I've messed up - mix feeding - HELP!

[isheisnthe]

My DS3 - who is 10 weeks this week, has been mix fed for about 3 weeks. He was fine and happy to take either breast or bottle (still is) however this weekend I had my inlaws staying, and as father in law has praticlly forced the issue of bottle feeding down my throat since he was born I felt I couldn't feed him in front of him.

I went upstairs a few times to feed him but he generally has a lot more bottles than breast - now I seem to have very little milk - not really a surprise. I am offering him the breast at every feed - he still latches on and I can hear an initial few gulps and then is seems there is nothing there for him, when he comes away from each breast I am thenusing an expressing pump to try and get the milk production up but literally I am lucky if a further tea spoon comes out.

I had masses of milk, and I have lost that heavy feeling when your breast is full.

I don't want to starve him, and he's not had a bottle of formular now for 36 hours, but he IS hungry - and I know I am not producing enough milk - DH is now making noises that the baby needs to eat - and I am not sure what to do - I want my milk back, but I also want my son fed!

Help - I am so pissed off at myself, this is my last baby (probably) and I really wanted breast feeding to last a lot longer.

Don't take expressing as an idnciator of supply. It could be that he is simply feeding more efficiently and your supply has settled down. The more you feed, the more supply will come. If he hasn't been wailing for formula he must be getting more than you think.

you certainly can return to full breastfeeding, but I would try to get some real life advice from a breastfeeding counsellor about how to go about it.

the general advice is to spend a couple of days in bed with the baby feeding as often as needed, and snuggling skin to skin as much as possible.

sorry, that was abrupt, DD was shouting at me the whole time!

Talking to a professional should reassure your family that what you are doing is possible.

Have a look on Kellymom - there is a good article on there 'Increasing Milk Supply' which has loads of useful tips for increasing supply.

Try not to be fed up - you and your baby can do this :) The fact that your little one not refusing the breast is a great start.

Like Humphrey said, it is worth trying to get real-life help too.

Oh, and do share all of the information you get with your husband so that he can understand that you don't need to give your baby formula and he can support you while you increase your supply.

Good luck :)

i spent most of yesterday lying on tne bed feeding him and today i will do the same, he slept through in his cot 11 - 5 so maybe he is getting more than i think, i have just lost that heavy feeling, when he used to feed off one breast the other who leak - not so now and I don't need breast pads anymore? Not sure if this is just settling down though as I have never really got past 6/8 weeks before?

sorry about typos - am feeding him!

You're saying you breastfed exclusively for 7 weeks, and felt your supply was good? And it's been three weeks of mixed feeding, and one weekend of not enough breast?

You should be fine, then - just stick to what you're doing. If your baby is sleeping well, even now, then it sounds like your supply is bouncing back.

(Oh and at your FIL.)

That heavy feeling of full breasts always goes away after the first few weeks. The supply will adjust to baby needs in a day or two, If he's not in distress I wouldn't worry, just try to make feeding sessions longer to stimulate milk production. The amount of expressed milk is no indication, I could never express much, even between feeds.

thanks everyone, I will be gutted if I can not get this back on track - its never really been terribly important to me before, but I am sure this will be my last baby, and I want to do it right, plus I am going to have to go back to work when he is 6 months so I want to do as much as I can for him before that.

Well at around 4 months your boobs start feeling less full so 10 weeks may be early but could it be that?

Still lots of wet nappies/ weight gain?

Get a medela at breast supplementer- you can give top ups at the breast but still be stimulating your supply.

It may be worth hiring an NCT hospital grade pump for a month (they are a million times better than any other pump) and pumping as much as you can?

My dd was mixed fed pretty much from birth (long story involving NICU and tube feeding and a breast reduction so poor supply) but by about 7 weeks we had it down to 1 bedtime bottle which was a massive achievement- you can get your supply back it will just take lots of hard work unfortunately.

and massive ggrrrrr at your complete idiot of a father in law!

I think my confidence is also knocked a bit as he dipped below his thecentile line h was following last week - he was 14lb 1oz last week (was 9lb 10z at birth)

My dd is an erratic centile follower! She started on 95th then dipped to 25th then meanders between 50th and 75th. (She lost 14% of bodyweight after birth- my cracks about her being a 9.5lber and having some to lose as she was the giant baby on NICU with all the premies didn't go well with the nurses- oh well!)

I think growth charts were done for formula fed babies in the 70's so not brilliant for comparison with breastfed babies.

So long as he is not losing weight (or long term static weight) and has plenty of wet and poey nappies and is bright and alert when he should be then am sure he will be fine.

You are doing brilliantly to get this far, and now for the "keep calm and carry on".
:)

Once he comes off the second breast, do you offer him the first again? If you keep going back and forth from side to side until he refuses any more you'll be able to lengthen each feed.

Agree with moonunitalpha's advice to increase length of feeds, and if he is going 6 hours at night its unlikely he's starving. I think keep doing what you are doing, normal to loose heavy feeling and if you are feeding more often that normal then not surprising leaking less as well.

If you do offer formula better to offer 1oz after a BF (once you have got him to take as much as possible) rather than a full bottle which would mean he wouldn't BF for several hours afterwards.

Why does you FIL think bottles are better?

Dropping off a centile line is fine. It's crossing two lines (I think?) that raises alarms, ime.

I dont know why - he just kept asking when was going to start getting "proper" food- ie, a bottle

He is feeding nicely now - but I guess I just need to keep it up - wish me luck

Isheinthe -

I had this problem. I lost my supply completely due to mixed feeding and not expressing enough. Various reasons I was ill and had too many visitors.

I got my milk supply back. It took 3/4 weeks.

It will take you probably a week. I paid a lactation contsultant to help my DD to latch back on properly.

Stop formula and just breast feed every 2 and a half hours during the day for 4 days and you will get an improvement.My DD was on 25th centile and still is. So igmore that bloody chart, it will only make you stressed. As long as he has wet nappies and poos then he is getting enough milk.

You can do it. You dont want full breasts if they are full your body stops making more. Mine were always soft. You can always express an oz before the morning feed and after last feed about 10pm.

If you need any more advice, email me.

Good luck.

Hi. Firstly, my breasts have not leaked at all for a good couple of months, except for the one night where DD slept through (she's 4.5 months). They also never feel full, even first thing (again, except for that one night).

You say you hear an initial few gulps and then there seems to be nothing there. What does he do after those few gulps? Does he pull off crying, or does he keep sucking? A hungry baby is not going to stay there sucking if there's nothing doing.

I would echo those who say do not worry about the amount you can or can't express. The important thing is that you are expressing, which will increase your supply. In fact one of the things to do when trying to increase your supply is to continue pumping for a few minutes after the flow of milk stops.

I understand that growth charts do now include breast fed babies and are more representative. But don't worry about hin dipping below his centile. My DD wavers above and below the 25th and is considered "textbook".

You are doing all the right things. As long as you're still getting plenty of wet nappies, and the occasional dirty one, he should be fine. I gave bottles overnight from 2 weeks to 12 weeks and we returned to EBF with no problem at all.

milk production is faster in a very soft breast and slows down when the breast is full.
great plan to chill out for a couple of days and keep your baby close and feed as much as you want to, at least every 2/2.5 hours.
like someone said, you can go back and forth as milk is being made quickly so when your baby goes back to a breast after the other one, there will probably be another let down of milk, and coming out of an emptier breast, it will be very high fat too.
if he's fine in himself, don't weigh him for a bit - let him catch up.
don't worry about the soft feeling. not remotely an indicator of how much milk your boobs are producing/can produce.

I'm on a program to increase supply. my lactation consultant has me doing the following-
feed for 30 min every 3 hours (from start of last feed), switching breasts every time swollowing/ active feeding slows down. then I top up dd with either formula or ebm. then I pump, switching boobs every few minutes, for 15 minutes. I have been told you have to express at least 6 times a day to increase supply.
tbh, it hasn't helped yet but I thought I'd share the info.

during growth spurts, my DS fed every 1.5/2 hours and in the next few days there seemed to be alot more milk. every 3hours might not be enough, and sometimes boobs respond better to a baby. do whatever works for you and him. top up with as little as you can get away with and gradually (or not that gradually, reduce it).

just to say, I never get that full feeling, I never leak and never manage to express much. In fact I very rarely see even a drop of my own milk! Despite all this DD2 is exclusively breastfed and thriving so she is clearly getting plenty of milk, so don't worry about whether they feel full or not.

Good luck and give your FIL a slap!