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[Stefkie]

Hi all!

A little back story first: my daughter is 6 weeks old today. Up until last week we were combi feeding, now she's breast fed only. She couldn't latch properly and damaged my nipples a great deal. I used nipple shields for a while, expressed, and when I didn't have enough for her we used a formula top up. She had a posterior tongue tie cut last Thursday (very thick tongue tie at that!) and we seen an osteopath yesterday for a cranial osteopathy to try and free up any tension in her neck and jaw. We've mostly managed decent latches since then and she's feeding every hour to 2 hours at the moment which is exhausting.

She won't settle in her moses basket for more than 20 minutes, the same with her swing. She won't sleep unless she's being held. Today if she isn't on boob, she's screaming the place down. We've only been breastfeeding exclusively since Friday. Is it possible that I'm just not producing enough milk? I'm taking Fenugreek, and eating Nurtrimum breastfeeding bars (loads of oats) but my boobs are basically constantly soft. She's started pulling my nipples and getting really frustrated, and the gulping of feeding doesn't seem to be lasting long as though I'm not giving out a lot of milk.

When she does fall asleep it's usually on boob. Will a baby still fall asleep even if they are hungry? As soon as I try to put her down to get some rest she's wide awake and demanding food. She doesn't even like to be just held by me at the moment, she's got to be feeding. It's exhausting.

I suppose I'm just looking for a little reassurance that I shouldn't just switch to formula and be done with it. It makes her quite gassy, so I'd really rather avoid it, but I feel it would be easier to deal with the gas than the constant cry/feed rotation she seems to have going.

Thanks for reading.

How much f was she having before the tt snip?

Usually just a 30 ml top up at her cluster feed in the evening.

are you expressing?

No, I don't really have anything (or any time) to express between feeds. She's basically stuck to one or the other just now. I've just had her at the doctor because she spent most of today possetting and screaming at me. They've given me some gaviscon infant to see if it helps.

Hi
This sounds like normal 6 week growth spurt fussiness to be honest!
Hang in there and feed feed feed if it helps settle her.
Pulling on and off the boob at times can be part of normal fussiness.

Do you have a sling library near You?
I too had a Velcro baby who mostly liked to be held/on me
If you can get to grips with slings and wearing your baby it's such a game changer.
You get your hand back!
You can make a cup of tea, a sandwich, hold a book...

Do you have local feeding support?
Any la leche league groups or peer support groups?

It's also common for them to comfort feed and/or feed lots to increase your supply around growth spurts.
Try not to worry about the little voms, it's common too. She will probably just have more milk again afterwards.

Sit down, get a good book (preferably a long one - I recommend Donna Tartt, Secret History) and feed feed feed! All of mine did this. With my Dts I was glued to the sofa! All of them fed for comfort and to be close. One was a proper Velcro baby but is now a very happy 4 year old.

A good sling means you can wander about. Like pp see if you can find a sling library.

My ds was very similar at that age (now 6 months and still breast feeding). It was boob, boob, boob! i struggled to get out of the house some days. It does get easier, hang in there.

I have breastfed two babies. Sounds pretty normal to me! A lot of breastfeeding is comfort, in my experience it was about 50% feeding 50% human dummy.

If you can, practice feeding lying down and in a sling. Makes life much easier!

She’s increasing your supply for you. This is good news (but fairly hard work in the short-term, sorry). Frequent feeding will stimulate your supply, and you should soon reach a point where she’s content. She’s also likely learning to become more efficient at feeding after tt-section. Are you satisfied with latch etc? Keep an eye on weight gain too. But things sound quite positive.

@Foodylicious - I've been to breast feeding support, that's where she was diagnosed with her tongue tie. We do have sling libraries but only once a month and we had 3 foot of snow last time it was on. I have a self I just have no idea how to feed her in it!

I am to do just fine at groups, then when I get home she stops opening her mouth wide and I end up with her rubbing her bottom gum under my nipple.

@Callamia - sometimes the latch is great, others it's not. She tends to not put her tongue forward which means I get a lot of gum, and it gets painful. I can spend 20 minutes taking her off repeatedly, but by then it probably have less pain and she'd be less frustrated if its just let her go it.

She refused to be put down last night. My partner sat with her in the front room from 9-3, waking me up for 2 feeds, and I've had her since 3. She starts screaming the place down the second she's not being held and nothing I've found seems very effective. She has to be held though, the sling didn't count apparently.

My dd is also 6 weeks old and we've had a very similar journey to you so far: tongue tie that was done twice, with a thick posterior tie; mixed feeding; poor latch; fussiness. I also ended up with vasospasm so was in agony between feeds too, so there was no respite.

It's possible that she has some reflux (I suspect my DD's is silent reflux as she's not vomming but has many other symptoms).

I will say that your boobs are probably soft because she's feeding so much that they're not having time to get full - so don't worry about your supply just because of that. If she's gaining weight, and having wet and dirty nappies, then your milk is doing its job!

There's a developmental leap at 5 weeks, and a growth spurt around 6, and all three of mine have used those as opportunities to feed like demons. If you haven't got the wonder week's app, I recommend it.

Other than that, it sounds like you're doing an amazing job. The BF counsellors I've seen have been full of praise, and you sound similar, so I'm passing it on. Keep up the good work, from experience, bf gets so much easier after 6 weeks although it does feel like forever at the time.