Expressing advice

[Everythinggettingbigger]

If there's a better place to post this please point me in the right direction.....

Baby is now 3 weeks old, I exclusively BF for the first 2 days until baby had a meltdown and nothing would settle him so gave in and give him a bottle, couldn't get him to latch again after that he wasn't interested it wasn't coming quick enough for him. I expressed for a couple of days but no where near enough and my milk seemed to stop so I gave up. About a week and a half in I noticed I was slightly leaking so started expressing again, started getting 1-2oz per session and was expressing about 3-4 times a day, milk started to dwindle again so started aiming for around 6-8 times a day. Only been getting enough from a whole day of expressing for one 3oz bottle. Anyway milk has started to dwindle again and so far today out of 6 sessions expressing I've got about 10ml if that.....any tips to help?

[Hidingthefear]

Try finding your local La Leche League, they will be an amazing help. In the mean time these things might help
Breastfeeding works on supply and demand. every time you give a feed with a bottle it means that your body doesn't get the signals to make any milk. Try expressing when the baby is having their bottle.
If you can do it topless and baby undressed skin to skin really helps.
You could try power pumping. Although be careful that if your supply increases that you don't cause yourself an over supply issue.
Can I ask why you think your milk is dwindling?
nothing is more effective than baby's mouth. the best pump in the world will never match a baby's latch. again, the LLL (or a local bf support group) should be able to help with this.
At only 3 weeks in, if you really want to bf it's not too late. it will be hard work to get your supply back up but it is possible.
Wishing you the best of boobie luck :)

[Hidingthefear]

Also, might be worth having baby checked for tongue tie if you haven't alreayd. that could be why baby prefers bottle to boob. if tongue tied they can struggle to feed and it can be painful (I say this from experience but my ds's tongue tie wasn't noticed until way down the line. Eventually we mastered feeding and hes now 14months, but if id have known then what I know now i might not have been in so much pain for the first 6-8 weeks of feeding!!)

[Batteriesallgone]

If you want to breastfeed and are on Facebook try joining 'breastfeeding yummy mummies' stooopid name but great group, lots of qualified people on there to give you great support. More than possible to relactate now if you want to

[Everythinggettingbigger]

Ahhhh thanks ladies great help!! Can I ask what power pumping is though?

It's the amount, I was getting around 10-20ml each time I expressed but the last few days it's taken a whole day of expressing to get just maybe 10ml

Great advice about feeding baby skin to skin! He has been quite all over the place should I say with his feeding but seems to be settling down, expressing while feeding would have been impossible but now he's settled down I will try expressing at the same time.

Thanks will find that group now...but agree...hideous name lol

So glad you both think it's not too late to get him to latch again, I thought I was OK about the way it's turned out but the last few days I've felt quite sad about it

[redcaryellowcar]

I'm not an expert but know a very pro breastfeeding health visitor, she would support any of the mums she works with to breastfeed or st least mix feed and would totally agree with what others have said. It's not too late to breastfeed, you just need time patience and probably a bit of good advice, I found la leche league very helpful when my DC was tiny.

[Batteriesallgone]

I would also say it's really important to look up (YouTube) paced bottle feeding to reduce chance of developing bottle preference while you get back to breastfeeding.

[Marines28]

I'm 39 weeks pregnant and I'm dilated to a 2 and I get the front contractions and been having greenish discharge is that normal

[TheOddity]

If I were you I would put baby on the other breast and that will stimulate production in the breast you are expressing from, even if baby doesn't feed properly, it is just the sight of the baby and the nipple stimulation you need. I would also rent a hospital grade electric pump from a pharmacy and buy the expressing kit for that, as I got loads more with an electric pump. The amount you get is really not significant. 10ml is actually really good at the stage you are at. The baby's tummy is the size of a walnut or something like that at this stage (google it). So if you think, 10ml would probably fill a walnut she'll wouldn't it?!
When the baby feeds fro the breast, do you hear a clicking sound or do you see their cheeks going inwards? These are a couple of signs of TT. I had it with my first son but if the tie isn't serious, the baby does learn to work around it. But at your stage they are still young enough to get it snipped, so get yourself referred to a TT specialist ASAP (ask your doctor and insist for an expert opinion referral) and make sure you explain the urgency because after a certain number of weeks, the tie is too thick and the operation can only be done under GA. At a few weeks they can do it under local. The difference afterwards is massive usually.