To be really upset about this

[laughingeyes2013]

I've had to begin combined feeding my 5 month old baby for several reasons, the biggest of which is down to my ill health/tiredness slowing my milk production, leaving me with a hungry, dissatisfied baby that needs feeding every 1.5-2hours round the clock and bites and squirms when fed on what feels like an empty breast.

Combined feeding has changed all of that. But my husband keeps making formula bottles and feeding the baby rather than waiting for me to breastfeed. Today I fed baby at 5am and due to naps and appointments today, I've been beaten to it every time.

I am so upset by this but my husband says I am overreacting. I don't want to be hormonally crazy so ... what do you all think?

Oh and yanbu x x x

laughing I could have written your post in the past!

I also have MS it is so tiring & overwhelming at times isn't it?

My dh is also not very supportive/understanding about the feeding & I gave up after 2 weeks with dd1.

I barely bf dd2 as I was too ill after the birth.

Dd3 I lasted 4 months mix feeding until she was poorly & then refused the breast & ended up being tube fed.

Ds I lasted almost 8 months mix feeding.

I became more confident in telling dh what I wanted to be done wrt feeding.

It took until baby number 4 to do that though!!

Anyway just to let you know I understand how you are feeling & you are not alone

OP as hard as it is I think you need to be sensible about this. if you are on your knees with exhaustion then maybe it is a good time to reduce feeds a bit. how about you doing the morning and bedtime feed (or whichever ones you feel most able to do) and giving formula in between. bear in mind also that your baby will soon be starting solids and his appetite for milk (bf or formula) will decrease as his solid meals start to make up the majority of his calorie intake. sit down with DH and tell him which feeds you WILL be doing yourself and which ones are to be formula feeds so you both know the plan. your DH should support you in this.

No the biting seemed to coincide with the item I had the flu for 3 weeks. Or maybe its a coincidence? All I know is it hurts and he doesn't feed properly because of it.

Thanks hottea7

Sorry you had the flu, that must have been very tough!

I am still bf my lo and got the flu jab a couple of weeks ago because I was dreading getting ill whist bf and looking after dc1. Dh also had the jab as did dc1. Slightly off topic but I justwantedto say that you have done so well for getting through all that and still bf your dc.

Re 'duvet days' couldn't your dh take care of your eldest for a day whilst you relax withdc2?

Girlsyearsapart - I know you will really get where I am coming from. You will also understand what a comfort that can be! I don't know any other mums with MS so often feel like the lone ranger. So thanks for your post.

Sillybilly - I appreciate he reminder that we'll soon be weaning. I forget that we're 'almost there'. To be truthful I can't wait to ditch the formula as I have lost a lot lot of my ideals because of MS and breastfeeding is hard to let go. Ideal not from a snob point of view but as much for the closeness and convenience as well as immunity for baby.

Thanks Spots! Truth is, my husband finds it really hard dealing with the kids on his own. I do too, but he gets much more stressed than I do and that is part of the reason he is quick to formula feed without consulting with me first. As it is I struggle to get him to cover for me while I have a one hour snooze to catch up for the 3 hours I've been up in the night, and that before we've even thought about the MS fatigue

We had a good talk about it and husband was apologetic. He said he hadn't read my text properly because he had visitors while I was out and was frantically trying to stop the baby crying, which the bottle did (temporarily)!

He said he knew my milk would dry up if I don't breastfeed enough, and apologised for what he called being thoughtless.

I took the opportunity to request 2 formulas per day only and he agreed. I also will contact LLL to see if they can advise regarding the biting and crying during certain feeds.

So thanks all for your values input. I feel better about it now!

Feel free to pm me whenever you want a chat

I do not agree with the idea of doing top ups every feed because I cannot see how that would give you any break. I reckon you would be better off picking a feed a day and ff that feed. I did that but ended up expressing that feed to increase supply which otherwise would have dropped. After a number of days maybe a week my supply increased enough to drop the expressing and to go back to bf alone.

I missed your last post sorry. The biting came with teething for me it was short lived but came back with each teething session.

You need to watch out for mastitis if you are not feeding regularly.

neunundneunzigluftballons - I wasn't topping up on each feed but alternating as you suggested. But like you I sneakily expressed and gave that in a bottle to replace formula sometimes as it was easier than giving it directly.

I am sure he is teething but this has been going on for a long time and in theory could well continue pretty much no stop until the age of 2 when all the teeth finally come in!

PeppermintScreams - I am expressing for comfort too, which I am sure helps. Thanks for the warning, always good to be mindful as prevention is better than cure and all that.