I am having a massive problem trying to bf my DS and wondered if anyone else has come across my situation or has any advice.
DS is 10 mths now and I've been constantly struggling to bf him from day 1. BF'ing didn't get off to a great start- elective CS and hospital midwives worried about his blood sugar levels so was 'forced' into giving formula top ups. He always had a great suck and latched on well. At home, found that I was trying to feed him most of the day and night. The worst time of day were the marathon evening sessions which went on from 4 or 5 pm until 1 or 2 am (feeding on and off)after which he would still be starving hungry and I would have to resort to a bottle, which he would guzzle down before going to sleep. After seeking advice from bf clinic, I tried to feed or express every 2 hrs for 2 days and it made no difference at all. Just got less than half ounce from expressing.
Things have got progressively worse- I am now in this terrible vicious circle where I can't produce enough milk and LO won't suck for very long when milk flow is non-existent (just pulls away or falls asleep and won't suck properly). I managed ok for good few weeks feeding him myself for most of the day and in the night, but milk supply would be almost non-existent by late pm and evening and I had to resort to more and more formula. As he has started to sleep through till 6 or 7 now, I no longer do a night feed (the only time when I felt full and was able to feed him properly). This has had a major detrimental impact on my milk supply and now have tiny amounts for the first morning feed which wasn't really a big problem before.
My milk supply has just about finished- he gets a few minutes before getting frustrated. Although I have persevered in getting him to suck for at least half an hour most times, my milk supply has still not increased. I've now taken to expressing at 3 am to try to boost supply. I have tried 3 days of expressing/feeding every 2 hrs (exhausting and seemed to have no effect at all), have tried using a lactaid, taken fenugreek and domperidone (all to no effect).
Although I am under no illusions that I will ever be able to exclusively bf, I would like at least to get back to bf'ing for most of the feeds and accept that I will probably never be able to do the evening ones. All the books and bf consultants I've spoken to say that it should be possible to relactate, which is the one thing that has kept me going. However, I spoke to Clare Byam-Cook (author of many books on bf'ing) and she said that in her experience, some women are never able to produce enough milk no matter what they do- its just one of those things. I am feeling really bad about it and am trapped in a downward spiral. I wondered if anyone else has also tried everything and were still unable to build their milk supply- or am I the only one???
As an aside, the latching and weight gain have never been an issue.