Restarting breast after 1 month bottle feeding and expressing.

[lucybrad]

Well, I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to restart breast feeding after bottle feeding a mix of formula and expressed milk for the last month. My DD never seemed to get the latch right, and would get frustrated and upset while on the breast.

I have an appointment with the breast feeding counsellor next week, and was wondering if anyone knew what was likely to be advised, or if anyone has sucessfully managed to get there child back onto the boob.

Thanks

Yes, thats how I felt at the begining, but now I am finding it a real bind having to epxress, as it takes so much time. I want the best of both worlds and I have gone about it the wrong way! Really I want her to take the breast and the bottle, and I am hoping she is miraculously going to be able to do both!

There are ways to lure a baby back to the breast. (finger feeding, and supplementing at the breast, for example) I've be more worried about your supply. How old is your DD? What percentage of her milk is from you these days?

How often are you expressing? You might need to do it more often for a while to keep the supply up. My DD didn't latch on for 5 weeks and I expressed at least 8 times in 24 hours (including during the night) in that time. I had support if a great bf clinic though, who advised with that and helped us practise. Hope the person you meet is helpful. Lots of people tried to give me old wives tales and rubbish advice, like 'never give her the bottle yourself if you want her to take the breast' (from hv) but the real knowledge and experience from the clinic was invaluable. Good luck.

DS was bottle fed EBM for the first 6 weeks and I tried every trick to get him to accept the breast without refusing or screaming but nothing worked. I had lots of help and support from my local LLL group and on their advice tried shields which worked a charm. We used shields for about 3 months and then he took the breast like a pro on his own and fed until he was 4 years old.

So I would say yes it is VERY possible with enough perseverance and the right support . I know I was lucky with my supply though and we hadn't been using formula after DS was a week old as pumping every time DS fed seemed to keep my supply going OK. How often are you pumping atm?

DD is 4 weeks old. I only express 4 times a day, and she is getting about 1/3 expressed and 2/3 formula. Im not woried about her having formula, but I would like her to be getting some breast milk for as long as possible, and if its directly from me then all the better, but I undersand that this may be difficult. She gets either gets frustrated by the breast, or falls asleep instantly!

are you putting your dc on your breast after each feed?

lucy I think it is possible. I once read an article in an NCT Newsletter where the Mum had had breast enlargements, then got pg. Then started bfing but gave up after 2 weeks, then regretted the decision and started bfing again 2 weeks later. However I do know she found it hard and had fantastic support from her very lovely local Bfing Counsellor.

Have a read of this article on Relactation on Kellymom and also this one on weaning from formula. Hope they both help and hope too that you get the support you need

Hi. I stopped feeding from my breasts almost 3 weeks ago and have been expressing for my 6 week DS since then, as I was waiting for an appointment to have his tongue tie snipped so i could (in theory!) feed without hellish pain.

We had the tt op on wednesday, I was nervous he wouldn´t take the boob again after so long, so we put him to it straight after the op with the bf support lady there.

He screamed and completely refused to take my nipple in the usual position we were feeding in (cross cradle). I could see he wasn´t opening his mouth much, like with a bottle.

We were going to give up as it all got very stressful, then one of the nurses at the tt clinic remembered an 'experiment' at another local hospital about succesful positions of getting a baby back on the breast ater the tt op. The one that had the most success, was sitting upright in a chair, facing baby to you straddling one leg (like riding a horse), tummy up close to you. And hey presto, DS latched on and drank a full feed to sleep.

The peeps at the hospital suggested continuing to feed like that so that he gets used to the breast again, then keep trying sporadically in a more comfortable position (as for me, that one wasn´t good for my huge boobs).

He will now feed back as normal.

Sadly, the op didn´t fix the painful latching problem, so we´re still expressing with just the odd quick feed at the breast for convenience (his).

I bf DS1 until he was about 4 weeks old. Then stopped for various reasons and ff for about 5 weeks, expressed halfheartedly from time to time but couldn;t get much out so didn't bother. Then one evening, DS1 was crying and I was comforting him but wasn't wearing anything on top. He bent down and latched himself on! I then started to bf him again and by the time he was 3 - 4 months old, he was getting at least half his feeds from me and only 2 or 3 bottles a day. He continued to bf until he was about 14 months old.

So it can be done. Go for it.

thats great tryharder.

my baby was bottle fed with expressed milk for the first 3 weeks, before i got her back onto the breast with the help of several different lactation consultants. i had tried to get her to latch every day (but not every feed) while bottle feeding, so that she kept the idea in her head. when i swapped back to breast feeding it was a complete 'no bottles' change.
it did take a long time (14 wks) for her to latch well ie. pain free, which was as a result of the bottles for sure. but it was really worth it, she's still feeding now at 10 months

good luck!