To not want to give up breastfeeding... Or is it too late?

[Sequine]

My DS is nearly 11weeks. Despite initial problems with latch, BF was going well until 2weeks ago. (I've always expressed too so from birth he had combination of breast and bottles). Recently he had a bad cold and struggled to latch on breast so we resorted to mainly bottles... and now he's refusing breast every time! It's 6days since he successfully BF He pulls back and screams until I give him a bottle. Sometimes he'll suck for a few mins but keeps coming off. He also gulps lots of air and sucks noisily, has he forgotten how to BF?

I'm really upset as I liked BF. Ideally I'd BF in daytime and give him bottles in night or when in a hurry (he takes 60+mins on breast but will drain a 150ml bottle in 5mins so sometimes bottle is better option).

Will nipple shields help? Any advice or personal experiences of this?

I'm expressing approx 300ml every 6hours so supply isn't an issue, I just miss the intimacy and convenience of BF especially when out all day and don't want to lug pump around.

What should I do? I'm at point of giving up BF and just expressing but really don't want to.

Its just the cold, you can get these little sucker things to get rid of nose mucus before he starts feeding, not that pleasant, but he probably can't breathe as well at the moment when feeding. Keep only offering breast during the day. Saline drops in the nose work okay too.

I mixed fed my three successfully. Try for another couple of weeks and see how it goes, if it doesn't work it doesn't work, but bfing is easier sometimes.
Good luck.

Bottle feeding is just easier for him. The milk is there instantly and he doesn't have to work for let down.

I think you'll probably have to choose one or the other at this point. At least until you get breastfeeding re-established.

Try expressing a little to get let down going before you put him on the breast.

No, it isn't too late. But you probably need some RL help.

You may also find that supply tails off with only 4 x expressing a day. So if long term expressing is important to you I'd talk to someone about that too.

Good luck

I EEd for 8 months. You will have to up the pimping to keep supply up. I was doing 4 hourly pumps night and day with a medical grade pump and still needed lots of oats and handfuls of fenugreek tabs to keep it up.

I also used Breastflow bottles so that milk wasn't easy for DD to get. She still had to latch and use her tongue to get the milk out. They are/were the closest teat to actual breastfeeding.

Try and get it sorted before the 12 week regression starts!

*pumping, not pimping!

Snort at upping the pimping!

Get in touch with a breastfeeding group or a lactation professional so they can give you some RL help. Also, have you tried feeding your DS a little from a bottle first and then attempt a bf? It may be that he screams as he's very hungry and can't get the milk fast enough so go giving a small amount from the bottle may take the edge off for him.

I found shields a great help - I used Medela (on Amazon) and it made it much easier for my baby to feed. Still use if he is fussing - it just gets him on quicker. Took me a couple of goes to get the hang of them, I now ignore the instructions of inverting the silicone nipple and just plonk it on. They've saved me and allowed me to BF.

Another one who thinks you may have to pump more to get your supply back up. I exclusively expressed for the first 10 weeks of DSs life and would get around 8 to 10oz a time (not sure what that is in ML) every three hours, round the clock.
If you're only pumping four times a day, your supply could be tailing off and DS might not be getting much - hence why he's staying on the breast so long or giving up altogether?
From my experience, nipple shields only made bfing harder, but I'm no expert. Good luck - it's not easy.

See I'm not so sure increasing pumping would help as much as increasing feeding.

Pumping isn't as effective as feeding at increasing supply, and what do you do with the expressed milk? Feeding it in a bottle will exacerbate the issue, and you'll struggle to feed, and pump enough.

Night feeds are key to increasing supply, so if you've been skipping those that won't have helped.

If you really want to continue bf, I'd ditch the bottles and the pump. Stay in for 3 or 4 days, and feed and sleep. Feed as much as you can, especially at night, with plenty of skin to skin.

It'll be a tough few days, but worth it if you want to continue.

Micah - maybe you misread the OP but I don't think it's safe advice to go cold turkey on bottles when the baby has refused a bf at all for nearly a week. The OP can't, at present, increase feeding because the baby is refusing to feed directly.

If his nose is snotty, it is very difficult to breastfeed. Feed in a bathroom full of steam, suction his nose out with one of those little special nozzle pump things and tilt his cot up at a slight angle so it helps him to drain. Keep putting him to the breast and your supply should increase again.

I'm sure it's not too late. As possible have said, some real life help would probably be needed, e.g. breastfeeding support cafe.

There are lots of benefits to bf but don't beat yourself up about it if you find it's not working for you and your baby. If he prefers the bottle it wouldn't be really a problem if you went down the ff road.

However if you like bf then seek some rl support

If he prefers the bottle it wouldn't be really a problem if you went down the ff road.

Or expressed breast milk.

I'd recommend a snot sucker (got ours in Boots). It's easy to use and really helps DS to breathe when he has a cold. You can also use Olbus Oil or similar products. It could be that the sucking needed for BFing plus the cold is making it uncomfortable. You can also get saline spray to use which helps with congestion too.

If you use 'normal' bottles, very little sucking is needed. We also used Breastflow bottles which encourage sucking when bottle feeding.

Definitely find a local support group and get some RL advice though.