keep up the good work and try to get her to feed from the breast if u want to!
  • I'm the same, come 4ish I seem to have nothing so have to ff. If I try to express I get zilch!
  • How are you doing BoB? Hope things are improving with the feeding. As lucy said, if she's putting on weight i'd just do whatever works for you both! x
  • Was just about to post aswell to see how you're getting on BoB.



    I actually emailed the la leche league for some advice & they were great & emailed me back so quickly.
  • Well I called La leche league too and they were pretty helpful but am still having problems with the length of time she feeds and amount that she takes in so have basically been expressing for 2 days now and feeding her BM from the bottle. She seems more content although I am worried that I am not producing enough as she drinks about 3oz each feed but by midday to end of day I am only producing about 2 oz! I am going to pump more today and see if that helps increase supply a bit. I have to say BFing is not the easier road for me but I really want her to get all my immunities etc. I also don't know how I will do feeds and pumps when DH goes back to work too as I can't feed her and pump at the same time as all the suction and bottles are in the way! How are you all getting on?
  • BoB has anyone suggested to you about eating oatmeal? It's supposed to help increase your supply.



    When she comes off is she releasing herself or does she stop sucking so you take her off? When she comes off what do you do, I mean do you try a bum change, winding or stripping her off then feeding again?



    Do you want to get her back on the breast do you think or switch to ebm then eventually formula?



    Sorry for all the questions but the coming off quickly is something I'm dealing with aswell so thought we could compare notes.



    Xxx
  • Sometimes she stops sucking, others times she falls asleep and falls off - so it's inconsistent but whether she stops or falls asleep it is usually about 45 mins to an hour on one side before she does that, then I will change her nappy, burp her, I usually have her in her baby grow only in any case before starting so she is pretty much stripped down, then I will try her on the other side sometimes she will suck, others she will just not be interested - I found that if I pumped after BFing her I would still get quite alot of milk out so figured she wasn't really getting much from the breast and I ended up bfing then expressing after and topping her up.



    La Leche League told me to try and stop swaddling her as it helps their sucking reflex overall, not just when she is feeding as like I say I strip her down for that but in general, I did try this but she likes to be swaddled sometimes and it's the only thing that will calm her sometimes along with a dummy. I would really like to get her back on the breast if she becomes more efficient as this would be much better for both of us, but I was feeding with a shield in any case due to early issues with her latching and the lactation consultant suggested using it and I haven't been able to get her off it now, also it hurts really bad without it, so I am not sure if that started some of the problems as I started the shield when she was 3 days old.



    If I can't get her efficiently on the breast I will keep giving her ebm for as long as I can although expressing every 2-3 hrs and then feeding her is still not very time efficient so long term I don't know whether I will stick it out or go to formula, like I say ideally I'd like to get her to be more efficient on the breast but as we are going at the moment I am expressing all the time now - so not sure how easily she will go back to the breast.
  • I stopped bf'ing completely for 9 days & have managed to get Thomas back on the breast so it is possible.



    When you say it hurts without the shields do you think this could be because your latch is not quite right?? I remember you saying you struggled to get her to open wide enough, is that still an issue?



    Have you tried switch feeding? It's when you change sides every 20-30 mins, it helps keep baby awake but should be enough time on each breast to get the fatty milk.



    It's so hard this breastfeeding, every time I think we've cracked it I hit another hurdle! My current hurdle is getting Thomas to stop yanking himself off as he keeps reopening the cracks on my nipples I've been working so hard to heal. And when he does it, wowser I hit the roof!!
  • She won't latch at all without the shields now in any case, it's like the world has ended for her if I try! And yes it is most probably her latch that makes it hurt but seeing as she won't latch without the shield now I guess it doens't matter!



    Tough night last night, she wanted to feed every hour from 7 until near midnight then woke again at 3am and wouldn't sleep until 5.30, only got her to sleep by putting her on my breast until she dropped off - it is so difficult!
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