Have i spoilt breast feeding?

[round2]

My dd is 18 days old. The hospital midwife noticed she has a mild tongue tie. Breastfeeding has not come very natural to me and i don't really have much support as family mainly ff. With my first ds i gave up after 3 days.

I have been mixed feeding since the beginning due to soreness and was expressing when i could and then returning to breast once nipples were less sore. I was able to express 90ml from the beginning but now it has gone down to about 70ml after a very long time expressing. I used formula when i did not have chance to express or not enough milk expressed to satisfy.

I am trying to stop using the formula and this is my first day without using any and dd is constanly on the breast and falling asleep on me but still suckling.

I am now worried about my milk supply and wondering if i will be able to ebf or will i have to give up all together. I will continue with the constant demand if it will help my milk supply but i am unsure if it will?

I have also given a dummy on occassions.

Have i completly ruined my chance of ebf? I feel really useless at breastfeeding but i know its the best for my dd and really hope i have not ruined it.

Any help or advice very much appreciated.

Someone more experienced will come along, but contant feeding for a day or so will certainly up your supply - mine does it for a growth spurt, and the next day they're like balloons!

You're doing so well to keep it up (I've always hated expressing, so have great admiration for anyone who manages it) and I think you'll be fine

Hi - you are doing the best thing just keep putting babe on the boob - you haven't ruined anything just doing what you need to do! My DS3 started out having top ups with formula as he had to be away from me in hospital from 4 days and by 5 weeks I was back to fully ebf and we haven't looked back since! You can do it - I didn't have any support from family either - use your friends if you can and Mn of course!don't worry about the formula just keep feeding DC and you can gradually wean from FF - you can do it!!!!! - also found that when one nipple was extremely sore I expressed with manual pump to give it a break and this really helped - good luck and big hug x

When DD was your DD's age she fed & fed & fed. Just try to stick with it if you can. A few days with no formula or expressing ought to regulate your supply & teach your DD how to feed more effectively without a bottle, getting more out & taking less time over it. Vaseline is the cheapest & quickest way to heal sore nips (wipe off with a breast pad or cloth before feeding, reapply after). But try to shove your whole nipple into her mouth & it should hurt anymore

Are you having the tongue tie snipped? That's probably what's making you sore, and it can stop the baby getting milk from the breast efficiently too, which will effect your supply.

Thank you all for the advice so far. I have an appointment with the hospital tomorrow re tongue tie, so hopefully it will be snipped to improve latch.

Firstly don't panic - your supply is probably more robust than you think, and you have definitely not done anything wrong. Also, the fact you're now expressing less doesn't mean you're producing less. Expressing is not a good indicator of supply. Don't worry :)

Tongue Tie can cause major problems feeding, and depending on where you are you might have to fight to get it snipped. If you can push for this as much as you can it should make a huge difference. Until this happens the best thing is to keep offering the breast, lots of skin to skin, feed as much as you can to keep the supply up. If supply drops, you can get it back, but it will be easier in the long run if you can keep it up as much as possible now. If friends and family keep butting in with offers to give a bottle etc, give them things they can actually do to help, e.g. could they take DS out for you for a bit? Give the baby a bath? Make you some food, do some washing etc?

If you had problems feeding your DS as well it might be that he had tongue tie too - it can run in families.

Hang in there. Keep your supply up as much as possible and you could get back to ebf, especially if getting the TT snipped.

Lots of nursing helps with supply. I'd see someone irl to get as much help with latch as is possible before and after the TT (hopefully) gets snipped.