One breast more than the other?

[Kmn]

Congratulations on both your baby and your determination!

It might help you not to focus on "exclusively breastfeeding", but instead on "getting as much BM as possible into your bub", which is a slightly less demanding way of saying the same thing


All the expressing and topping up isn't intended as a long term solution. Hopefully once your nipples heal you will find that your bub as she gets older and stronger learns to suck better and hence is able to increase your supply herself - meaning she will eventually gets all she needs at the breast.

All the present rigmarole is to try and ensure that both your supply and your baby's strength are maintained whilst this is happening. There is a vicious cycle, which you and your LC's are trying to avoid, of bad sucking => sore nipples and not enough milk going into baby => lethargic baby who won't suck => low supply and so on.

It seems for a lot of Mums on this board things get much, much better at around 6 weeks - so hang in there!
hugs
Kate

[onthefly]

I just wanted to say Pushy that although bf is the natural thing to do, this does not mean it is necessarily easy. It's a learned skill, for you and your baby, and this can mean it takes time to get it right. Unfoturnately for some mothers it's much harder than for others. As Barb noted, you're doing lots of extra work right now, so well done on keeping it up!
I ended up using nipple shields for a time as, despite seeing LCs and working on it very hard, we just couldn't get the attachment quite right. It all came good after around 10 weeks - now it really is easy.
Don't worry if you have more milk on one side or the other - it really doesn't matter.

I hope things start to improve soon - good luck

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

I suggest that you get a private lactation consultant to come and help you ASAP. they cost, but they are experts in their field, and they come to your house to assess what is happening and help you sort it out. An investment worth making. If you let me know where you live, I could perhaps recommend some-one.
Has a nipple shield been suggested to you? It might help get your baby onto the breast. It is not the answer in all cases, but you might find it works for you. It's great that you are getting the tongue tie assessed. The procedure to snip it is simple and painless and can help enormously.
You are doing a great job with this. Please take the pressure off yourself to "get it right" - there is not "right" about breastfeeding in particular. This is just one of those problems that arise, and you are doing a great job working through it in difficult circumstances.

[Pushy1]

Thanks to everyone for the advice & support...

Here's where we are at now...

I was expressing as often as possible - not quite every 3-4 hours. And was getting about 50-60ml. I started taking the motillium, for four days I suffered with intense headaches, upset stomach & restlessness - and NO increase in my supply... so I stopped taking it... and kept expressing...

I had an appointment with the LC - but she cancelled & we went another week with the FF and EBM. Probably one feed a day was entirely EBM. And then the supply dropped even more 20-30mls.

Then I saw the LC on monday & she was very helpful but I still cant get my baby to attached without severe nipple damage - one attempt at feeding needs about 24hrs recovery. The nipple shield kind of slips off when we try to use it and baby still cant get enough nipple/brest into her mouth...

I didnt express at all yesterday (i curse myself for this!!) and now today when I tried to start again - I have even less of a supply - 10mls?!?

We have an appointment to get my babys tongue tie snipped (which upsets me) in the hope that it will fix her attachment problems. Trouble is that now I have to try get some kind of supply back because otherwise she wont have any breast milk at all!!

Is it possible to come back after my milk nearly drying up?!? I feel terrible!!

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

It is possible to get your supply back - but your story indicates the importance of keeping up your expressing schedule if you want to maintain your supply. When your breasts become very full and are not drained, it tells your body to "turn off" your milk supply. Frequent feeding/expressing will restart it. What a roller coaster couple of weeks you have had - very difficult. You are doing a great job to hang in there. Get back on that pump, and pump every 3 hours. It can be discouraging when you get such small amounts - but bit by bit it will come back.
Getting the tongue tie snipped will be easier than you think - it's the most minor of procedures.

[Pushy1]

Thanks Barb,

I knew I should have kept expressing but my breasts werent full at all and I wasnt getting much milk when I was expressing... I got into a bit of a downward spiral...

I have decided to try & continue with the motillium & an intense & regular expressing schedule. We will see the LC again on monday & hopefully the doc will snip babys tongue on monday also. If that solves the attachment issue it will be a big relief.

From what I understand the baby will be able to draw more milk from my breasts than expressing would & she will also increase my supply as she feeds?
I hope we can get it sorted... I so badly want to be able to feed her myself...

Thanks for your help! No one tells you about issues like this!!