please help, i've made a huge mistake

[heather1980]

ds is 16 weeks today and fully bf (no bottles not even expressed milk). he has been really unsettled the last few weeks and feeding and feeding constantly.
i would literally sit on the sofa with my boob out and he would latch on at will, he is also a really poor sleeper and hardly naps in the day and only goes 2 hrs at night.
with a 2 yo this is really draining as you can imagine.

so i gave in and gave him a dummy, just to get some rest. this was on tuesday, well today he has had 1 feed all day and i practically had to force him to take it. please help what can i do???

am not an expert but I don't think you should worry. 16 weeks is classic growth spurt time when they feed a lot. he's been eating and eating and perhaps his appetite is now levelling off, and the dummy is allowing him to do all the confot sucking he wants.

I'm sure no baby ever starved themselves because they love the dummy so much, if that's what you mean. keep offering the boob every three hours - i'm sure he'll take it when he's hungry - he sounds like an established and expert feeder!

however, somebody more knowledgable may come along!

confot?? comfort!

Maybe he was using you as a dummy as he probably was not feeding for all the time he was latched on....some babies just have a strong suck reflex I think and do get comfort from a dummy - ie not you today. He's obviously happy and will feed when hungry. I wouldn't worry - If I was you I'd make myself comfortable with expressing if his feeds taper off and enjoy the break!

am sat here in tears, i had to express coz i was so full and then he woke up so i tried to feed him again and he just screamed, he was so upset. i gave him the expressed milk in a bottle and he wolfed it down, he's previously refused the bottle.
i don't know what to do, i have no more milk in the house and really don't want to ff him.

heather, don't panic!

try and calm down a bit, cos if you are upset he will pick up on it.

this is what I suggest you do. go and run a nice bath. not too hot.
get in, take baby in with you. lay back and have baby on your tummy.
see if he will work his way up to your breasts, if not you can help him out a bit, but if you give him enough time he will prob do it himself.
let him discover nipple himself and see if he'll latch on. he'll be much more relaxed, you'll be relaxed and it might do the trick

he may have just got really hungry and upset and not known what to do with himself. the bottle has given him a quick fix and hopefully he'll be back to normal soon.

if you're worried about the dummy then stop using it.
tbh I have used one with both of mine, and both were breastfed. it didn't cause any problems.

BUT, it is important that you feel comfortable with what you';re doing and if you feel that it is undermining breastfeeding (and let's face it, you know the situation and your baby better than I do) then ditch it.

How are you today Heather?

better thanks, he's feeding again thank god, i ended up naked in bed with him and just let him feed when he wanted, but he only fed once between 7am and 10pm.

Do you really mean only once between 7 in the morning and 10 at night?

yep just the once! i looked like jordan!