breastfeeding and expressing help

[gangofgin]

baby is 3 weeks 3 days old now.

when i was in hospital, i was feeding him constantly and getting nothing as my milk hadnt come yet. the midwife advised me to give him a top up as he was such a big baby, so i did.
when we got home, i carried on with the feeding him and gave him a top up approx once a day of 3oz.
unfortunatly its got harder and harder and although i am still trying him with the breast every feed, he just doesnt seem to be content after feeding and ive been giving him more formula, its very rare he feeds without a forumla top up now.
ive tried expressing by hand and i get nothing at all, ive got an electric pump and the most ive ever expressed is 2oz and thats very rare..infact i just tried now and i have a total of 1oz from both boobs...and hes not fed since 6pm, and then he had to be topped up by formula.

im so close to just giving up completely, but i feel really guilty and i feel like a failure already with giving him formula so often.

 

[purple13]

how long and how often is he feeding for hon? bf babies spend sooo much time on our boobs cos its how they get the flow established - our bodies react to their feeding and produce the milk accordingly.

the first few weeks can be really hard and i had similar problems with connor not getting enough to eat; against my judgement i gave him one or two top-ups with formula, but bf-ing slowly got easier and he's now exclusively breastfed.

bf babies generally eat far more frequently than formula babies as booby milk is digested much faster, therefore they get hungrier again quicker. when they're still newborns it can feel like they never stop feeding - even now connor still feeds pretty much every 1.5/2 hours during the day, sometimes even more (he gets distracted too easily these days )

its not unusual to not get anything out with expressing - it just doesn't work for some people. but that's not to say that your baby isn't getting all the milk that he needs - they're far more efficient than machines.

if you can, just get yourself to bed with your baby and let him feed as often as he wants. if he isn't satisfied after a feed, just let him feed again. get lots of rest, drink loads and eat well. he's still v little and its still early days. you're not a failure at all - bf-ing is sooooo hard in the first few weeks; i came close to giving up several times but i really do love feeding my baby now. if you can stick with it, it will get much easier.

 

[gangofgin]

thanks for replying.

im feeding about every 2 hours..sometimes 3, and its a constant battle of either waking him up as he falls asleep instantly or screaming..and its when hes screaming i usually give in and give him formula.

ive ditched the cow and gate, didnt have formula during the night last night, and was feeding every hour..and between 3 and 6 it was just constant falling asleep when on boob then crying when i put him down. hes had none today either and has been feeding every 1.5 - 2 hours.

he was 10lb 10 at birth, then he dropped to 10lb. a week last friday he got weighed again and he was 10lb 10. hes not been weighed since then as my crap hv cant bring scales cos she had to have a shoulder operation in 2004 and she cant carry them

 

[Sherlock]

Sounds like he is doing ok there

The constant needing to feed sounds normal at his age. Espeically as he is a big boy (am Mum to one of those myself and know how demanding it can be for breastfeeding).

Formula is heavier and more filling and takes longer to digest. But although I was tempted I stuck to my boobs and my LO worked on them and got a great milk flow and supply going. It was *exhausting* the first 4 weeks till it all sorted itself out but he now has plenty of milk from my boobs and is gaining weight just fine. He just more or less lived on my boobs till then.

I'd keep feeding your LO on the boob as the more he feeds from them the better the supply. Don't be afraid to swap boobs either if he has well and truly drained one and still needs more. I did that also and now if my LO feeds I only need one boob as there is more than enough milk. If he looks for more anytime within 2 hours then he goes back on the same boob. I can express 6 ozs off one boob now also. I could only get one in the beginning

Good luck