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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Struggling with BF and feeling guilty about formula

8 replies

Naturally281110 · 17/02/2011 05:55

Hello!
This is my 1st time on Mumsnet and feeling pretty desperate. Little one almost 12 weeks old. Was 4 and half wks early and janudice until 8wks old. He has always been a hungry baby and feeds every 1-2 hrs during the day, but thankfully is now feeding every 3 ish hours at night. On advice we introduced 1 bottle expressed milk from 6 weeks at 10pm with aim of stuffing him to sleep longer. Oh- and very colicky and reflux (still!!)
Last 2 weeks been terrible- screaming for up to 4 hrs solid a day, i assumed was still colic (turns out it was hunger :( ) . My right breast became so sore unable to feed him on it after 2 weeks of agony, so from last week expressed and fed from bottle. Had to use bit of formula as my milk dropped from the pain.............he loved it....necked 6oz of the stuff instantly and wanted more! went to BF support group last Fri and diagnosed tongue tie and bubble pallete. Had the tie snipped yesterday at 11.5 wks old. But prob is he is now preferring bottle to the nipple as the shape of his mouth means he gets a better feed that way as he has such a shocklinglt bad latch and nipple feeds. My GP and HV have advised we go to bottle feeding so he gets enough food and is a settled, happy baby, but I'm heart broken and cant "let go" even tho exhaused and sore from frequent feeds.
Help!! Any advice as to what I should do?? My head says listen to the professionals, my heart says BF is best for my baby as is breastmilk (he makes such happy noises when he does BF. Very difficult to express during the day when hubby is at work, as LO often screams when put down (spending a fortune on Chiropracteur to realign head, neck and spine after a difficult forceps birth).

OP posts:
StrawberrySam · 17/02/2011 06:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

crikeybadger · 17/02/2011 08:01

Sounds like a nightmare for you natural.

Sad

Not great support from GP and HV- they say he needs more food in him- is he losing weight?

You need to speak to a bfing specialist - ring one of the helplines NCT, La leche league, ABM.

They will be able to help you and get you back to breastfeeding. I get the impression that is what you want to do.

Good luck. Smile

Sorry for rushed post btw (should be getting the DSs off to school Blush)

destructogirl · 17/02/2011 08:09

Have you tried a nipple shield ? I had trouble with my latch and no-one to help and the shields enable DD to latch on.

Naturally281110 · 17/02/2011 08:45

Hi StrawberrySam and Crikeybadger. I went to a BF support group last Fri and the BF counsillor spent an hour with me and no luck. She did a home visit on Monday and again over an hour, lots of diff positions and no luck- just a grumpy hungry baby. The BF counsillor then made me see a Lactation Consultant (one higher again apparantly) and they both spent hour and a half with me on Tues, again to no avail. I'm at my wits end, only had 3 hours sleep last night in 1.5hr bursts and DS is also tired, grumpy, hungry and fed up. Going to go again to a BF support group today Hmm. BF or bottles are a struggle- when he has a bottle of expressed milk it just steams down eitherside of his mouth and I end up having to change him he's so wet, BF uses up so much energy for him as he's so inefficient he cries on the nipple and often drifts off into a fitful sleep.

destructogirl- not tried nipple shields, will try and get some today

Absolutely gutted that this special time is proving to be such a nightmare, with me, hubby and DS all shattered and miserable. :(

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 17/02/2011 09:04

Having the tongue tie snipped should make a difference - it might take a few days for him to get used to the new movement he has with his tongue. But having said that, there should have been a noticeable immediate improvement, I'd have thought. Has anything changed since his TT has been snipped?

I don't know much about bubble palate but I have found this blog post from someone whose baby has it and is starting to find some ways to cope with it (she sounds a bit.. excitable.. but there do seem to be some good tips)

smithflections.blogspot.com/2008/11/doing-happy-dance.html

TruthSweet · 17/02/2011 09:28

I've had 3 DDs with a bubble palate and the first was much like yours - jaundice, ventouse birth, reflux and she was mainly bottle fed for the first 8 weeks (majority was formula with some EBM) before she was weaned back to breast feeding (and she bf until she self weaned at 3.6y/o Grin).

From personal experience, bubble palates can make deep latching difficult so that can make it difficult for baby to get good quantities of milk at first. That's the bad news, the good news is they DO grow out of the difficulites as their mouth grows they find it easier to get a better latch.

You may have noticed a 'clicking' noise whilst feeding - that is normal for a bubble palated baby and not a sign of a poor latch unless the clicking is accompanied by pain or chafing/soreness. The clicking is also grown out of, thankfully.

DD3 had the clicking the worst and the HV and the BFing group I'm part of could not work out why as the seal was unbroken, I was in no pain and there was no nipple shaping after a feed. We finally worked out it was bubble palate and have since retroactively diagnosed my older DDs with it (we are blaming my DH as he has it too!). She grew out of it at about 6ish months IIRC.

Have you considered biological nuturing? You can do this along side bottle feeding if you like as well as using BN to get a baby to latch, it can also be used to support and encourage baby back to bfing without pressure (helps baby to feel comfortable being near mum's breast without stress).

I found the 'flipple' helpful to get a deeper latch This is also helpful when trying to latch baby on and has lots of information on how to latch on deeply.

I'm really sorry you feel pushed into bottlefeeding when you want to breastfeed - there are ways to get back to bfing (either exclusively or part depending on what works for you and baby) but there is NO shame in drawing a line under your experiences and carrying on with bottlefeeding.

Just so you are aware though - it is quite easy for a 'sucky' baby (as reflux babies often are) to down large bottles even after satiety has kicked in as the way bottles works is : Baby sucks, milk flows into mouth causing a vacuum, milk flows to fill the vacuum and into baby's mouth, baby swallows/sucks causing vacuum, milk flows.....and so on until bottle is empty or baby pushes bottle out of mouth. So don't be down hearted that baby took 6oz in one go - it doesn't necessarily mean that your baby was starving.

As an aside, what meds is baby taking for reflux? DD1 was on domperidone and I think it made her hungrier as she still fed as much (anything up to 1 3/4 hours of bfeeding during day time or feeds lasting 3+ hours overnight) as before she was on med but she did vomit less and was in less pain so it worked out in the end.

Medication and positional techniques can all help to lessen the pain of reflux for baby and the volume of vomit so if baby is not on medication and is really struggling to cope with pain/problems with weight gain then ask your Dr for something to help (reflux is NOT always just a laundry problem).

Cosmosis · 17/02/2011 09:30

Have you tried any of the helplines?

National Breastfeeding Helpline
0300 100 0212
National Childbirth Trust
0300 330 0771
Breastfeeding Network
0300 100 0210
La Leche League
0845 1202918
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers 08444 122949

I know you've already seen a counsellor, but a different one might have a different suggestion.

best of luck.

CarolinaRua · 17/02/2011 11:19

Well I will tell you what I did rather than advise you as only you know whats best.
My DD didnt have tongue tie but we struggled with breastfeeding for 12 weeks and it got to the point where i hated it. DD was hungry, I was tired and my nipples were shredded - My DH 'joked' that DD looked like dracula after a particularly rough feed.

At 12 weeks I switched to formula, felt a bit guilty but from then on we both thrived.

In saying that I am due DC2 shortly and aim tto breasfeed but if its rough again then its not for me and i will move to formula much quicker.

Only you know if you have enough gas in the tank to keep looking for ways of improving breastfeeding. I know I didnt and was actually upset by my support group experience because as soon as I formula fed, they blanked me.

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