introduced some bottles now milk suppy is going right down

[kreamkrackers]

dd2 is 11 months old and has just started taking a bottle. thought i'd try her yet again not expecting much but suprisingly she took 5oz! since then i've given her a couple of bottles a day.

today i get up and dd2 doesn't seem to be feeding as well as usual, she even bit me

now i'm worrying i've done the wrong thing in giving her some bottles as my milk supply seems to have gone right down and my boobs feel completely empty. now i'm not sure whether to switch back to full bf or just give in and give her full formula.

she was feeding 4-5 times a day before this, now with only twice a day maybe it's not going to be possible for me to do

i want to stop feeding in the day just a morning and evening feed now, but since telling people she now takes a bottle every single person assumes i'm going to fully stop and they all say it's a good thing as it's not right to bf an older baby, i didn't have the courage to tell them i'm still going to bf her

i'm so confused over what to do. she was 11 weeks early and it was such hard work to get her to bf and i never thought i'd give up by now. dd1 has so many health problems and i wasn't able to bf her (well did for a couple of days and expressed for about 10 weeks before the dietician told me to stop )

please someone give me advice.

[edam]

Kream, don't really know what to say, but didn't want your post to go unanswered. In your shoes, I'd continue with bottles, but then I wouldn't be bothered about extended b/f.

When I went back to work, I carried on doing an evening b/f for ds, but it only lasted about a month before he refused (supply must have dropped dramatically because he was a guzzler before then).

[lilymolly]

bumping for you until someone more qualified comes along

[Pannacotta]

I breastfed DS1 until he was 2 but after he was about 14 months I just fed him morning and night.
I have read that your milk supply is so established by this time that you can even go for a couple of days without bfeeding and go back to it fine.
I am no expert but I do think your supply should be fine if you want to carry on with the morning and night feeds. What make you think you have supply problem?
Also would tkae no notice of those who say its not right to breastfeed an older baby, the World Health Organisation recommends bfeeding until at least the age of 2, which you can quote at them.
Lots of people asked me when I was going to stop, I just ignored them!

[moondog]

Kream,you must do as you see fit.Tell everyone else to bog off!

You may like to consider that your dd doesn't even need bottles or any sort of milk at all? It's by no means essential. With my dd I returned to work at 7-8 months and she never had a bottle in the day,just water or juice.We continued to breastfeed very happily for 21/2 years.She was happy with it and when I was away.happy without it.

Even if your are giving other drinks,why bother with a bottle? She can go straight to a cup.My kids never had bottles apaprt from whe having ebm when tiny.

You've done a fantastic job.Be very proud of yourslef. Can't have been easy at all in the early days.

[Pannacotta]

Good point - no real need for bottles at this stage anyway...
And yes do what you want and feel is right when it commes to bfeeding, try not to worry about what other people tell you, there is lots of odd and dated advice out there when it comes to bfeeding, best to follow your heart...

[kreamkrackers]

she was having a beaker but would only take a few sips which i felt was not enough. i tried loads of different ones but she only took to the one. even when i tried to go without feeding her all day to see whether she'd start taking more she didn't and tends to spit the water/milk out. i tried loads of different ones but she only took to the one.

i don't know why i tried her with a bottle the other day but she really took to it and i thought well at least i don't have to worry in the day now so i carried on with the bottle.

my boobs feel completely empty though, they feel completely different now like they were before i was pg. even this morning they felt empty before i started to feed, i couldn't feel a let down and i couldn't hear swallowing. i feel like it's dried up really quickly and it has shocked me as i never thought this would happen.

[kreamkrackers]

also, she used to have wet nappies but since she has been having a bottle they've been really wet. it's been making me think she might not have been getting enough in the first place. i used to express about a litre of bm before i started to bf her but felt like my boobs started to go down quickly but i expected it as i was expressing too much anyways. i'm so confused.

[Pannacotta]

My boobs aslo didnt feel like breastfeeding breasts after a year, wnet back to prepregnancy state.
I think all it is is that your supply is so well established that you dont produce any more milk than you need.
Not sure about the nappies tbh. Perhaps with the bottles she is guzzline more than she took while bfeeding, but not too asure on this. Hope someone else can offer more advice on this.
Would try not to worry too much if you can, babies do not need huge amounts of milk at this age, she isn't a newborn who has lots of essential growing to do.

[moondog]

I never felt like I had full boobs,ever felt a let down or leaked a drop in the 3 and a half years I breastfed but judging by the way the babies were growing I figured the milk was there somewhere!

[kreamkrackers]

i'll just keep trying then and see how it goes.

[Pannacotta]

Kreamkrackers - any news?

[kreamkrackers]

hi, yes my milk supply seems to be fine doing 2-3 feeds a day. i came on af so maybe that had something to do with it

although i've had a few already and my milk supply didn't seem to change them times.

anyways i'm just really happy that we're still bf and dd2 is still happy going there although she seems to be getting more distracted again these days when dd1 comes to watch her feeding and there's not much i can do about that as dd1 has sn and wouldn't understand that she's distracting dd2 who pulls off and blows rasberries to her usually with a mouth full of milk!

[Pannacotta]

Great news, good for you