Refusing to feed!

[cjmummy]

Can anyone help! My DS is 7 weeks old and was B/F until 2 weeks ago without problems. My milk supply was disrupted and hasnt come back properly since so have had to supplement with formula. He needs topping up after breast feeds in the afternoon and evening. He took to the bottle immediately but became ill as a result of the type of formula. Have since swapped at Health Vis recommendation. He stopped taking bottle yesterday completely but screamed all evening as was starving. Any ideas - as am pulling my hair out?

Will he latch on? I think if you put him back to the breast your milki supply will come back, but he's got to tell your body to make the milk.

yeah milk supply will increase if you put him to breast frequently. will take a week or so though. just keep putting him on boob whenever he cries for week or so, it will work i'm sure

cjmummy - it's only been a couple of weeks since you last breastfed, You are a prime candidate for relactation - with a co-operative baby and frequent feeding, plus expressing to stimulate the supply even more, if you can, your milk will return. You may not be able to drop all the formula straight away - it's ok to drop the amount gradually as the milk comes back.

Good luck

He is latching on ok, but he has both boobs and is still hungry - I just dont have sufficient milk for him - hence the top ups with the bottle which are proving unsuccessful. He gets into a right old state when he realises there is no milk left and nothing seems to stop him screaming!

Yes, you'll have to top up for the moment....but do it in addition to feeding him every time he twitches

If he's refusing the bottle, and you're desperate, cup feeding might work? (It's a strange technique, you feed the baby with an open-topped cup.)

Alternatively, you can try going to bed with him, and just feeding lots and lots. Your supply should sort itself out within 24 hours at the most.

thanks for the advice ... any tips for increasing the amount of milk that i produce at each feed? i am eating and drinking regularly and feeding DS as often as possible but just dont seem to be getting back to earlier levels when i had more than enough for him to feed one side only!

cjmummy, I think you're doing everything possible. They do sometimes go through growth spurts, so your DS may be demanding more milk than he was before, anyway.

Offering both sides will increase your production, so it will sort itself out, hopefully soon! A cranky baby isn't fun for anyone.