My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Help! What's going on.

8 replies

SLP93 · 02/11/2016 15:02

My baby is six weeks old, Ive been breastfeeding her since birth and up until 5 weeks it was going beautifully, but all of a sudden it's changed. My breasts are becoming extremely soft very quickly and my baby is now finding it hard to latch and stay on, I can't hear her swallowing any milk and she's acting frantic, feeding constantly and trying so hard to get milk from me that she's pulling me nipples viciously in all directions, plus every time she comes off the breast (which is every couple of seconds) she starts crazily scratching at my breasts and has made my nipples so so sore. I've just had her on my breasts for 4 straight hours but have had to put her down because I'm now in pain. It's not because she's going through a growth spurt, I know they eat more then and have already had a couple of growth spurts with her and have been happy to feed her because she was latching well, no pain for me and you could hear her getting tons of milk, but now with it like this, it's becoming unbearable for me. For the last week it's only been like this from around 6 in the evening onwards but today she's got like it late morning. I've heard of people having problems with latch when the breasts are engorged but it seems to be the opposite for me. When my breasts feel a little more fuller and heavier (like when I woke up this morning) she's well away on them getting tons of milk and no latch problems at all. I'm so close to giving breastfeeding up, just because I cannot cope with the pain when it gets like this and I cannot bear to hear and see her screaming with hunger. She was born weighing 6 pounds 6 and now at 6 weeks + 2 days she nearly weighs 10 pounds, so just proves how much I have allowed her to feed and so haven't been skipping feeds which would cause my milk supply to decrease. I just feel as if my body is suddenly failing her and I don't know why. :( I'm starting to feel really depressed and my partner is no help at all, just telling me to stop getting so stressed with it all when he hasn't got a clue and he's not the one who has to go through this pain every day. I don't know what to do.

OP posts:
Report
SLP93 · 02/11/2016 20:57

Please somebody answer me. Her soft spot feels quite sunken in compared to usual tonight and I'm worried that she's becoming really dehydrated. I was told you can't 'run out of milk' that you're constantly producing, but then what the hell is going on. I'm clearly NOT producing the amount she needs and I'm panicking.

OP posts:
Report
MuddlingThroughMotherhood · 02/11/2016 21:24

Hi,

I couldn't read & run but would advise you to call LLL, they have people who are trained in all things breastfeeding related on call to answer the phone 24 hours a day.

I had an awful time breastfeeding, latching was so hard, it was awful, now 2 years later I'm still breastfeeding but I really wish I'd have called the LLL in the early days.

I had some breastfeeding tea from Amazon, it really did help my supply and my DH made me some breastfeeding cookies from a recipe we found online, I feel that they too boosted my supply. My dd cluster fed from about 2:30/3pm until gone midnight for about 8 weeks, I had no nice easy start.

Im sure I remember that they say that when breasts don't feel full anymore it's because your body has adapted to the demand of baby but then again I never trusted my body, hence the tea and cookies and I didn't relax about breastfeeding until my dd was over 1 year and was eating/drinking a decent amount of other things.

Sorry I haven't been any help but please do call the Le Leche league, I'm sure they'll be able to help Flowers

Report
MuddlingThroughMotherhood · 02/11/2016 21:28

Me again, I know that breastfeeding tea can be frowned upon but I swear I would have given up feeding for fear of not producing enough if it weren't for this tea, it's called Neuners Organic Nursing Tea, I'm not sure how to do links but Amazon do next day delivery.

Report
norbert23 · 02/11/2016 21:31

I think we had a huge growth spurt around that time which involved a serious amount of cluster feeding like never before and she was quite fussy! Also your boobs do go quite soft as your body gets used to it so that might explain that aspect. As the previous poster said LLL are lovely and will be able to reassure or advise you. Better to talk to someone that worry all night. Make sure you stay hydrated and eat well as feeding during these early days is so tiring! I ate lots of oats and still drink chocolate oatly milk - oats are supposed to be good for your supply :)
Good luck I hope you can get in touch with someone helpful x

Report
MuddlingThroughMotherhood · 02/11/2016 21:39

Sorry for posting again OP, if you're interested the cookies my DH made me are on a site called Cara's cravings, just google Cara's cravings lactation cookies and you'll find it. Maybe someone could make some for you tomorrow? as pp said, oats are good and the cookies are full of oats along with brewers yeast which I think is the key ingredient in them, they don't taste the best but personally it was worth it for the little boost in milk. Good luck

Report
Cakescakescakes · 02/11/2016 21:43

Make sure you are drinking tons and tons of water. If you aren't super hydrated then supply can really really dip.

Report
Mishaps · 02/11/2016 21:45

Guinness! - honestly, it's great for the milk flow.

Report
MinisWin · 03/11/2016 18:46

I would second both the 6 week growth spurt accompanied by massive cluster feeding and also making sure you're staying super-hydrated - this is certainly what happened to us and I promise it did pass! DD now 8 weeks old and everything has gone back to normal.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.