I feel like Old Mother Hubbard - please help. DS3 won't take a bottle so i need to get thru this

[BlueDragonfly]

I don't think my milk is enough for DS3 any more He is still fed every 2 hours in the day and has recently gone back to every 3 hours at night as well. I am exhausted, my nipples constantly tingle and i just feel that there isn't enough milk for him.
I have tried offering him a bottle of forula but , apart from once, he will not take a bottle at all. I can't express - well, I can but i get 1 oz in over an hour and thats from both sides.

He will only feed from one side at each feed but will happily feed from the otehr next time iyswim? I offer both but he just won't take it. My let down has started to 'let me down' by sometimes not coming at all! And it has never been too fast that i have noticed.

Although he appears to be showing some of the signs of being ready to wean, i am trying to wait and they probably aren't The Signs anyway. He is 19 weeks now

[BlueDragonfly]

anyone? even just a 'there there' and a pat on the back will do

[Seeline]

I feel for you BDF. DD was like that - at 16weeks she went back to 2 hourly feeds through out the day and night - I was exhausted. The hv advised weaning as she thought bf wasn't enough for her. I don't want to worry you further but she never took a bottle (expressed or formula), she wouldn't drink from a cup or spoon - in fact she was 9 months before I could get a spoon of 'solids' into her mouth. She did gradually improve although she still is a fussy eater (4yo) and did survive for several months on a diet of plain boiled spaghetti and fishfingers!

[Pedrolina]

No expert but any chance it could be a growth spurt my DS (18 weeks) has just stopped behaving like this after a couple of weeks of very similar sounding behaviour (had been sleeping for 6 hours at night without waking then back to every two or three hours all night and at least every two in the day often more) This morning I woke up with boobs like bolders to find to my amazment he had slept for five an half hours - am hoping we are out the other side. Had totally felt what you are describing about milk not being enough enough etc - but then I do for every growth spurt and only seem to work it out once I'm out the other side. Really hope things improve for you soon.

[eilidhfi]

back patting hand at the ready! How long have the feeds been this frequent? Could be that he's just increasing your supply?

Hope someone that knows more than me is along soon!

[BlueDragonfly]

I know the HV will suggest weaning too. in fact, i bouight some baby rice and some ready made formula the other day not to wean as such but to occasionally fill him up a biut with thick milk!(i never could get to grips with packet foods, they always ended up far too runny)

not used it yet(please don't pounce on me)

[BlueDragonfly]

oh sorry! x posts!

he has always fed every 2 hours in the day. and although i have felt like a dairy cow, i have never felt like i was empty. My breasts are soft even when he is 'due' a feed and i have to swap wreists with my bracelet to know which side i am on next! He is growing but has hardly put on anything in the last month (from 12lb 10 to 13lb 2)

[BlueDragonfly]

he used to feed 2 hourly on the night until abvout 2 months ago where he started sleeping from 8 until 4am !! now he will go from 8ish until midnight and then 2/3am 4/5 am 7am...

[LadySanders]

i really feel for you as am having precisely same issues with 21 week old ds2 re frequency of feeds/bottles/nighttime feeds, am knackered and a bit ragged....

tried every bottle and cup in mothercare but he doesn't want to know, and if i squeeze formula/ebm into his mouth from the bottle he spits it out.

sorry can't advise but, if it helps at all, you're not alone!

[eilidhfi]

I'm definitely not an expert but it sounds to me that he's trying to up your supply. Has he started crawling yet? Could explain slow weight gain if he's working it all off?

[BlueDragonfly]

oh hell no not crawling yet he is 5 months!(do they crawl this early these days??)

Lady, is is nice to know i am not the only one but am so sorry you feel the same too!

[BlueDragonfly]

hios previosu weight gain isn't poor, he was making his own line which is what i am fine with (the actual centile doesn't bother me overly-bad mother alert)

[tiktok]

BDF - it sounds exhausting but it sounds normal. 100 per cent normal. An 8 ounce weight gain (which is what it is) in a month is normal for a baby of this age and stage. It is also normal for breasts to feel somewhat softer with extablished breastfeeding.

Nothing in your posts suggests breastmilk is not enough for him.The one sided feeding can also be normal - it sounds as if it is his clear preference.

You may need help and support, and the chance to commandeer someone else's arms to hold him at the times he refuses to settle.

He's very young for weaning, and appears to be doing very well on breastmilk alone...but you need help to get through it all.

[eilidhfi]

No idea when they're meant to start crawling, DD is only 3months but my mum informed me yesterday that I started crawling at 4 months. I'm hoping it's not genetic...

Told you I'm not an expert

[BlueDragonfly]

i didn't know bf was this hard

i have never fed myself for this long before. Anyone who a) makes it to 6 months and then b) carries on deserves a medal!

[BlueDragonfly]

eilidhfi, i had a late crawler and a none crawler so i have no idea lol!

[CoolYourJets]

Pat, pat BDF. Both my kids had a beast of a growth spurt roundabout then.

You are woman, you can do this!

[LadySanders]

its the relentlessness (if that's a word) of it that's so tough, innit? particularly when you have other kids to look after (and in my case a cat with a sore paw).

[BlueDragonfly]

relentless, thats a good word tp use tpo describe it!

[retrodolly]

You have my sympathies too, I had the very same issue with my DD, now 5 months+ Exclusively BF she never took a bottle and lots of good EBM went to waste. Not to mention the 3 hourly night feeds .

She's 50th percentile, slim and long rather than chunky. But I think she works it all off, she's very active/alert.

Until now, DH bought a fast flow teat (for a Tommy Tippee anti-colic bottle). It seems to work, she has 90ml at least and gives the teat a good chew

We've also tried different formula and she'll only have Hipp Organic. It does smell and taste more like mum's milk.

Try faster teats, try Dr.Brown's natural flow bottle?

[BlueDragonfly]

he won't have a bottle in his mouth at all so the issue of faster or slower teats hasn't raised itself!

Odd really seeing as how he has a dummy(which i regret now but it does help me determine if he is hungry or 'sucky')

[BouncingTurtle]

I would agree it is a growth spurt - my DS did a similar one at that age. Also, I would like to point out that how much you express is NOT a good indication of milk supply - a baby is far more efficient at extracting milk than a pump. My DS (nearly 30 weeks - when did that happen??) often does the one sided feeding. Babies do get more efficient when they get older.
As for weaning - signs that they are ready are - they can sit up straight and they are mugging you for your food .

[BouncingTurtle]

Oh my ds is a bottle refusnik as well! However my friend who has an older baby was also a bottle refusnik, she kept trying every few days, then all of a sudden he took it!

[BlueDragonfly]

30 weeks?!!

he can sit aided for a wee while and is a food swiper he has dunked hands in left over (homemade)soup and licked it all off, swiped ds2's yoghurt and lunged at my apple and gave it a good gumming- i let him as it was cold and his drool looked like teething drool

[LadySanders]

mine is a food swiper too. thus i did try him on the porridge in the vague hope of tricking him into accepting the taste of the formula, but he didn't want to know...