Advice on fixing nipple confusion

[therealfreckle]

Can anybody help with useful and realistic advice for fixing nipple confusion? I have a 5 week old and at three weeks old it was suggested that I was not producing enough milk in the night and so I expressed some in the day and fed her a bottle or two at night. It was also suggested that we try a dummy to settle her constant crying. This put a stop to the 7 hours of crying and constant feeding in the night and she showed no signs of nipple confusion for the first week and then things went downhill. She started sucking on me like I was a dummy/bottle and my nipples got very red, sore and cracked (when I say cracked, one is practically split down the middle). I couldn't take the pain any longer so have put her on bottles of expressed milk to try and mend me. I am so lost as to what to do. I would like to get her breastfeeding again but I am struggling to see a way to do it. People say to fix it you need to get off the bottle but it took me 10 minutes to give a 10ml syringe of milk, so as she is eating over 100mls a feed every 1 1/2 -4 hours, how on earth is that practical on top of expressing every 2-3 hours. I am stuck in a cycle of needing to get food into her which doesn't help the confusion issue and my nipples not falling off at her attempts to feed off me. Please, please has anyone got any advice or experienced the same thing that can get us through this stressful time and get my little girl back breastfeeding.

[TeaandHobnobs]

No personal experience here, but I'd suggest you go along to a breastfeeding group or see a lactation consultant about getting the latch checked? That will be what is causing the cracked nipples I expect.
Or start by calling one of the breastfeeding helplines for advice?
Good luck - I'm sure you can fix this with a bit of RL help

[MNP]

Have you considered nipple shields?

[MigGril]

why was it suggested you weren't producing enough at night? It very normal for babies to be fussy in three evenings and want to cluster feed (feeding often and close together).

What you can express is no indication of what she can get at a feed she is way more efficient then a pump. So don't worry about amounts.

Real life help with latch is a good idea, but you may have to go cold Turkey on the bottles so she learns to breastfeed properly of you again. Have a google of biological nurturing positions you should fine some good videos. This is a good position for baby getting a nice mouthful of breast.

[ZuleikaD]

What MigGril said. It's quite normal for babies to want to suck even when they're not actually eating, and IME bottles at night are far fiddlier than just feeding. I would get the latch checked, smother yourself in Lansinoh and try to ditch the bottles.