I'm new around here and could do with some help on BF

[2cats2kids]

Help! I've just joined having read loads of discussions about breastfeeding, sleep etc. My DD is 14 weeks old and I'm starting to pull my hair out. She feeds every 2-3 hours in the day (fine!) but also at night and I'm exhausted....she won't take a bottle at all. She has only ever fed for max 10 mins at a time and has seemed happy until the last week or so, HV says she is not latching on properly but she's doing it the way she has always done it and has been fine until now. She gets grumpy with me if I interfere.

She was born on 91st centile and is now on 75th, not worried about that particularly as she is active and alert and happy most of the time. DS who is 2 and a half was also on 91st at birth and gradually dropped until I started him on solids, he is now on 50th, eats like a horse, so is she just doing the same?

Could do with some help and thoughts on if I'm doing it right, how to get her to take a bottle and how I can get her to sleep for longer at night before I go completeley mad and turn into a screaming monster!

[ilovetochat]

do you need her to take a bottle? My dd is bf (16 months) and never had a bottle, just went to a cup for water from 6 months. I think feeding for 10 mins is fine and centiles are based on ff babies so nothing to worry about. In the night don't always assume she wants a bf, try speaking to let her know you are there, touching her back, maybe a cuddle and put her back down.

[2cats2kids]

Just want her to be able to take a bottle so that I can escape sometimes to get my sanity back. Popped in to work last week for a half day training course and left her with DH, had to leave after 2 hours as she was refusing to take a bottle and screaming the place down.

I'm going back to work in the New year and already wondering how I will get enough milk down her if I'm not around to feed her (she will be 5.5 months)

[Notquitegrownup]

I don't have a wealth of advice, but just wanted to send some support - and congratulations. I had two milk monsters too, who fed every two hours day and night, and never took from a bottle. It is exhausting, isn't it? I also remember the panic of wondering what if your child won't ever feed from anyone but you.

It sounds as if you have two issues going on here. How to get a break/some sleep now for a little while, and how to prepare her for nursery or whatever, in eight weeks' time.

For the second, there's a world of difference between 14 weeks and 5.5 months, you know, and you have got time to start her getting used to a bottle, taking a sip or two now. Have you used ebm in a bottle or cup, so that she is getting used to the same milk, just via a different source? That might help. You could also try feeding her from the breast for a while, so that she is not starving, and then give her a bottle/cup to sip from, so that she doesn't feel that you are denying her the breast - you are just giving her another treat afterwards.

I'm sure others will be along with more advice soon, but in the meantime, have some sympathy. Sleep deprivation is awful!

If you have a good breastfeeding clinic by you, they might help you improve your latch, but mine still fed every two hours, after a lot of latching on and off. Some babies are just like that, I think. And 14 weeks is still very little really.

[2cats2kids]

Thanks notquitegrownup. Have tried EBM in a bottle and she will take a tiny amount if I use a Breastflow one but nothing if I use Avent. Also in desperation tried her on formula but she gargled on it and nearly drowned! Will persevere with EBM in a bottle for the moment and try a cup if no joy.