Is he getting enough milk? And will my breasts ever stop being sore and lumpy?

[artifarti]

DS is nearly 8 months now and I've posted before about how ridiculously distractible he is. Everyone said it was probably a phase and would get better...it's got worse! He's on solids now and down to 4 BFs a day, as he has just dropped the last night-feed of his own accord. But his breastfeeds are a nightmare! He's teething at the moment and starting to crawl so if he's not biting me, he's crawling around in a circle, sometimes taking my nipple with him, sometimes not.

This erratic feeding means that my breasts are often huge, lumpy and sore, where he hasn't drained one/both. I have no idea if he's getting enough milk. And ow, ow, ow, it hurts and I'm worried I'm going to get mastitis or something. I always offer him milk an hour or so before solids so don't think it's the solids that is putting him off feeding. Even the first feed of the morning, after an 11 hour kip can be rubbish (as this morning).

Should I assume he is getting the milk he wants and just ride it out? I'm going back to work when he's 11.5 months and so was hoping to just wind the BFing down without having to faff with formula.

Bumping for me.

Can't get him to feed at all today, just for a minute and then he's off. Is this a nursing strike? He will feed for a bit and it has been a gradual decline rather than sudden.

How long do I give it before I might need to think about giving him some milk?

And should I express?

Help!

Last shameless bump for the night crowd...

Okay, so not a nursing strike as he's just had a mahoosive bedtime feed and I am now thoroughly drained.

Could it be that he just wants less milk during the day? Seems a bit weird seeing as he's just dropped the night feeding and only feeds four times during the day anyway - or do others have 8 month olds that are happy on three feeds?

[sigh] Don't know what's going on.

Sorry, didn't spot your post sooner or I would have replied earlier . Does he tend to latch himself on? I wonder if you might find it helpful to go right back to basics and see whether working on his ltach could help the symptoms you are experiencing. You could refresh your memory by looking at these pictures and then when latching him on focus on getting his top lip to just slide over your nipple -so that your nipple is aimed at the roof of his mouth, not down his throat. Often bigger babies can get a bit relaxed about the way they feed, but it isn't always helpful.

Also, do you think you might be experiencing the beginnings of a blocked duct somewhere? Milk ducts wiggle around all over the place like spagetti inside the breast (they aren't like the spokes of a wheel), so one blockage somewhere can cause symptoms in a variety of places. Have you tried applying warmth and massaging any lumpy bits you can find, either while hand expressing or during a feed? Feeding in different positions might help to drain your breasts more effectively too. You say he's only on 4 bfs a day now. Is this a big and fairly rapid reduction? sometimes babies get a little bit carried away with solids and mums find their supply doesn't adjust quite that rapidly. Taking in 3 whole meals a day would be enough to affect his milk intake, even if its offered at different times, and this might be quite a lot of food at this age. Generally it's recommended that milk should be their main source of nutrition right up to 12 months, with food then gradually taking over as the predominant source of calories. Even if you stop bf before 12 months, he'd still need a decent amount of formula a day. One option might be cutting back the solids a little and taking things at a slightly slower pace might help to stop you becoming over-full, which increases the risk of blockages or mastitis. Do you think he would take more feeds?

Thanks so much for replying Grendle

I will try and revisit our latch. DS had a tongue tie for the first 3 months and so our latch was always a bit on the wonky side! The main problem though seems to be that he's crawling all over me, so the 'latch' is whatever angle he manages to grab my nipple from as he passes by! He has always been hugely distractible and from early on I fed him every three hours at least because he never demanded. Just don't think he's a very booby baby.

He has been on 4 feeds a day for a couple of months now. It was 5 but when he started taking a long nap, it was hard to fit 5 in - he just wouldn't take two close together. The dropping the night-feeding is a recent thing, although that has been gradually dwindling for weeks and for a while he was just taking a nip for 5 mins. He eats quite a lot of solids but weirdly he might refuse to BF first thing in the morning, when he hasn't eaten for hours and then - like last night - although he'd just had supper he then had a huge BF. There is no rhyme or reason to the boy! Oh - and he will drink loads of EBM if offered in his cup.

There's a lot going on with him at the moment - teething and starting to crawl. I think I will give it another week or so and see how it goes. If he still won't take much, I will probably put formula into his cereal etc and maybe offer some during the day. I always planned to slowly wind down BFing anyway (well actually I only planned to go to 6 months but here we are, 2 months further down the line!)

Re the blocked duct - I think my supply just doesn't know what's going on! I get lumps but then they go as soon as he feeds. I guess when we work out between us what feeds he is going to take, they will calm down.

Thanks again.