Keep at the feed-express-top-up thing for a few more days, and then reduce the amount of expressing and topping up gradually. Bub will grow and her mouth will grow too - so as long as she practices BF-ing sometimes and drinks enough in total to grow then she will be fine.
It took me a couple of months to get DS to BF exclusively - he was quite small too, and thought boobs were for sleeping on rather than drinking. But he did it, and is weaning now at 2 and a half. You've got the supply, and bub at least has some idea of how to feed - so just let her practise!
No not doomed!
Glad to hear you're seeing an LC - I hope she has some solutions for you.
You can try baby-led attachment (guess it's the same thing as T's biological nurturing) - there's a link on the ABA website.
Sometimes it really does take a bit of time and practice, for both of you.
Hun, what a difficult time you are having It is definitely not too late and seeing an LC is one of the best things you can do right now. The other things I recommend are lots of skin to skin contact with your little one - as much as you can, and offering the breast frequently, even if she doesn't seem to be drinking it is still good and you can top up with EBM or formula afterwards if you need to.
All the best with it hun. You sound very determined which is great
that you've got it figured out for tonight. Bfing is a skill, I don't know if you've studied it before, but I certainly hadn't with DD! Each baby is different. You get some that are good at opening their mouths wide the instant they see your bb, some that need a bit of encouragement. Call the LC tomorrow and I'm glad you're seeing her on Thursday.
It's getting the hang of it for you and your DD as a bfing pair. So unless you've had a previous life bfing her, you're certainly not an idiot.
Thanks for your kind words everyone. Each attempt is basically endingwithme in floods of tears because I feelso useless.dd does everything right big wide own mouth. Lc got her on instantly. Whenever I try, attachment isn't good so I takeher off and try again and it's just not working. The lc only works tuesday and thursdays so don't think i can talk to her today. Just wAnt to be able to cuddle my baby in peace without feeling that I should be trying again or expressing.
Maybe time for a little break and some deap breaths.
You're not useless, you're just learning a new skill and that always takes some time and effort.
Why not try calling the LC anyway - at worst you'll get an answering machine. Or the ABA. At any rate, tomorrow is a new day and you can start over with the LC. Tell her it doesn't work when she's not there so she can help you with that - It's a common problem for new mums experiencing difficulties with feeding and extremely frustrating!
I think I'm close to throwing in the towel and have hesitated to post this (because I know you lovely ladies will try to offer solutions and I'm not sure it's solutions that I'm after right now) but am doing so because of the thread that was started (and closed) recently about why women choose not to breastfeed.
I saw the LC again yesterday. Again, she made attachment look easy so from that perspective there is nothing major preventing me from BFing DD other than that I have very large nipples, am a fairly unco person and I find it difficult to attach her. This could be resolved with more practice. Hoop Number 1 to go through. In the meantime, my supply has dwindled. This too could be resolved by feeding DD more (see Hoop Number 1) or by expressing more (Hoop Number 2). Expressing makes my nipples sore which in turn makes me fearful of attaching DD when it comes time for a feed. Bit of a vicious circle. Alternatively I guess I could take Motilium for my supply and I could look into different pumps that have bigger flanges to prevent my nipples getting sore.
So if attaching is not successful, I am still stuck doing three feeds in one. Try to BF, bottle feed, then express. By the time I've finished the bottle feed I DON'T WANT TO EXPRESS. I just want to cuddle DD. In addition, because my supply is not great, DD does not really settle after a feed. Yesterday between 3-11pm, she barely slept. I hate seeing her so unsettled.
Do I want to breastfeed? Yes, of course. Can I breastfeed? In theory, yes with more practice and with more work on my supply. Do I want to keep jumping through hoops to do it? No, I don't want to do that. I would like some quality of life where either feeding, thinking about feeding or thinking about solutions to feeding problems are not on my mind 24 hours a day. And I would like to be able to spend more time cuddling my daughter. I'm very lucky that DP is actually home at the moment but I have barely interacted with my toddler for a week now in trying to sort this out.
So for the person who posed the question about why women choose not to breastfeed, I hope that provides you with an insight into why some of us choose not to. I could lie and say that I'm not able to breastfeed but in my case, if I do decide not to, then I guess it's a choice.
Fiona, I stopped bfing six months ago after four years and I still get something out of my RHS. And that was down to one bf a day for almost a year. I can't get much, but a little. So I'm not that gobsmacked about five weeks. But I still think it's amazing what our bodies can do!
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It is definitely not too late and seeing an LC is one of the best things you can do right now. The other things I recommend are lots of skin to skin contact with your little one - as much as you can, and offering the breast frequently, even if she doesn't seem to be drinking it is still good and you can top up with EBM or formula afterwards if you need to.
that you've got it figured out for tonight. Bfing is a skill, I don't know if you've studied it before, but I certainly hadn't with DD! Each baby is different. You get some that are good at opening their mouths wide the instant they see your bb, some that need a bit of encouragement. Call the LC tomorrow and I'm glad you're seeing her on Thursday.
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