oooooh ! Breastfeeding is SO fucking infuriating, I just doin't get it !!!

[OnEdge]

I have just had my 3rd baby 4 weeks ago and have been expressing and feeding her my milk out of a bottle. I have such problems with latching on and everything that this is right for me.

Today, I thought I would try her on my breast, and she did great, latched on, was swallowing, then she falls asleep. After a while I try to put her down (I have a 3 and a 1 year old to sort out) As soon as I put her down she cries a hungry cry. So I breast feed her again and she goes for it, it goes so well, then flop ! Asleep again. After 10 minutes, i try to put her down and he same thing.

She would have me do this all day. How am I supposed to do anything?

It really drives me mad, why don't they have a feed? She feeds from the bottle ok.

i also have 20 mth old and 3yo....i suggest CBeebies to help..

i don't see anything wrong with waking to baby to feed whenever you have a spare moment to sit down with her (if baby will wake).

also if it is really warm in your house making it a bit less cosy for them helps.

You're still lactating OP, irrelevant of delivery method.

My ds was just the same - 3 sucks and asleep. We tried different feeding positions, no clothes, tickling toes which was good for an extra couple of sucks, jigging up and down, being noisy, putting lights on at night, waking the poor child up to feed cos he would far rather sleep than anything else, visits to bf clinics and counsellors. Upshot was advice to bottle feed from the bf clinic! I gave in at this point and paid a visit to Tescos for a steriliser and formula. Anyway, don't stress - he's an enormous 7 year old now and loves cricket and cross country running and has just eaten a huge plateful of dinner plus pudding plus "extras" as he calls them - generally yogurt.

As she gets bigger she will get stronger and more efficient at sucking and feeds from boob will be a lot quicker anyway. Although expressing will prob still take same amount of time. So think is worth trying to persevere with "straight from boob" delivery where possible now as should be faster in long term.

Mind you this depends how quick you can express, it used to take me agees and then DS started refusing bottles anyway so my stockpile all went to waste. But if you can express pretty quickly then a diff matter I guess.

Well done on the feeding though, she is getting lot of good stuff no matter how you give it to her!

thanks for your replies. thought it was just me. i think if she had her way she would just snack n sleep for 24 hours. i feel rotten manipulating her by giving it in a bottle. i suppose if i do that with lots of sling cuddle time it is the next best thing.

i have a guilty confession now - after reading the replies i had a brainwave and last night i used the breast to settle her when she was uncomfortable with wind/colic.

We call it "the dreadeds" gets it every evening, the other two did too. now we have a cure for it - mummy's boob

"manipulating her" crikey no, you're doing what works for you. Good on you.

Onedge I couldn't BF in a wrap either, but can in a ring sling - not exactly hands-free but I can walk around with one arm free, and since I have a velcro baby too (though at 7 weeks I can lie him on the playmat for 15 mins before he cries - bliss!) it does help.
You are not alone!

I'm having exactly the same problem with DD who is 6.5 weeks was hoping it would have started to get better by now but she is still incredibly sleepy do I am expressing most feeds and supplementing with FF much to my disappointment. I do keep trying on the breast but same thing keeps happening. Sure it's not a comfort thing as if she has taken a food feed from the bottle she will happily self settle in the cot. I also have a 2 year old do can't spend all day feeding, DS used to feed for 10 min then be fine for 2 hours or so. Hopefully things will improve as our LOs get older although I do like the convenience of bottle feeding in that DH can help and I know how much she has had.

"now we have a cure for it - mummy's boob" - if it works, DO IT. Boobs are the best parenting method ever

i can't imagine bfing a newborn and having 2 other children too so well done.

if you actually breastfeed at night then you i am sure you will behave in exactly the same manner as a woman who breastfeeds all day therefore the risk will be the same as a breastfeeding woman, because you are a breastfeeding woman lol. my bfed DS started to crawl around the bed as soon as he was able which swiftly put an end to cosleeping .

the more she actually breastfeeds directly, the quicker she will get at it, i would have thought, making it easier for you. saying that, i know a lady who expressed milk for a whole year for her son and it was fine.