I´ve posted before about the various problems I´ve been having with breastfeeding (cracked nipples, thrush, tongue tie, raynaud´s) but am reaching breaking point. Ds will be 6 weeks on saturday, on friday we are due to see a consultant about the tongue tie but am not sure if he will do anything about it or if we will be referred again. I wanted to at least hang on until then but my nipples are increasingly painful and one has now developed a blood blister. It gets to the point, after about 45mins, where I literally can´t take anymore and have to take him off the breast. I´m worried he´s not getting enough milk but the pain is too much. (weight gain has been fine in general, bit of a dip last week but, pending confirmation at weigh-in tomorrow, think we´re back on track)
I want to breastfeed so much, I´ve never imagined bottle feeding and I´m feeling so sad at the thought of having to give up so early. I have given him a bottle of formula here or there (now 3 in total) and I´ve felt horrible about it every time. It doesn´t seem right to give him powdered milk and as convenient as it would be to bottle feed in that anyone could feed him, I kind of LIKE being the only one that can feed him, I LIKE that special connection and the way we look at each other when he feeds which I don´t get when he takes a bottle.
I want to try and get through the next few days til the appt,the LLL counsellor I called suggested feeding off the better side (though he is never full off that side alone so am left a bit confused about how to fill him up - i can´t just leave him on there indefinitely cos even the better side is painful) and expressing off the other. If that doesn´t work, I might have to come to terms with bottle feeding. It just seems like the tongue tie is more and more of a problem, he really fights the breast, ´clicks´ on the nipple, slips off, gets frustrated etc etc and it´s worse all the time. I feel so angry that I knew he had TT at 6 days at it has taken them this long to do anything about it. The paed. gp is totally dismissive that it could be causing teething problems.
This is pretty long winded but I just needed to pour it out, if anyone has been through similar and can advise or just share, it would be great to hear.