Advice re bf please!

[Philomena]

My DS is 6 weeks old today and I have been mix feeding since he was born. I was encouraged to this in hospital as he lost more than 10% of his body weight, had jaundice and went under the lamp for 24 hours. I could not express much milk in hospital so he mostly had formula.

Once home I perservered with the bf and offered breast, ebm and ff at night. He has found bf increasingly difficult - it is very hit and miss. He is comfortable and happy on the left breast but normally gets distressed on the left.

I'd really like to increase the amount of time he breast feeds - including night feeds but I wonder if it is too late to do this now? Part of the reason why he gets formula is because he gets so angry on the right breast.

Any thoughts? Many thanks in advance

[Philomena]

Forgot to add - I express as much as I can and I'd much rather just breast feed as it's getting a bit restrictive...

[NotQuiteCockney]

I think you can increase your breast feeds. You can try different positions to help with the right breast problem. If you feed more at night, that will improve your supply more, and that will help.

Can you get to a breastfeeding clinic, or some sort of BFC? You need to have someone look at the right breast feeding in person.

(It's a very good idea to increase how much he's breastfeeding, particularly at night. It's easy, from what I know, with mixed feeding, to end up entirely formula feeding, when you don't want to.)

[NotQuiteCockney]

Expressing is a right faff, I don't blame you for wanting to cut down!

Have you tried:

• sleeping with him - makes night feeds much less work
• feeding lying down
• feeding with lots of skin to skin - he should be in just a nappy, you should be topless
• feeding in the bath.

[Philomena]

Thanks. It was beginning to become majority ff as so much easier...MIL and friends all encouraging me to switch, I think because they did nit bf for long.

I did briefly see a counsellor but my DS displays perfect bf technique in front of others, particularly when I've said how hard it is to do. Will try and see her again this week.

Thanks for the advice. I won't have him in bed with me as I am a very heavy sleeper and I am afraid of squashing him when asleep, but will try the others.

Thenks v much

[TwinkleInSantasEye]

Hi Philomena. My LO used to be a complete nightmare to breastfeed, especially on the right side. It has got better as he has got older so hang in there if you can.

DS is 4.5 months and I have been mix feeding since he was two weeks old, for many reasons that I won't go into. When I encountered severe bf problems I started to express milk in preference to direct bf, but as bf got easier I was able to do more feeding directly. Expressing is such a faff that I have now given up doing it completely. I start every feed with a breastfeed and then give him formula. I know there is a danger of mixed feeding becoming total formula feeding, but that has not happened in my experience. I was looking back at DS's feeding log and the average amount of formula he takes daily has hardly increased since he was 7 weeks old (when I started the log). His weight gain has been really good so my milk supply must have been increasing over the weeks, not diminishing.

To try to answer your question, you could try feeding him mostly on the left breast and expressing on the right side for the time being and see if things get easier in time. Try to make sure you try to breast feed at every feed. I actually find this better than total ff anyway since at least you can find out whether he is really hungry (and not just tired etc.) by putting him to the breast without having to waste formula.

Sorry for the long, rambling post. I just wanted to reassure you that you can continue to breast feed as long as you are determined to do so. And if you do make sure you keep putting him to the breast, and express if you still want to, you should be able to increase the proportion of breast milk he gets, or at least prevent formula from taking over. Hope things improve for you.

[Philomena]

Thanks TwinkleinSantasEye - great name, btw.

I've had some great advice today and have had a much, much better day bf.

I'm going to give expressing on one side a go and feeding from the left, although I am going to offer the right side.

I popped over to see a friend today with a baby the same age as mine and whilst we sat there bfing and moaning about how hard we found it I think we egged each other on too.

Hopefully I'll get to see the bf counsellor this week. Thanks all. If anyone else has some advice, please let me know.

[mears]

Have you tried sliding baby across to the right side after feeding on the left without turning baby around ie rugby ball hold?

[Philomena]

no...but did try this in hospital and found it comfy. I have v large breasts - my nursing bra is a J cup and I wondered if this is part of my problem? If not careful my breast can cover his whole face,

[mears]

Rugby hold is a good position for you then Give it a go.

[Philomena]

will do - will report back and let you know how it goes. Am really determined to keep this up. Is it possible do you think to move to bf only now?

[TwinkleInSantasEye]

Philomena - I found the rugby hold very useful for getting him to feed in the early weeks. He's too big for it now though - I just cannot get comfortable with him.

[mears]

yEs it is possible to move to breast only. Depends how much formula you have been giving though. You need to ensure that you are producing enough milk by feeding on demand and possibly expressing if you have given lots of formual