Not feeling it!

[jessii83]

I have a 7 week old little girl who is the most beautiful thing, but when it comes to feeding im just not feeling it.

I have had to go to half and half feedings due to her losing weight on and off over the last few weeks. I have been expressing bmilk and bottle feeding it to her so we know how much she is drinking. I have also been using formula on the feeds when I dont have enough expressed.

Last night I spent a twelve hour stint to see if I could put her back onto breastfeeding but she was unsettled all night until this morning when I gave her a supplement bottle of 60ml formula, then she settled.

The reason I think she was losing weight all the time was because she was falling asleep at the breast and not emptying them properly, now I feel my milk is no good for her and that I cant make enough. I am trying to increase my milk supply but I just dont know if it will even help keep her weight on if I go back to breastfeeding.

Does anyone have any ideas I can try and maybe a schedule I can use, she is feeding anywhere from 1hour - 3 hourly and I have no routine what so ever due to this mess. I cant even think straight at the moment and I feel im falling into a hole.

My little darling is about 4kg and is drinking anywhere from 600ml-880ml, but I cant even produce that much bmilk for her. I would love to take her off formula all together but have no hope if my bmilk doesnt flow.

Any help

[~Kaz~]

Aww hun Firstly you're doing an amazing job. Expressing isn't easy at all!! I had supply issues from about 3 weeks for about a month until my supply came up again so I know it's not easy. What was your daughter's birthweight?

Try to attach your daughter at every feed - start the feed with her at your breast, then top up later with EBM or formula. You're milk is just perfect for her and you can increase your supply. The main thing that will increase your supply is to have her at the breast, sucking. The next best thing is expressing (although it's not as good as her sucking). As she gets a little older and bigger, she'll be able to stay awake longer and finish the feeds, especially as your supply increases. In the meantime you will be busy cause you'll be feeding her, then expressing afterwards for the next feed. Other things I tried were fenugreek, drinking plenty of water, eating a good diet, taking my b'feeding vitamins and getting lots of rest, including an afternoon nap when possible. Forget the housework! Your body makes more milk when you're sleeping so get plenty of rest.

You can also ring the ABA hotline - I think it's 1800 MUM 2 MUM. Those counsellors are awesome and I found it a real help to speak to one when my DS was 6 weeks old.

Have confidence hun. You can do this. It's not easy but I found it was all worth it once we were back to just feeding from the breast and we're still feeding today. DS's weight has consistently been just above the 10th% too. Don't worry about those charts too much. As long as she's gaining weight she'll be fine. Try to look at her gains/losses over a 4 week period too, rather than week to week.

You've posted this in the mother's group section - there is a breastfeeding support section - hopefully a mod will come along and move this. Have a read of some of the other threads too - lots of other BB girls have way more experience than me in this area.

Another hun. You're doing a fantastic job.

[Laranna]

We had supply & weight gain issues with DS. On my iPhone ATM so will BBL to write more xx