My DS was attaching properly but would fall asleep within a few minutes only to wake not long after and want to continue the feed. Nothing I did helped (like stripping him, tickling him, changing his nappy (or pretending to do so) etc). I decided to express (I had already bought a pump before DS was born) and fed him exclusively from the bottle from about week 2 until he was 2 months old. Then I got sick of the time doubling up (expressing time and then feeding time with bottle) so one day out of the blue (when he was 2 months old) I decided to breastfeed him.

He got it pretty quickly and I just had to get past the pain factor (of the sensitive nipples) which subsided after 3 days. I almost gave up in those first couple of days and would cringe if he came off or before I attached him because of the pain I knew I was going to go through. Sure enough though after 3 days it was much much better and by the end of the week, no pain at all.

We still gave him one bottle of EBM at night before bed.

We continued until he was 7 months old.

So, in summary, my DS just proves it is possible that you can express and feed exclusively from the bottle from such a young age and for 2 months and then reestablish breastfeeding.

In saying this I would recommend that you continue to try to resolve the problem/s and push through (there is light at the end of the tunnel) but if it doesn't work I wouldn't get too upset about expressing. You are still giving your baby your breastmilk. Try to enjoy the closeness that you still have when bottle feeding the breast milk. Afterall, it's still your milk that you are giving them and you still have to work hard to get it.

Good luck - it gets better!