expressing? updated*

[sarafet]

hi girls, just thought i'd let you all know how this is going..

aiden is taking a bottle of ebm a day, which is good but i have tried him on the breast a few times as suggested, but he just won't take it it's quite upsetting for me as i'd love him to take a few feeds a day, but i know it is my own fault, the poor little man will be mixed up with the different suckling actions

does anyone have any advice on how i could get him to latch on? i'm just about to give up now, it's really upsetting trying, then he starts crying and getting upset

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i breastfed aiden for the first 3 days in hospital, but he was feeding constantly and it was absolute agony while he was feeding the midwives kept saying he was latched on correctly, but it was REALLY painful, and my nipples ended up cracked and red the first day.

by day 3 i was dreading him wakening to feed because it was so painful the support in the hospital was awful, and when i spoke to the midwives about it, they admitted they just didn't have the staff to spend time with us so i gave up and started aiden on the bottle the following day.

he has been ok with formula, we've recently changed milk because he was being sick on sma, aptamil seems to be doing the trick just now though.

anyways, my question is - my boobies are still leaking, a LOT. they aren't engorged at all anymore, but they leak so much i'm constantly wearing pads. i was thinking today, do you ladies think i could try expressing some milk and giving aiden it? maybe one bottle a day even, just as an extra, so he's getting some breast milk?

the last thing i want to do to him is confuse him or give him an upset tummy etc, but i imagine it wouldn't do him any harm? has anyone done this successfully? any pros/cons? and also what would i need to express?

thanks girls, i'd really love him to get some breast milk, and it seems a shame for it to be going to waste when i'm leaking so much

 

[sarafet]

thanks midna, i feel if i had to try him again actually breastfeeding it might confuse/stress us both out, because he's obv used to sucking the bottle now

as long as i wouldn't do him any harm in expressing some, i might give it a go, while i still have the chance..

 

[valentine]

It certainly wouldn't do any harm. However, like midna says, its not too late to give b/feeding another go, I'm just worried you'll regret it if you don't.

Either way, you won't confuse him, he probably won't notice the difference, but the breast milk will do him loads of good.

Go for it and good luck!

Valentine Xxx

 

[sarafet]

thanks valentine, i've been expressing today to try build some milk up what do i need to store breastmilk in? i'll have a think about feeding him, it was just so painful last time i'm a bit put off

xxx

 

[DebbieM]

You can either store your breastmilk in a sterile bottle in the fridge for up to around 3 days or you can freeze it in a bag or container (I use breastmilk bags from Boots) for I think, 3 months. (You defrost it in the bag in a jug of warm water then use it within 24 hours once defrosted (put in the fridge until you're ready to use it once defrosted).

Perhaps you could give BFing a go? Just to see how you go. It will most likely hurt but like Midna said, it is short lived.

Good luck whatever you decide to do xxxx

 

[Sherlock]

You can hand express maybe? I do on occasion but its slow. I also use a pump (I get 6ozs out of a boob with an electric pump, about 3ozs if I hand express).

I think its great if you give that a go. Or even try to Bf again once expressing perhaps.

FWIW Lansinoh make great nipple cream for sore and cracked nips. Its not cheap but Mums swear by it. I bought a tube and only used it twice. I now use it to clear up LO's cradlecap

 

[sarafet]

updated in first post***

 

[purple13]

have you tried nipple shields? i was constantly told at the start that connor's latch was fine but he really struggled to feed and it became a real battle - him screaming, me crying - with him losing weight all the time. connor's first proper feed was formula from a bottle and i had to give him ebm after each bf attempt. after 3/4 weeks i went against the advice of midwives & HVs (and with leckershell's advice instead ) and started using shields. we haven't looked back since - they've been brilliant.

just thought they might be worth a go if nothing else is working?

 

[sarafet]

i'll try nipple shields..

he hasn't even latched on again, it's as if he's trying, but then spitting it out

 

[sarafet]

i've just got him to latch on

he's suckling, but i don't know if it's just comfort sucking or he's actually getting anything out? it doesn't seem to hurt like it did the first time round, hence why i don't thinnk he's getting anything..

 

[purple13]

woop! go aiden!!

can you go to bed for the rest of the day and just let him latch on as and when?? you'll soon know whether he's getting anything or not cos he'll let you know if he's hungry?

 

[kalia]

It doesn't hurt if you feed now, which is soooo different to the beginning!!!

If he won't latch on, nipple shields work really well.

Make sure he's always calm when he goes to the breast. If he gets stressed, stop, give him a bottle, then try again maybe halfway through the feed. You don't want him to think of the breast s a bad thing so don't let him cry there for long. You may need to shape your boob with your hand so he can latch on.

That's all the advice I can remember. My LO just had bottles of expressed milk from 3 days old but we tried, with support, to take up breastfeeding again at 5 weeks and with the advice we were given we can now do this. But we don't because I prefer bottle feeding.

 

[sarah2807]

i agree with the advice to try nipple shields. i struggled toget violet to latch on to one side but could do it with the shields. i thought i was gonna have to use them for good but started taking it off half way thro the feed and reducining the time i used it....now she can latch on perfectly!!!

 

[Sherlock]

Also have a look at what teats you are using with the bottles. Some have a fast flow action which requires LO's to be lazy and not suck so hard. When I was expressing for Galen we made sure we got ones that had teats that required him to really have to suck to get milk from them. Also we got the nipple shaped teats (NUK make them I know, not sure who else) so he didn't have the confusion between boob and bottle with a flat teat (same with the dummies, only got nipple shaped ones not flat ones).

As he had to work at getting milk from the bottle he was never inclined to get lazy when back on my boob. Maybe change your teats and when giving him formula give him ones he has to work to get milk from. You'd be surprised at the amount of effort they require to get milk flowing from the boob so a bottle keeps it going also. May make him more inclined to suck harder on your boobs

And yeah what the others suggested. Get thee to bed, loads of skin on skin and letting him suck away to stimulate your supply. The more he sucks, even if you think he's not getting much, the more it encourages your boobs to produce. I massage my boobs a bit and find that even just hearing Galen cry with hunger now has my milk flowing