Hi Everyone,

Not really much time to post as we have been out 4x4 driving all day and I'm pretty tired

I have had horrendous problems BF little Jake as he has a small mouth, I have nipples that are completely flat and I have large breasts too....the little fellow can't get a large enough hold on the nipple and areola and so therefore is clamped on the nipple only even though he has "good" attachment according to the Lactation consultant. Everything is picture perfect and he is doing it all right he just can't get enough as he's only on the nipple area and wears himself out trying to feed (he could only manage 5 minutes minimum) and therefore doesn't get enough milk and then is lethargic and fussy. Soooooooo after trying for a few days and getting massive cracks, raw nipples and bruising I have switched to expressing all my milk into the closer to nature bottles for him. This has resulted in a much happier baby who is getting fatter by the day, my nipples are slowly healing but even expressing hurts! The little man is polishing off nearly 80ml of milk every feed....I feel like I am a failure because even though he's on perfectly he can't get enough milk. I have a few questions about the whole expressing and feeding by bottle:

1. Can I express and bottle feed without my milk drying up? I read somewhere that if you express into bottles only without BF your milk will dry up...seems a little weird but any way....

2. Am I failure for quitting and feeding him breast milk through the bottle instead?

3. Will it hurt him in any way?

I plan to do this as long as I can as I don't want to formula feed him...

Cheers
Lisa