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Breast feeding traumas...any advice?

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HI, My baby is 8 weeks old and since he was about 3 weeks old we have been giving him formula milk top ups late evening so I can get some rest..the rest of the time I am breast feeding him.. recently he has started to reject the breast earlier on in the evening and screams when I put the nipple near him although he is clearly hungry... last night he did the same around 5am which he has never done before and so I had to give him another formula feed. I am worried that he is beginning to reject breast feeding more and more and also that my milk will begin to reduce because I am giving him more fomula.. has anyone else had this happen and do you know what will happen to my milk supply.. I really want to breast feed him and it is quite upsetting!

 

thanks

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your milk supply wont dry up as such, but would start to lessen. As you may have heard before, our bodies make what is needed. (the more you breast feed - the more milk you will produce, the less you breast feed - the less milk you will produce).

If you really want to continue breastfeeding, then I would suggest stop giving any formula at all. If you are able to express then this could be given by someone else to give you a break and would still be a familiar bottle teat for your son to recognise.

He may well cry and turn away from the breast, but he wont starve. When he is hungry enough, he will take whatever is offered. It may feel like you are being really harsh or cruel, but it wont last long at all, honestly. Don't give up and good luck!

Emma x

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Hi, sorry to hear about your problem with bf. Sounds as if your lo is taking the easier route (apparently bottles are easier for them than breast)

 

If you are serious about continuing to bf then I would do what Em suggested: Drop the formula feeds altogether, express and that should do the trick.

 

Your breasts will produce more when they get the signal that more is needed (growth spurts for example do the same), and after a short while there will be more milk.

 

Also: Most women find that from about 12 weeks it does get much easier as most babies will get more efficient at feeding.

 

Hope you get there in the end. It is hard work but well worth it and so good for so many things (although very tiring at times).

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I wonder if this link might help? http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html. The Kellymom website is a fab resource and if this link doesn't help, maybe you'll find something else there that does. Alternatively, you could try jessops. They have a Drop In breast feeding room and if you can't make it there, I'm sure they cou;d direct you to some other local source of support.

 

Good luck. The first few weeks are the hardest. Once you can get past them and establish breastfeeding it should be loads easier from then. I'm still breastfeeding at 13 months and it was so much easier for me than bottle feeding

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Contact your local Sure Start or Childrens Centre, they have special BF support workers and they will help support you with any problems or can just call in to group for social support. They are great and have helped many mums carry on with sucessful BF. X

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I successfully did mixed feeding, and expressed to ensure my supply was up to scratch; it was the best of all worlds for me. However, i never had cosycub refuse the breast (just lucky)...if he had, I think I probably would have dropped the formula for a while (a few days, maybe more) just to reinforce the breast.

 

Mixed feeding may work for you, it may not...but you don't have to give up at the first hurdle just because it's fashionable to choose just the one or the other (breast or formula). If it has suited you till now and you want to, I would suggest you give the formula a break and plan to come back to it when the little one has settled in with the breast again. Maybe you won't want to, maybe you will, but let that be YOUR decision...it IS possible.

 

You know how to get hold of me if you need to :)

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