Breast feeding

[Gem1982]

My LO is nearly 3 weeks old. I have been breast feeding but two weeks in she had lost 11% of birth weight so had to start expressing and topping up with a bottle. Since then she has gained weight. I still offer the breast first but she never seems to get full from the breast allow and always needs the top up of either expressed breast milk or formula. Has anyone else had similar issues and if so what did you do?

[Hidden]

I am in the midst of that at the moment. Angus was so big when he was born that my milk wasn't enough. Topping up with bottle has confused my wee boy in terms of teets, which in turn causes issues when he takes my milk.

I have now had to take time off breastfeeding to allow my nipples to heal a lot.

I tried hand expressing and that went nowhere. Just today starting electric pumping. I have yet to see how that goes longer term. Xq

[Gem1982 in reply to Hidden]

It’s tough isn’t it! Have you tried the Tommie tippee teats? I am using an electric pump as well, as they as baby is content you are doing well. Awww baby Angus, welcome to the world 🥰🥰

[Hidden in reply to Gem1982]

Really tough. I am going to see how it goes, but at the moment I am not liking the idea of being stuck to a pump for the next 5 months or so. As long as we are all alive and healthy, that is what counts. It's not like we can walk down the street and point out which adults have been breast fed or not 🤣

[kumkums in reply to Hidden]

Hi

I will suggest you get a suction pump. It works wonder and it's cheap. Check for hakaa pump, I use that, hence the reason for recommending. However I ja e heard you can get really cheap ones on amazon.

[kumkums in reply to Gem1982]

Sorry, I didn't have that issue with LO. However LO had nipple confusion at a stage but we stopped bottle and she got the hangs back within a day.

[claire16c in reply to Hidden]

Hi there! However big your baby is, their stomach is the same size, and if you think about it mums are feeding babies a few months old purely breatmilk so it can definitely be done - the issue is if you’ve had the right help and support from your midwives/drs/health visitor to get you doing that!

Pumping fill time is consuming indeed. If you’d like to get back to full time bf I’m sure you can.

The first thing you can start with is for any bottles you give, make sure you are paced feeding them.

Secondly getting baby to feed direct as much as possible. It’s often a bottle preference rather than a nipple confusion.

But if you think he has that too then keeping working on him feeding from you and improving that latch will help. Can you get to a BF group for face to face help?

This link is about paced feeding

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms...

[Hidden in reply to claire16c]

Thank you. There are groups nearby and the midwives have been very helpful. It is a lot to do with my confidence - especially when I see blood coming from my nipples and they hurt so much.

[claire16c in reply to Hidden]

Ouch! If you’re bleeding then baby is rubbing or compressing your nipple. That shouldn’t be happening! Baby just needs to be latched on deeper. Has anyone checked your baby for a tongue tie?

Please keep seeking help! You can also call the National bf helpline

nationalbreastfeedinghelpli...

[Kempton]

I topped up with expressed milk from about 10 days due to slow weight gain, but luckily he didn't seem to have nipple confusion and took both breast and bottle easily. I can't remember when it was but I started to give less frequent (but bigger) bottles and by about 4-5 months he was feeding just from the breast.

I'm still feeding him at 18+ months so I guess just hold in there. As long as your baby is happy to take the breast, keep on breastfeeding, as they get older feeding is easier for them, although I read baby's can forget how to breastfeed so don't stop completely.

[Gem1982 in reply to Kempton]

Thanks, I will keep going, luckily she had not got the nipple confusion. Will keep going and hopefully will see that she is taking less from the bottle x

[Kempton in reply to Gem1982]

It's probably just that it's still such hard work for her. By 6 weeks is when people say you notice a difference (like feeds are quicker). I'm pretty sure it was around that time for me. Keep going mama!

[Gem1982 in reply to Kempton]

Thanks she is still taking the breast but is still hungry so has bottle as well. I am trying to build up expressed milk in the meantime as she is becoming more lazy when breast feeding. We had a weigh in today and she has gained 150g in a week x

[claire16c]

Hi Gem, well done for keeping going. 11% isn’t all that bad and it sounds like she has regained now. Have you had help to figure out why that happened?

I’m a bf peer supporter and the things I would talk about to start with, with a mum would be, how does bf feel for you? Is it comfy? Can you see baby swallowing?

What makes you think he needs a top up of more milk after a feed? X

[Gem1982 in reply to claire16c]

Hi, the only think I. An think as to why she still hungry after a feed is that the latch is not great. She can feed on me for say 40 mins but then will still show signs of hunger and won’t settle. This is when I offer ebm and top up with formula. She has gained 150 g in a week doing this. I think that my nipple is too big and when she latches it is hard for her to take more than just the nipple. Have you any suggestions? Will this become a non issue as she gets older ?

[claire16c in reply to Gem1982]

Things can often get easier as baby gets a bit bigger yes. If the latch isn’t great I would suggest googling ‘flipple technique’ and doing some new positions that help her tip their head back a little like rugby. If she’s showing signs of hunger are you offering the second breast? And if she’s had that, you can go back to the first one again. This video is really helpful

m.youtube.com/watch?v=wjt-A...(Not working as expected?)

[Sprinkles86]

Hi Gem sorry to hear you’re having trouble, I had similar issues with my son and it turned out he had a tongue tie which was preventing him being able to breastfeed effectively. Has your baby been checked? It needs to be a tongue tie practitioner who does the assessment as HV, GP, midwives etc don’t have any training in them (I learnt this to my son’s detriment after being told by several of them he had no tie...) if you search for tongue tie practitioner website you can find one near you. Bleeding and damaged nipples as well as slow weight gain in baby are red flags for me that baby may have a tie. Once my sons was snipped things were so much better!

I also saw a lactation consultant (IBCLC) for some face to face breastfeeding support and it honestly changed things so much for us, it’s well worth it. Have a look on lcgb.org for one near you or can use google as well. LC can help come up with a plan to get you back to exclusive breastfeeding if that is what you want to do.

There are lots of growth spurts and leaps early on in baby’s life which can cause fussy behaviour, making you think they aren’t getting enough from your breast, it’s very normal behaviour. Download the wonder weeks app and it will tell you when these leaps are for your baby.

Just to reassure you, I am still feeding my son after 12 months so it does get better I promise you. Just there will be some days where you need to camp out with Netflix, snacks and plenty of water and just give in to the cluster feeding 🤣 xxx

[Gem1982 in reply to Sprinkles86]

Hi, will have a look at that website! Thank you! And the wonder weeks app!

[Emilylouise-]

Hi I breast fed my lb but he never seemed to be full after each feed so I'm combination feeding him with breast and formula feeds and he's gaining weight x

[Gem1982 in reply to Emilylouise-]

Hi, how is working for you ? When do you give bottle over breast? X

[Scarlett13]

Have you been to a health visiting breast feeding support group or spoke to your health visitor and had a feed observed? Most issues are caused by the positioning not being quite right and sometimes a simple tweak is all you need. Have you had your baby checked for tongue tie too just incase? X