Need support please....

[freepie]

Hiya,

I need a bit of support, have been breastfeeding for 8 weks and it has been gettin harder recently. James still has 4 feeds during the night, and in the first few minutes he is feeding really well, but then it takes longer for him to get a mouthful until he swallows. I have been thinking that my milk has not been coming as well, and this has also been proven by me using a pump. I can pump 2oz no problem, but anything more than that can take up to 1 hour and a half!! James has to latch on and off each breast for up to 2 hours until heseems satisfied. Today was the last straw, we are going out tonight and it has taken me over a day to express 6oz so he can go to a friends house. After that, it was as if i had no milk, he came to feed and there was nothing. I tried each breast, different positions etc. In the end, with me in tears my husband went and bought formula. He had several oz's and crashed out.

After speaking to friends etc, i am thinking of giving him a bottle of formula in the evenings just so i can get some rest, and to continue breast feeding in the day. I feel so down and worn out.

 

[Squiglet]

tbh to get 2oz out while still fully bfing is amazing. Unless you miss a feed don't expect to get much more and it certainly isn't an example of how much milk you have. Introducing formula on serves to tell your body that your baby doesn't require you as much and your milk will drop.

The idea that a baby should be feeding every 4 hours and taking a set amount for each age is for bottle babies only and you cannot apply this theory to bf'd babies at all.

The fast feed in the first 10 minutes is your fore milk...this is the thinner milk thats thirst quenching... the hind milk, which takes him longer to get at, is thicker and more satisfying, but they have to work harder to get at it and this is no indication that your milk isn't coming in. He will get much more skilled at getting this milk AND the breast pumps always have trouble getting at this.

6oz probably was an entire feed for him so I can understand why you had nothing left for him... so unless you have skipped a feed, try and build up a store steadily over several days rather than take it all at once unless you are going to give the ebm as that next feed.

The reason formula is so popular is because it has casein in it which isn't absorbed by the human gut (even adults have issues), and it sits in the tummy making babies think they are fuller, makes them sleep longer and deeper, again this is in the current research for SIDS and why bfing lowers the risks, as the babies are never "full" so constantly look for food, and never sleep deeply.

The formula will give you a break, but will interfere with your supply. So unless you want the formula to be a permanent feed each night, don't introduce it... just express little by little. Remember bf'd babies feed loads and are always on the boob but as long as the poop 2/3 times a day, wee around 6 times and gain weight well then you are doing just fine and everything is normal.

bfing is hard and tiring, the growth spurts are the worst, but in those days I'd pop lil miss in a sling, latch her on and away we'd go or just loaf on the sofa watching telly... lil miss is a lot older than your baby and the other night she fed 4 times in the night, but thats unusal. You have to be pretty stubborn to feed a baby yourself, especially when everyone around you tells you the feeding all the time isn't normal, or that they want to do it ...but to me it was no worse than being pregnant and to know that those 9 months of hard slog produced my beautiful child then a few more months of bfing can't be any harder but just as rewarding... now its easy for me... I can't imagine fussing with bottles every day and spending hundreds of €'s on formula... but as my mum says I'm as stubborn as her and thats saying something

 

[monster_munch]

what she said basically
But don't beat yourself up for giving bubs some formula, breast feeding is so hard sometimes, and we all need a break xxx

 

[Natural mamma]

My existence in those first months is to be one big BOOB ...thats it...mine are slow feeders and can go at it for hours and hours...but its like planting a seed you reap the rewards later ...honest...
sguiglet said it all x it does get less by about 5 months...

 

[purple13]

fab advice from squig as ever

 

[charlie84]

I think squig has said it all