I thought we were doing quite well mainly breastfeeding with one formula feed at the end of the day. Oscar hasn't been putting on large amounts of weight and is slowly dropping down the percentile graph but my HV has been pleased with his progress especially in light of his tongue tie. He has displayed colicky symptoms since birth pretty much and the shrieking in the evening has steadily been getting worse. We had company yesterday evening and it really brought it home exactly how bad the screaming was until he got his bottle (9oz of water so about 10.5oz in total) then he changed into the happiest little content baby like he normally does. Usually of an evening, I pretty much breastfeed him from 6pm until his bottle feed which we have been bringing earlier and earlier of late as this is the only thing that seems to stop the screaming.
This morning I was woken early (he usually sleeps through) and fed him from about 6am onwards until about midday when my OH called. Every half hour or so Oscar would fall asleep on the boob only to wake up screaming minutes later and start to feed ferociously again I haven't been feeling well for a couple of days, got the cold/cough thing that is going around so was feeling pretty crap when OH called and together we made the decision to give Oscar another formula feed. I dragged us both out of bed and he again turned into a happy contented little smiley baby after the formula feed. In fact I was able to put him down for an hour and a half nap when usually he refuses to nap all day unless practically forced.
The rest of the afternoon continued as normal, I fed him three hours after that before we went to the Doctors for his 12 week injections. When we returned he appeared hungry so I tried to feed but he kept spitting out the nipple shield and screaming. He was obviously hungry as he was sucking so hard it was agony (the start of our feeds are often painful, I think due to him sucking to hard to get the milk through the shield. We didn't want to see him like this so quickly made up a 3oz bottle which he gulped down. He has just had his last bottle of the day and has gone to sleep smiling at the Christmas tree lights.
So I guess my question (and the point of all this) is do you think this is him now refusing the breast and stating his preference for the bottle? It seems strange that after three months of being happy to do bottle and nipple shield interchangeably that he is now refusing the boob. Is it possible that being ill could've affected my supply? My breastfeeding counsellor was always worried about the use of nipple shields that it would reduce my supply prematurely so perhaps that is what has happened - although I know other ladies on here have been able to breastfeed longterm with the shields. Unfortunately he was unable to latch on from the beginning so using them was unavoidable. Or perhaps the refusal was a reaction to his injections.
I'm going to keep offering him boob still but if he keeps refusing and screaming I will have to try expressing and combining that with formula feeds. I don't feel anywhere near as gutted as I thought I would at the thought that he possibly doesn't want to breastfeed any more. In fact when I see how happy he looks after a bottle feed and how all the colicky screaming has stopped because of it, I wonder if I've been starving him in my obstinacy with breastfeeding. I hate the thought that he may have been crying with hunger and I hadn't realised. Thinking on it, he hasn't been milk drunk for weeks after a breastfeed, in fact his feeds have been getting longer and longer and I have been taking his falling asleep on the boob as a sign that he is finished instead of him spitting it out.
I think my supply is/was ok, I think the problem might be how effectively he feeds because of the tongue tie. I will try upping my oat intake and other things to increase my supply but if he is having trouble getting the milk out, it probably won't make much difference.
This morning I was woken early (he usually sleeps through) and fed him from about 6am onwards until about midday when my OH called. Every half hour or so Oscar would fall asleep on the boob only to wake up screaming minutes later and start to feed ferociously again I haven't been feeling well for a couple of days, got the cold/cough thing that is going around so was feeling pretty crap when OH called and together we made the decision to give Oscar another formula feed. I dragged us both out of bed and he again turned into a happy contented little smiley baby after the formula feed. In fact I was able to put him down for an hour and a half nap when usually he refuses to nap all day unless practically forced.
The rest of the afternoon continued as normal, I fed him three hours after that before we went to the Doctors for his 12 week injections. When we returned he appeared hungry so I tried to feed but he kept spitting out the nipple shield and screaming. He was obviously hungry as he was sucking so hard it was agony (the start of our feeds are often painful, I think due to him sucking to hard to get the milk through the shield. We didn't want to see him like this so quickly made up a 3oz bottle which he gulped down. He has just had his last bottle of the day and has gone to sleep smiling at the Christmas tree lights.
So I guess my question (and the point of all this) is do you think this is him now refusing the breast and stating his preference for the bottle? It seems strange that after three months of being happy to do bottle and nipple shield interchangeably that he is now refusing the boob. Is it possible that being ill could've affected my supply? My breastfeeding counsellor was always worried about the use of nipple shields that it would reduce my supply prematurely so perhaps that is what has happened - although I know other ladies on here have been able to breastfeed longterm with the shields. Unfortunately he was unable to latch on from the beginning so using them was unavoidable. Or perhaps the refusal was a reaction to his injections.
I'm going to keep offering him boob still but if he keeps refusing and screaming I will have to try expressing and combining that with formula feeds. I don't feel anywhere near as gutted as I thought I would at the thought that he possibly doesn't want to breastfeed any more. In fact when I see how happy he looks after a bottle feed and how all the colicky screaming has stopped because of it, I wonder if I've been starving him in my obstinacy with breastfeeding. I hate the thought that he may have been crying with hunger and I hadn't realised. Thinking on it, he hasn't been milk drunk for weeks after a breastfeed, in fact his feeds have been getting longer and longer and I have been taking his falling asleep on the boob as a sign that he is finished instead of him spitting it out.
I think my supply is/was ok, I think the problem might be how effectively he feeds because of the tongue tie. I will try upping my oat intake and other things to increase my supply but if he is having trouble getting the milk out, it probably won't make much difference.
