Exclusively breastfeeding made my baby made her ill!

[CheeseCakeOfDreams]

I gave birth to my PFB a week and a half ago. It was my dream to EBF her for six months as per WHO recommendation. I did all the relevant research whilst pregnant. I attended the NCT antenatal classes, which included a 2 hour session on breastfeeding. I also attended a two hour drop in session on breastfeeding at my local hospital.

At first the breastfeeding seemed to be going well. She was feeding aprox every three hours and staying on the breast between 20 minutes and an hour. She seemed sleepy and satisfied after each feed, so I had no reason to think she wasn't getting what she needed.

3 - 4 days in things started to change. Instead of just taking to the breast nicely, she seemed frantic about getting on it. She no longer seemed content after each feed and was making feeding cues all day. I spent pretty much an entire day with her on my breast, but she never seemed satisfied.

By the evening of that day I knew something was't right. The midwife was due to visit us the next day and DP wanted to wait till then before checking things out, but I wasn't prepared to wait. I rang triage who told me my breasts should be rock hard & leaking by now (they weren't). I was advised to take her to A&E to get her checked out.

Shortly before all this she hadn't done a poo for 2 days which I did mention to my midwife and she wasn't concerned. She had been doing wees.

It turns out that she'd lost 16% of her birth weight and was dehydrated. I had no choice but to feed her formula. We both had a two night stay in paediatrics to build her back up and for observations. She was on a drip to replace the fluid she'd lost and I formula fed every two hours to ensure she had her ongoing requirements of liquid.

When I expressed in hospital only a lousy 8 MIL came off, so clearly I wasn't making enough for her. Maybe she was o.k. with the colostrum, but when my mature milk was supposed to come in there wasn't enough any more?

Anyway, not sure what the point of this thread is. Just a bit gutted that trying to do the right thing has backfired big time. Is there anyone who has been through similar?

I am expressing so still giving some breastmilk, but the volumes are not huge. I have been giving her goats milk formula as I hear it's easier to digest.

Oh and the hospital says she has a tongue tie. I have had a referral for this and will be discussing with a specialist next week.

And yes, 16 per cent is not a 'little weight' - it was absolutely appropriate to treat as an urgent case.

Please get the tongue tie fixed ASAP then reassess. It will pro ably make a world of difference.

We had the same situation last summer. Charlie at milkmatters.org.uk was absolutely superb and helped get BF well established.

Poor you, what a horrid experience , and a decaf

It all depends what you want to do. If you want to formula fed, then just go for it and you'll probably feel less stressed. Don't feel guilty if it is the best choice for you and your family.

If you want to continue to breastfed, then get on the phone to a bf counsellor and get some decent advice, and try to trust your body. Newborns do sometimes stay on the breast nearly all the time, especially when they are having growth spurts. Try to keep baby on the breast and use formula only as a last resort if you want to continue to bf as the more you ff, the less milk you will produce. And as everyone had said, expressing is a very poor indicator of supply, the best indicator is nappies, the number of wet and soiled and the colour of the poo.

Breastfeeding can be though at the start - it is learning process for you and baby. My first seven weeks with ds1 were tough as I, conversely, had an oversupply problem; he had green nappies due to too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk and I got mastitis, but we got through it with the help of sites like Kellymom, online communities and the support of my DH. As poocatcher has shown, getting back to 100% breast from ff can be done .

Good luck with whatever you choose.

I had very similar, DS wasn't transferring milk although he was on the Breast a lot, also he was very sleepy the first few days, when weighed on day 5 he'd lost 15% weight. Midwife was happy for us to stay home and I pumped and bottle fed the milk every two hours for 48 hours, we had daily visits from midwives and he regained his weight in a couple of days. I had a very similar fear of going back to EBF although I was strongly encouraged by the midwives to do so as I now totally mistrusted my own ability to tell if he was feeding or not, that plus his screaming reluctance to latch on meant I was terrified of starving him and I pumped and fed for two months then we transitioned to FF. I now look back after 11 months and wonder if I should have 'tried harder' but of course at the time you have this tiny newborn who you are terrified of harming and who you are desperate to feed in any way possible. On the whole, I feel now that had I struggled to reastablish EBF it would have been hard put reading on here it seems possible, had I been able to get through his screaming anger at being offered the breast etc and persevered. But I can't look at my DS now and think he is any less perfect and I don't have any strong regrets, just wistful feelings I suppose. What you feel is completely understandable, and whatever decision you make will be the right one for you and you DC

And tongue tie - as other have said, get it fixed asap and it will make a world of difference.

Sorry to hear you've had such a rough time of it cheese and congratulations on your new DD!

I don't know if this is helpful to you, but my DS also had a tongue tie and it wasn't cut until he was 6 weeks. I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital for a few days because he couldn't feed at all so I mix fed him on Aptimil and expressed breast milk for those 6 weeks. Once the tongue tie was cut we were able to increase the breastfeeds and he's still feeding now at 20mo. We did continue to mix feed him, it was very handy to be able to give DH one of the readymade bottles and send them both out while I got some sleep.

Pumping was so time consuming (and a double pump cuts the time needed in half) but it did gradually increase my supply. I found it helped a lot to be close to my DS when I expressed or to look at his photo or smell some of his clothes, it seemed to make the milk flow more then.

Sorry for the essay & best of luck for whatever you decide to do!

Please don't worry. If you manage to get BF established again then great. I BF mine and with the first she pretty much fed every half hour I did feel like a milk machine - but I NEVER managed to express more than a spoonful of milk so could not build up a supply to leave for a bottle. I do remember how determined I was to BF at any cost and do it "right". It can be exhausting. If any of my dds were to have problems BF I would be much more relaxed in advising them to do what is right for them and the baby, and sometimes bottle feeding is best - in the past it might have been best to employ a wet nurse.

Ironically I was bottle fed back in the 50's because my mother had "very little milk" (according to her) - and in those days you fed to a schedule. If she'd felt able to do what I did then she might have continued. Yes BF is best for the baby - but formula milk is fine. I'm fit and healthy - and have a PhD. Who knows, maybe if I'd been BF I would have a noble prize by now but with 21st century medical care and technology your baby will not be seriously disadvantaged by being bottle fed.

The not pooing was a major sign that something wasn't right. So sorry this was missed.

I just wanted to say that the "rock hard and leaking" breasts thing doesn't apply to everyone - just in case someone reads this and starts panicking when it doesn't happen. And measuring what you can express doesn't tell you much, either. Plus knowing how much they have taken only tells you how much they have taken, not whether it is 'enough'. health professionals should assess based on weight, nappies and the baby's behaviour.

It is quite possible the tongue tie is the issue, as previous posters have said.

Regarding what you said at the start about your dreams and plans for exclusively BF - what you wanted to do was what was best for your baby, and happily, that is exactly what you were and are doing; you followed her feeding cues, and when you were made aware of an issue you followed advice and you are doing what's needed. You may or may not get back to exclusively BF but you are doing a great job regardless. It's really lovely to hear that you are enjoying some feeds and I hope you get your confidence back.

I had similar troubles with BF too and at 10 weeks am still topping up, but it's reducing. DD latched about 3 times in the first 3 weeks. It was awful. I had to try and get her to latch (resulted in purple faced screaming), then top her up with formula or expressed milk, then pump to maintain supply. It was awful. I never got a lot from expressing and I hated it. I was lucky as DP was off work for 4 weeks, which meant that I had him to help with the bottles. I went to breastfeeding clinics at least once a week, sometimes twice.

Finally come week 3 she started to get it. By week 4 she started latching regularly. I dropped most of the pumping by week 6, only doing it if she missed a breast. Honestly if she hadn't gotten it at week 4, I would have had to stop. All the breast attempts, top ups and expressing is just so much work. I was in tears constantly, feeling like a failure because it wasn't working. My midwife told me on day 10 she would have stopped. The breastfeeding clinics said there was nothing wrong with stopping. I know that they were right and honestly I was days from stopping.

The last 6 weeks have been hard but I am slowly dropping top ups. It is getting easier, much easier.

I have had thrush, bleeding nipples (through a shield!) and a fair amount of pain. All without any obvious reason (no tongue tie or traumatic birth). However DD got there eventually.

One of the best pieces of advice I got from the breastfeeding clinics, is that I needed to relax about it all. If I wanted to continue all the stress was going to affect my supply and make it all more difficult.

Honestly I relaxed after that as I really believe that the mind can have a massive effect on your body. I also realised that at the end of the day there is NOTHING wrong with formula feeding. I am just stubborn and decided to keep trying (I kept setting goals- get to 6 weeks, get to 10 weeks, etc).

The difference was almost immediate after I let myself relax about it. I had been taking fenugreek, cookies, tea- the lot. Nothing improved my supply as much as relaxing about it and accepting that formula top ups are fine. She can been weaned off them. Also I realised I only needed to pump to maintain supply. I ditched most expressed top ups as I found it too exhausting. I'm down to 100ml a day of top ups from almost 500ml 4-5 weeks ago.

Whatever you decide will be just fine. If you want to BF you can, if you find it too much that's ok too. I just wanted to give you an example of how you can continue BF and get back on it even after top ups.

I would advise you to have the tongue-tie snipped if you want to continue breastfeeding if it's a fairly bad one. My DD has one and, although I did bf her for a year, it took a long time for us both to be comfortable and I really wish i had pushed it as an issue and had it sorted.

Thanks for all your responses and advice.

The midwife came to visit this afternoon and DD is pretty much back to her birth weight which is a relief. The midwife said that the traumatic birth, combined with the tongue tie and the fact the top layer my episiotomy stitches have come undone and I'm still in a lot of pain 'explains a lot.'

Me and DD had some nice skin to skin/boob time earlier and she took less than normal from the bottle afterwards, so pretty sure she got something from the breast. I'm going to go to a breastfeeding support group on Friday and I'll have a look at those YouTube videos that someone mentioned.

I've asked my NCT friends (who all gave birth around the same time as me) about their BF. They are all feeding on average every three hours, so I don't think what I was doing was that unusual.

Sorry if that comment came across as critical. It wasn't intended that way, I just have a hazy memory of all of mine feeding totally randomly and not being able to move or do anything much because they kept wanting to feed! Obviously you were feeding on demand which is brilliant. (I think using a routine can disrupt supply, that was all)

I am so glad you are getting some real life support with this and that your little girl is back to her birth weight.

You are doing really well.

If a traumatic birth often causes these problems, I'm not sure why women who've had these sorts of births are not given more support/checks?

It's hard to be sure of course - this is just the internet and not person to person :) - but at the first sign that feeding was not going well (that is, the lack of poo), the midwife should have supported you to feed in all the ways we know enables the baby to get more milk....TT may have been an issue, difficult birth may have been an issue, whatever......the alarm bells should have rung. You rang them but the midwife told you not to listen :(

Everything sounds as if it is on track now though and that's great.