I've made SO many mistakes

[Meta4]

DD2 is eight days today.

Breastfed her in hospital, nipples killed. Bought lanolin which helped. Got her home a day later and couldn't get her to latch on. Panicked and gave her bottles/formula (this also happened to DD1).

By Day 4 I bought a pump and managed to get about 8 ounces in that 24 hours, which I gave to her in a bottle. She also latched on, several times which was great. I felt euphoric and in control.

Day after that, pumped every 3 hours, nothing.

Day after that, pumped every 2 hours - again, sod all.

Today woke up with a migraine so I'm guessing I shouldn't use the milk (if there's any there, ha!) because of the Migraleve.

I wasn't planning on bfing because I barely did with DD1 and didn't think it would be fair on her. But now I really want to, after that great experience a few days ago.

But is the milk gone for good - already?!

:(

No. Put the pump away. Just offer the breast every time you sit down (which should be a lot for the next couple of weeks) and aim fir at least hourly during the day and on demand at night. In a few days you'll be able to bf fully on demand. It would be sensible to contact a breastfeeding counsellor too.

Hth

NOt necessarily.

Have a look on www.kellymom.com to check whether you need to pump and dump with migraleve. It may not be necessary.

The key here is to feed often. So don't rely on pumping alone to build up supply, the best bet is to get your dd to feed heaps because she will be much more efficient at stimulating your breast milk supply. Lots of skin to skin. contact. Perhaps have her in a sling so she's close. And feed and feed and feed.

With regards to the latch, have you had any support from a breastfeeding counsellor to reassure you that the latch is correct? If not, then perhaps it might be worthwhile contacting LLL or NCT breastfeeding helplines.

Fingers crossed you get the result you want. :)

You've done SO many things right too and asking on here is one of them.
Sounds like great advice so far.
Congratulations!

The only time I've ever had to dump bm is when I was on immigran. Not sure about migraleve though.

I would second recommendation to see a bfc... I'm fairly sure your milk wouldn't have dried up after 8 days, esp as you have been feeding and pumping. I would def get rid of the pump, don't try expressing until bfing is established. Get your latch checked and sorted out pronto because if it's painful it's bloody hard to persist.

Most of all, do not get stressed about it. IME your mindset has a BIG influence on the successful outcome of breastfeeding. If you're uptight and stressed it will be doubly hard. It's hard to relax though if you've got a poor latch as it can be toe curlingly painful.

No the best way to get your supply up is to use your dd. A pump is not the best way to gauge milk supply.
Check your latch, if your nipples are sore then you haven't got enough breast in her mouth so your nipple is rubbing on her palette. Get in touch with a breastfeeding counsellor for some help with positioning and latch. If her position is not good then she will be struggling to feed efeectively.
Try and relax as well, the more het up you get the more adrenaline you produce and that will slow your milk right down.
A few feeds every couple of hours whilst you are relaxed will boost your supply better then a pump will

You have done briiantly just trying! If you want to continue don't worry all not lost. Do you have help at home to look after dc1 while you go to bed, top off and just have 2 days of skin to skin & breast feeding loads? Kellymom website great. Nct has good support...call their breastfeeding helpline and get number of their local breast feeding advisor.has baby been checked for tongue tie?

It can get better and come back. I struggled in first week...ds too drowsy to latch but lying on bed feeding 6 month old as I type. It gets better! Do get lactation consultant support though x

All is far from lost. You may need to feed AND pump in between times to get your milk supply going but that would probably be short term. The best thing you could do would be to get some RL advice and ideally someone to see you feed your DD to see whether she is feeding effectively.

A friend of mine stopped BF for a couple of weeks and managed to get a full supply back by pumping every 2 hours round the clock for 24 hours, so it can be done even in quite extreme cases.

I recemmend the LLL but any of the helplines will be good. A local group you could visit would be even better. Good luck

toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT - check sumatriptan and it will be reassuring for you.

But agree with other posts - now's the time to get proper help to 'rescue' breastfeeding, and it absolutely is not too late :)
If you carry on doing what you are doing, though, it will be, so do ask the midwife and call the helplines.

It's not too late at all and well done for keeping going :)

You might not be getting much pumping because of being stressed about it. Agree with others that bfing is more likely to help you produce milk as hopefully you'll be more relaxed, and bonding etc etc.

Good luck

Thanks all.

Hadn't realised pumping was not such a great idea. I've been so much more relaxed this time but lost heart when 20 mins of pumping produced nothing.

Will keep up with the skin to skin and keep latching her on. Will she get any food this way in the beginning though?

ooh yes sleepatlast a baby moon! Op not sure how easy it is to do as you have another dc. However a babymoon was brilliant for kick starting bfing with ds. I freaked out because he lost so much weight in the first two weeks. He lost nearly a pound and then just stayed there for weeks. He had an undiagnosed tongue tie which was only mild but enough to create problems in an inexperienced bfer (me :o). I went to bed for two days over a weekend (so dh was around to bring me cups of tea), ds wore only a nappy, I wore only pyjama bottoms and snoozed, bf'd, snoozed, read magazines, bf'd, snoozed, bf'd, watched telly, snoozed... Lots of skin to skin, bfing every hour. Really really helped.

Meta - do give the midwife a call....you do need real life help I think. You can call her now - at 8 days postnatal you are still well within her care.

Pumping was completely rubbish for me unless I was feeding dd from the other side simultaneously, and that was only when she was months old and we were pretty adept at it. Otherwise, I would pump and get nothing at all. So pumping not a good indication of how much milk you have.

I'm sure she will get milk, and if you persevere, the milk supply will increase. You may need to top up - no expert on this at although. Kellymom may have advice. She's still really new though, and her tummy is minute so bear in mind that a small feed may be enough. I think breastmilk is also more readily absorbed so you don't necessarily give the same 'volume' as you would in a bottle of formula.

Yes yes to calling midwife/breastfeeding counsellor.

I really struggled to pump but have had no significant problems breastfeeding - only supply problems had specific causes.
Congratulations on your baby, and while I agree you need o get some help now it is absolutely not too late to get back to exclusive bf. Good luck and enjoy it :)

I have a friend who went from 100% ff to 100% BF at 6 weeks so don't panic just yet!!!

As others have said, the best thing to do is to get her onto your breast and suckling. You could try going back to basics and start with lots of skin to skin. This video is pretty good. www.nhs.uk/Planners/breastfeeding/Pages/skin-to-skin-contact.aspx

Also contact your midwife or an NCT BF Counsellor or similar (www.nct.org.uk) who will be able to help with positioning and attachment.

Milk let-down has a surprisingly high emotional element!!! Lots of people say they can't pump if they can't see their baby, or hear them, or if they are anxious etc. This is all due to the presence of the hormone oxytocin (the love hormone). We make oxytocin while we are cuddling our babies, feeding them or even looking at them and this promotes milk let-down.

Stress hormones work against oxytocin, and actually inhibit let-down so not being in physical contact with your baby combined with worry can actually stop it almost completely for some people.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

I never produced more than a dribble of BM when pumping, but managed to BF both my DCs until they were over 9months old.

Don't give up - you'll get lots of help posting here.

Good luck

NCT Breastfeeding Line 0300 330 0771 (8am-10pm, 7 days a week)
National Breastfeeding Helpline 0844 20 909 20