Help! regretting stopping breastfeeding, want to restart!

[Dalrymps]

Hey there, i've stopped bf just under a week ago, one boob was very sore so expressed from it for a few days then started mixing in ff then other boob started getting sore and suspected thrush as was gettin shooting pains and nipples a bit white in the bath so decided to just go ff and stopped cold turkey. Had about 3 days of very full sore boobs and now they've stopped hurting so much, they're still a bit lumpy and still leaking a little, the one i gave up last on still has quite a bit of milk, when i take a bath i can massage quite a lot out, the one i gave up first on still has a little too that i can express out in the bath... Anyway, after having a week to think about it i feel i was hasty and don't feel like i gave it enough of a shot althoug was very painfull on the one side at the time, i never saw a bf councellor and never got it confirmed whether had nipple thrush, my nipple ends still look really white when they get wet in the bath??? I've been thinking maybe there is a chance i could get my nips treated (if i do actually have thrush) and then try to restart maybe by expressing a bit at first, and getting the help of a bf councellor, even if i only end up combining ff and bf i think i'll feel better... Anyway, does anyone have any experience of doing this? do you think i'll have problems getting my milk supply back up?

I'm sure someone will know, I hope you can manage to. Breast feeding is so rewarding once established. How old is your baby?

4 weeks old yesterday, stopped bf last wed , been using tommy tippee closer to nature bottles so hope he'll go back on the breast if i manage

Dal, i'm regretting it too now i don't have thee energy to start again, good on you for wanting ti, i'm sure someone on here did, hopefully be along soon. good luck x

Dalrymps I don't have any personal experience of this, but I'm sure someone on MN will and will post sometime. But if you want to try and re-establish bfeeding, then you could try and take fenugreek to boost your supply. And try lots of skin to skin, or feed in the bath. basically, the way toget your milk back is to stimulate it. But I think if your boob was sore before, you have to get that checked out too. Try one of the helplines:

Association of Breastfeeding Mothers helpline 08444 122 949
La Leche League Telephone Helpline: 0845 120 2918
National Childbirth Trust Breastfeeding line: 0870 444 8708

And [[http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/relactation.html kellymom] has some info on relactation

Darn it
kellymom

Just start putting your lil one on before each feed and also express when and where you can, you should be able to return to breastfeeding, I would think.
Kellymom website probably has stuff on relactation on the website...worth checking that out!

just spoke to the hv, she says doesn't think i've got thrush and just to put cream on as i would with any dry shin. But if i'm gonna start again she it'll be best to talk to the bf councellor so it goes a bit better this time, says i can build milk supply back up easilly but will take a little while, she's gonna call me back soon and refer me to the bf councellor

Good Luck dalrymps. I gave up after 6 weeks and regret it now, so Congratulations for trying again - I think it can take a big commitment of time and effort, but looking back now wish I had done so myself. Think you are being very brave.

You should be ok. Ds2 was in special care baby unit for nine weeks after he was born. I expressed and he was tube fed, then he was tube and bottle fed and I only had him to my breast about five of six times before he came home.

Once he was home I was able to establish breat feeding without a problem.

I know your situation is slightly different but I wouldn't worry too much about having given your baby a bottle.

If your milk supply needs boosting you might be able to get domperidone? (thing that's how you spell it) from your doctor. I took it for a couple of weeks before ds2 came home and it worked for me.

I thiNK There was a poster called Haribo who successfully relactated using domperidone, expressing and bfing every 3 hours round the clock. If you search her name under breast & bottlefeeding you should be able to find it.

It'll be very hard work for a good week or so, probably more so but good on you for doing it. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

I had a similar experience to PTA with my little one as she was in intensive care for two weeks after birth and tube fed. No-one thought that she would breast feed, but she started at three and a half weeks on the surgical ward.

Good luck - I hope that you have success and that your boobs feel better soon!

It's this one. Might be good to read through and see what she did.

Thanks for the suppor everyone, hv called and had arranged for breastfeeding councillor to call me. She then called me and is going to come see me tomorrow at 3.30pm so hope she can help , she did say she wouldn't force me to do anything i didn't want to and was just there to help in anyway i want so she sounded really nice

Well the bf councillor said to try ds on the breast to see what happens before i see her, i tried him on it tonight after he'd fed but was wanting to comfort suck and he still remembers what to do, wasn't painfull but it was the good boob i tried him on, only thing is, afterwards i had a few shooting pains just occasionally, you think it might just be my boobs getting used to it again?

Everything you've described in your posts sounds like thrush to me.

I had it twice in the very early days whilst BF DS2 (now 10 months) and the whiteness, stabbing, shooting pains and some pain whilst feeding I can relate to, though some of that could also be poor positioning, and of course, like I had, it could be a combination of both! Having said that, the positioning problems were a heck of a lot easier to sort out once that awful stabbing thrush pain had cleared up

You need to read up on thrush at the BfN site LINK HERE and take yourself off to the GP as I don't believe that topical anti-fungal cream will be sufficient if you have thrush in your milk ducts. It does get increasingly worse if left untreated, so make a GP appointment and prepare to go armed with the Fluconazole info from the BfN leaflet. I found a really enlightened and supportive GP who was happy to prescribe and within 5 days the pain had gone, though I completed the course for 20 days.

You can overcome the thrush once you have the correct treatment, and feeding should be a pleasure again, but it's not something I'd leave any longer if you want to return to BF.

Lots of good luck to you and hope everything works out.

DebsCee - the whiteness, was it just on the end of your nips? i've been too scared to touch tem to much so just rinsed them when in the bath but today i decided to wipe them with a flannel and most of the whiteness just kind of rolled off (sorry TMI ) so it seems like it's either dead skin or something to do with thrush? was it much the same with yours??? i saw i gp today for my post natal check up and mentioned i suspected thrush but she just said to get the bf councillor to have a look this aft. The hv asked if i'd had any pain recently and then said it didn't sound like thrush to her... although i haven't been feeding so not likely to have had a lot of pain am i? Oh it just seems none of the professionals i speak to are really sure about it?

Dairy - it does sound similar yes. But once I had used cream on my nipples the surface white thrush went away and left me with the deep pain from thrush in the milk ducts and a blanching whiteness on the end of my nipples too.

I've found a previous post I left about tips for getting rid of thrush with a list of all the precautions I took which may help you.

Took Fluconazole pills for 20 days - 19 days of 200mg after the loading dose
Drinking Yakult each morning
Taking acidophillus tablets AM and PM
Rinsing nipples in vinegar after each feed
Using daktarin cream on me after each feed
Daktarin oral gel on DS2 after each feed (though he had no signs in his mouth)
Pre-soaking my bras, muslins, towels etc in vinegar and Milton solution and then washing separately at 60C (basically anything that touched milk or nappies!)
Took 8 drops of grapefruit seed extract in juice every lunch time
Changing breast pads at every single feed and exposed boobs as much as possible to keep them dry - no more Lansinoh
Took Candida homeopathic remedy daily
Obsessively washed hands before & after every nappy change and feed
Reduced wine, wheat, sugar etc but easier said than done that one!

I agree that it is hard to convince some professionals about even the existence of thrush in the breasts, most know nothing about it and my GP had never heard of it until she read the stuff from the BfN that I took along and then she did everything that they suggested - I was very lucky, but had so much pain between feeds that there was no way I was leaving the surgery without proper treatment!

The thing is, it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between thrush and poor positioning, so my advise would be to get your latch throughly checked by a BFC - one that you like and get on well with and can get back to easily enough and having eliminated positioning as a problem, go back to the GP's armed with as much info as you can. Do read up on thrush too.

I think if you really want to get back to fully BF you need to tackle both the positioning and possible thrush infection at the same time. Having thrush almost stopped me BF this time around, it was so damn painful. I just needed the right treatment. We are still going strong at 10 months

I saw the bf councillor, she helped with the positioning and i mnaged a feed whilst she was here with no pain, only problem is now she's gone i tried to feed ds again and just couldn't recreate the right position/latch that she managed to get with me, i've watched the bf dvd she left me several times and tried about 15 times to get ds latched on without pain before he was just getting too upset from being hungry so had to give him some formula. It was not as painfull as it had been when i gave up but if i carry on like that it will probably get that bad, he's sleeping now... I'm gonna keep trying each time he's hungry and if i still can't get it right will call the bf councillor in the morning. She said she'd call me tomorrow lunch time but if i had any worries before then to call her in the morning so i will. Just hope i can get this sorted, i'm still not totally sure whether i have thrush or not but when i got the right latch it was so much better. my boobs felt itchy after feeding for a while, is this a symptom of thrush?

Tried again, still couldn't get it right so frustrating for me and ds! i tried him several times on each side, wasn't very painfulll but could feel it pinching which the bf councillor said it shouldn't, gave it a good shot and then dh gave him some formula before he screamed the house down with hunger. Want to keep trying but not leaving him on if it hurts cause if i do that i'll just get too sore to carry on again, hope the bfc can help in the morning! Think the main problem i have is holding him at the right angle, my arm gets quite sore supporting him too, also he doesn't really open his mouth for long and keep it open, he 'chomps' so i have to try and get my nipple in before the next chomp which is very hard!

Dalrymps - don't be too disheartened - you've done an amazing thing to make the decision you have and it was bound to be tough. It can surely only get better from here on though but for a few ups and downs, and I'm sure the BFC will help tomorrow but sounds as though your baby is chomping on the nipple as if it were a bottle? If you want to keep trying BF before tomorrow - and you prob need to if you want to get the supply up, try altering your position so your baby's head is tipped back more than you may be used to, so he/she is below the nipple and has to really reach up for your nipple with their top lip... If they want to feed this might help them learn to open the mouth wider and relearn to latch. See www.drjacknewman.com for good videos on getting a good latch. That site and Kellymom probably have more tips on relactation...

PS If you're still struggling with the positioning, try sitting on a dining chair or other chair with a firm straight back, with a cushion behind you, and lots on your knees to help support your arms and baby. And if you need to, also some books under your feet to support everything.

And remember, it can also be this hard for lots of women who BF at the start - certainly still was with me even 4-5 weeks in with all 3 kids so even if you hadn't stopped, it might not be any different.

Telling you this to encourage you, IYSWIM, since don't want you to think what you're going through it somehow unusual, though bound to be a bit tougher since you're still doing the bottles (lots of work) and in pain and maybe lost confidence!

But you CAN do it if you can grit teeth, get checked properly (by GP or BFC, not HV) for thrush and keep putting baby to breast...

Sounds like you are doing so well, keep talking to that BFC, you can do it. You need to get treated for thrush and help with latching on over and over again until you've cracked it, don't worry about asking for too much help, it will be worth it and you deserve it! Well done! Keep going, and just feed him as much as poss, you will both soon get the hang of it. So much love and luck xxx

thanks for the encouragement everyone, will keep trying, see what the bfc says in the morning...

well she came round and we tried and tried ad she said that i wsan't doing anything wrong, in fact she said she'd never seen a baby not open it's mouth so much, is seems ds chomps but never opens his mouth really wide to get a good enough mouthfull for it not to hurt. We tried a nipple shield and it was possibly worse not better! Anyway she GAVE ME an electric breast pump to keep, she said i can carry on trying him but in the meantime express as any milk he gets from me is good, she also said it might even be better once he's a bit older and his mouth gets bigger. So i think it was wort seeing her again just to clarify i am actually getting the technique right but his mouth won't open enough and also to get the electric pump! So i'm gonna express for now and top up with formula when needed then carry on trying him occasionally to see if it's got any better, at least he'll be getting some breast milk

Dalrymps, where was the breastfeeding counsellor from? Not NCT, I take it, or from the other vol orgs?? Because I am pretty certain you would have been given other support and guidance in addition to what you got....I'd suggest you try giving your baby lots of skin to skin contact, try having a bath with him and allowing him to self-attach, try letting him come to the breast for cuddles and comfort rather than trying to get him on with shields or a struggle....this often works really well.

Good luck with this - you've only stopped a week so time is on your side