Mix feeding - baby refusing breast...

[girlsyearapart]

Hi all, I was told this would probably happen but dd3 has started to refuse the breast.
I give her 4 feeds a day and was giving her 2 as bf and 2 as bottles which was working well and making me feel great as she is the first who I've managed to bf beyond a few weeks.
Now she latches on and will feed a bit but doesn't settle into it like before and will just cry over my boob..
I have tried expressing but only get 2 oz max so not enough to give her a bottle of ebm.
She is 3 months, I really wanted to continue until 6 months at least..
So two questions 1- is this the end or does anyone have any ideas / inspiring stories?
2- if I can't 'replace' a feed is it still possible/ beneficial to give her little feeds here and there ?

[stinkypants]

is it necessary to give her bottles at all? just wondered why you needed to do a mix. perhaps just do the bottle once per day - if she is hungry i'm sure she'll rediscover the joys of the boob!!

[SummerHeightsHigh]

Have you considered cutting down to just one bottle per day (or even none for a while)? This might get her used to having boob more.

Also, have you changed to a faster flow teat recently? A friend said her DS stopped wanting boob when he realised he could get the milk quicker and easier from the bottle after she switched to a faster flowing teat.

[girlsyearapart]

Thanks for your replies. Reason for the mix feeding is that I have MS and need to be able to pass responsibility to Dh if I'm too tired to carry on. There were some days where I only gave her a bottle before bed but not many.
Also with the two other girls with me all day i had the baby on the breast so much I wasnt able to give them the attention they needed (only 2 and 3)
I'm sure a lot of it is confidence - or lack of! I'm only a fledgling bf er..
Having said that she just woke up ina tizz and had a good feed, always feeds better lying down and in the dark though rarely wakes for night feeds now.
No to the fast flow she s still on 2 which seem fast enough for her

[ClimberChick]

When we had this problems, we just ditched bottles until she better on the breast (few days to 2 weeks) and then slowly reintroduced them. From 4 months, she then had expressed bottles during the day while I'm at work and fine every other time.

I was really doubtful it would work out as month 3 was her fussiest. I honestly thought I was going to switch to full time expressing, even hired a hospital grade pump.

We also made the bottle more difficult, Frequent pauses, changing sides (just like BF), slowest teat we could get and cold.

Now at 8 months, she even uses me for comfort, unbelievable considering how hard she was to feed months 2-4.

[ClimberChick]

cross posts: I would change to a slower teat. My DD got used to having it immediately and then wouldn't work for the let down.

Kellymom has a thing about bottle feeding breast fed babies, be good to share with your DH.

Most of time, bottle stoppage was just a few days. Two weeks was when she a full on nursing strike, so I was more cautious, but I know exactly what caused that.

[girlsyearapart]

I really don't mind keeping the milk bar open as much as possible but the bit I'm struggling with is when she won't continue to feed at all and just screams over my boob.. Makes me feel awful like I'm starving her- would you persevere even then?

[Thandeka]

get breastflow bottles (on sale in TK Maxx at mo) they may help- (makes the bottle more like the boob as they have to do the compress and suck action rather than just suck).

Do you think your supply could have dropped because of the bottle supplementation? It may be worth trying to boost it a little and maybe even try giving a bottle top up via an at breast supplementer in the short term so the baby gets a good flow at the breast?

Have you tried feeding in the bath or lying down? Both positions my dd fed much better in, maybe its more relaxing.

[girlsyearapart]

She def feeds beta lying down but with the other girls to run round after it's just not practical

[MumNWLondon]

I think go back to "1" teat on the bottle as it will make her work harder on the bottle.

Even with one bottle a day would be able to pass to your DH.

To improve your supply you need to cut down the amount of formula she is being offered.

Offer her breast one then breast two then breast one, then breast 2 etc to make each feed last as long as possible. If she screams just give a small bottle feed eg 2oz and then offer breast again an hour later.

Also I don't think 4 feeds a day is very much at 3 months - mine were EBF at that age and never got below 6 feeds (7,10,1,4,7,10).

ALso just 2 BFs a day with a small baby probably isn't enough to maintain supply, so I would say if you can't manage 4 BFs aday then maybe better to give up.

[ClimberChick]

It is horrible when they're fussing, makes you feel like your poisoning them or that they're rejecting you. It's hard not to I preserved because I didn't want to switch to formula. As for the starving them, I figured if they survived growth spurts, then they could handle a few days to readjust to the breast again. Also lots of feeding while they're drowsy (just woken up) or in their sleep

We can't tell you what to do, it comes down to how much you want to carry on BF part time. It is possible, but your probably in for a very bumpy ride for the next 6 weeks. Only you know how it is for you and how you can cope given your circumstances.

[girlsyearapart]

Thanks all will give you example of today to see where I'm going wrong..
4am happy breastfeed then sleep
8am unhappy bf which carried on for an hour of swapping breasts/ positions etc she was hysterical so made a bottle which she drank 3/7oz of then calmed down for a very short while before drinking another 3oz

Wouldn't take breast again at 11 so had a bottle.

230 settled down to a good bf and slept till 5
Offered breast when she woke- again not interested and screaming which carried on for an hour till I gave in and gave her a bottle at 6.

I am offering the breast frequently and trying not to crack and give her a bottle straight away but there's only so much crying I can bear.
It's so good when it's good and so bad when it's bad.

I do also try to express in the evening if I can..

[PutTheKettleOn]

sounds a bit like my DD1 - started topping up at 2 weeks, at 12 weeks she suddenly refused to BF althogether during the day. In the end we managed to mix-feed til 5 months, when my breast pump broke so I took it as a sign and gave up!

She would BF at night no problem but in the daytime only wanted a bottle. I would express whenever I gave her a bottle and save it til the next feed. If you don't get enough expressed milk for a full feed you can still mix it with formula so she's getting some of the goodness.

Good luck whatever you decide - even if you stop you have given her a really good start by BF for 3 months so don't beat yourself up!

[girlsyearapart]

Thanks putthekettleon glad to hear someone else had same sort of experience.
I didn't realise you could mix formula and breastmilk either.
Today has been worse than yesterday only settled to feed once but had all 4 bottles of formula
Last night I expressed and got absolutely nothing!

[Mumarae]

Hey mummys.
I started combi feeding my baby at 2 weeks. He is now 3 months and now the stress of a new born baby has calmed down I am dying to get back into breastfeeding again (EDB) if I can.. I know might not be possible but at least replacing a lot of bottle feeds because he's not at the point where he prefers a bottle and rarely feeds from me unless it's at night and I'm dying to get him to feed again. I have ordered some slow teats for my mam botttles. But I want to know if this is even possible? Or once your supply goes down you can't get it back 😒 Thanks xxx