Breast Feeding discussion

looby75

ooobedoo wrote:

She can only get to 9lb 14oz before the midwife makes me put her on the bottle

You have had so much good advice here and I agree with just about all of it but one thing I want to point out is that you mw/hv CAN NOT make you do anything! You really really need to get good breastfeeding advice from either the NCT or La Leche League

Please don't feel as though you have no choice but to go on to the bottle...I found myself pushed into that corner and gave up bfing. Not long after I found out that I had been given really bad advice from my hv and have regretted not questioning it for a long time since.

Mics_chick

Sorry haven't got time to read all the posts now but if you want to keep going...

Definitely find a local BF support group if you can - my local one is connected to SureStart so your HV should know about them at least.

If she's hassling you tell her it's stressing you out and that's not helpful. Mor stress = less milk so she should back off as it's your decision how to feed your child not hers!

My brother and his girlfriend has their 1st child last year - he's 1 in January. He was a big baby and the nursing staff were giving him top-up feeds although they knew his mum wanted to breastfeed! She went to local BF support group and found a cup that you can use to top-up your baby with formula if you have to. The baby's natural sucking motion is to use their tongue to stimulate the nipple but when you use this cup they lap at the milk instead. They say to use the bottle and BF can confuse your baby and I found this to be true with my ds (although my dd was ok with it). So my using this cup you're reinforcing the natural suckling motion which they can use with the bottle. My brother and his gf used this cup until she was producing enough milk herself - which took at least 3 or 4 weeks I think. She then successfully solely BF for a few months until she had to go back to work! It actually gave my brother a chance to feed the baby himself in the first few weeks because he became the expert with the cup as he did this to give his gf a break...

Please don't give up if you don't want to but if you have to do a mixture then there's no shame in that... I BF my dd for 8mths but my ds for only 2wks because of PND but my midwife told me I had done the best thing for him as he had had the colostrum in the first few days and that would give him a boost.

Also just thought of something else - when are you trying to express? In the morning is best because that's when your milk is of the highest quality. Also it's better to express before you feed your baby - so if you know when she wants her next feed or can leave it at least a couple of hours since the last one you will express off the fore milk so she will be drinking the hind milk anyway and also this will help to increase your supply too. But only express for say 5 minutes on each breast to start with so that you leave enough for her too!

When she feeds is she sleepy? - trying tickling her under the chin (what worked with my dd) or some people swear by tickling their baby's feet. Also strip her off or change her nappy first cos that will definitely wake her up!

I used a mechanical pump for expressing never got used to hand ones but it was very noisy!! But then you're not doing for long anyway!!

Good luck with your dd Ooobedoo
Hope some of this helps MC

vippymini

Just wanted to hi and congratulations and your doing a great job and to stick with it and the main thing is relax.

You been given some great advice here. I breast fed 3 of mine up untill a year old and i have been feeding my ds now 13 weeks but on the verge of giving up . Not because i cant but i just dont have the time to sit with him for 2 hrs at a time for a feed when my others need me too and he is such a hungry boy . I have found that BF him was not satisfiying him he was feeding off me and still taking a 8oz bottle straight after. So this time i have gone with instict and to be honest im happier hes happier and the others are happier.

At the end of the day everyone finds out what suits them and for us its fomula and breast.As long as hes getting food to him it dont matter where its comming from.:D

Lillibet_2

Hi

Firstly Big congrats & welcome to the world Katherine:T:T Well done Mum:T:A:T

Now, breast feeding, I had HUGE problems BF my son, fortuntely I eventually craked it (along with my nipples:rolleyes:) & went on to BF for 9 months so it can be done but it takes much more effort than giving birth IMHO:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Firstly babies are supposed to lose weight when they are born for around the first 2 weeks, it is part of the diet change process, The AVERAGE is 10% for their birth weight, but this is an AVERAGE, some will lose more than this. BF babies usually lose slightly more than formula fed ones I think. As long as she is feeding & seems otherwise healthy, don't beat yourself up over it. There are more important things than weight gain.

BF takes a lot to establish it, it took me a month before I felt my supply was really adequate for my son & before it stopped hurting (at one point I was crying with every feed:p). Several midwives warned me not to try expressing until it was established, usually at around 3 weeks. I stupidly ignored this advice, tried to express after a week, produced less than an ounce & spent 3 days in tears convinced that I wasn't feeding Spud enough (of course, I was:o). The only way I got throguh it was by saying to myself "I'll give him this feed myself & if I can't do it next time then I'll give him a bottle", if I had been thinking about BF for the next feed, day, week, 6 months etc I would have stopped immediately. I just concentrated on each feed as he asked for it. FWIW Sud was on mixed feeding, he had a bottle last thing at night which Hubby gave him whilst I slept, mixed feeding isn't recommended as it can confuse babies but it worked brilliantly for us.

Are you following a feeding pattern or are you demand feeding? I demand fed (belive me, it was the only way I could BF, if I had been thinking "due again in 2 hours" I would have given up!) but it's whatever works for you. If you are demand feeding then Katherine might well be getting hungary in the night al lot (this will settle down eventually), if you are following a feeding routine then it might be just slightly out of balance with Katherines appetite (sadly she didn't read the book before she was born so doesn't know she's only "supposed" to be hubngary every 2 or 3 hours!:o:p:rolleyes:) or she just might not have adaped to the feeding routine yet. Whatever you are doing, keep perservering with it & it will come right eventually.

Finally, as for your HV. Well, she cannot make you breast or bottle feed. It is not her decision, it is yours. I am shocked that she thinks she can bully you like this. Tell her where to go & ask for another one, more BF sympathetic! It is upto you to decide what is best for your baby, no-one else.

((Hugs)) & go & have a rest!;)

Crispy_Ambulance

ooobedoo wrote:

Can anybody help?

My daughter is 11 days old, was 11lb 1 oz at birth(by c-sec) and was in the special baby unit due to breathing difficulties. I was on the ward and was called down to feed her, the nurses had to top her up with formula by means of cup feeding.

She and I are now home and we are having some difficulties in feeding, she can take up to 2 hours feeding, she is down to 10lbs, She can only get to 9lb 14oz before the midwife makes me put her on the bottle, I really don't want this. I have been trying to express but am only managing to get about 20ml, should it be this hard? How can I get the hind milk by expressing. I want to breastfeed really badly. The midwife made me give up breastfeeding with my first child as he dropped so much weight, should I just give up or keep going. My daughter is producing wet and dirty nappies.

I'm sorry oobedoo, but your midwife is talking carp. There is no way on earth she can force you to either breast or bottle feed and if she tries, then ask for her NMC pin number and make a complaint.

Your midwife needs to go back to college and learn about breastfeeding. It is supply and demand. The more your baby feeds from you, the more milk you will produce. And no pump stimulates the breast as effectively as a baby. The amount of calories you consume will make no difference whatsover to the quality or quantity of your breastmilk. Women who are severely malnourished still produce milk to feed their babies.

If your daughter is producing wet and dirty nappies then she is getting enough milk. She will get better at feeding as she grows.

Well done on keeping going and ignore the completely wrong and downright dangerous advice being given by your midwife.

Try the NCT breastfeeding line for support and advice. 0870 444 8708

cannyscot_2

Yes I agree with everyone -you need to relax-i pumped a lot it was pretty hard work and yes you have to be quite calculating about it -which is diffficult when you are tired. It does work if you pervsever and relax-hard combo.


the best bit the MV has said to you so far -is to alternate each side. It's better if you let the baby stimulat each breast and you pump the other one inbetween -not easy with a small baby as they don't have much of a pattern. I ahve breats fed 3 and done a lot of pumping. I got a lot of help and reassurance from the NCT and told the MV to p off . Sometimes MV have not even breasfed themselves so can have no idea of the emotional and practical issues.

moggins

You've had some brilliant advice here, but do what works for you. Forget everything else, you do not need to be Supermum. Until you have breastfeeding established everything else can go to pot. You're really lucky to not have any problems with cracked nipples and at the start of breast feeding your body does not know how much milk your baby needs. You are both adjusting.

Keep calm, treat yourself well, it's easy to forget about yourself when you have a new baby but to feed that baby you have to eat and drink well yourself. If you're not taking nourishment in then you won't be able to give it out will you?

Poor Lillibet had a rotten time when she started feeding but she succeeded against all the odds, if she can do it then you certainly can. Good luck to you, feel free to pm me for some support. I used to be a breast feeding counsellor for BIBS but am not fanatical. If you need extra back up then don't be afraid to give a bottle last thing at night. You can always express any excess milk and freeze it.

CharleneUK

sleepystar1975 wrote:

You may find that Katherine (love her names btw) prefers the left side if she's being fussy, as it's the side closest to your heartbeat......I never found out why till Lottie was nearly 9 months into B'feeding!

Makes sense!! My 12 month old prefers the left side! Now I know why :rotfl: That's so cool.

ooobedoo

Thank you all so much for all your help, another MW came over for a re-weigh of her, last night it was continious feeding till 3am then DH took her downstairs and gave her 5oz of formula via bottle so I could sleep as I was badly sleep deprived.

The new mw said that I am doing a good job and to rest more(not getting much rest) and to stop punishing myself(as soon as she came in I started crying) and to try and BF in the day, get DH to give her the evening feed and I give her the late night feed to keep the flow going. She is coming back on Wednesday but she was from 10lb yesterday to 10lb 3oz today so maybe the formula did the job.

I really do appreciate all your support, it really means alot. Knowing that others have experienced problems gives me the inspiration to carry on,

rio

Apparently it's a little known fact that C section babies don't really get very hungry for the first 10 days or so, due to all the mucus and stuff that is in their stomachs. This mucus normally gets pushed out when the baby goes down the birth canal leaving a baby with an empty stomach and therefore hungry. C section babies have to wait for their stomachs to empty by the more normal route, and this takes about a week to ten days before they stop fussing, start being really hungry and want to feed properly. Your last post says that Katherine was trying to feed continuously so it sounds to me like she is now hungry and wants to be fed, so her interest will stimulate your supply and after a bumpy start things should now begin to get easier for you to feed her.

I was told about this by my cousin who is a midwife, apparently they don't say about this to mums as they are worried that there are some thick people who will think that their babies won't need feeding at all, and they fear the baby will get dehydrated.

My little one also preferred the left side and refused to feed from the right. I used to express from the right and then hubby could get up in the night and give him a bottle - it can have its advantages!


Best of luck!