Moving to one side at a time feeding?

[CAM123]

Was told earlier to present 2nd breast after baby finishes in first - my 11 week old has always seemed to then finish off both (fussed and won't return to breast, waves arms around and hits breast, and it's nit a burp as far as I can tell).

Doc has just told me to switch to single sided feeding, supplementing with formula top ups.

Am a little concerned though - since the supply/demand is based on sucking and I can't get my baby to suckle on an 'empty' breast, dont I risk getting stuck in a rut of half breast and half top up feeds for every feed from here on? (Which incidentally is the no. 1 reason I know of friends falling off breastfeeding, either due to diminished production, being fed up with the faff of it all, or both).

Any advice? Is single sided feeding the way to go? How can I ensure I increase production and don't just increase top up dependence?

Ps. Think I'm being dense here but what's all this DH, DS and DD lingo? Presume the second letter is husband, son and daughter, but what does the first D stand for?

Hi again NQC, I can't see your links - can you write them out?

Hi CAM
I don't think you'll like what I have to say but I will say it anyway - as when I look back at the photos of my DS1 when he was your DS's age I can cry. In fact I've deleted alot of them because they're so upsetting. He was born on the 5oth but after 4 weeks started to flatten out, only gaining 4 oz here, half an oz there. I was adamant I wouldn't top him up and would not listen to the health visitors, just looked for excuses why giving him formula was 'a bad thing'. I couldn't see how thin he was at the time as I saw him all day every day, of course. He used to cry quite alot but otherwise seemed happy and normal. Eventually after taking him to a consultant paediatrician who told me what the first docotor had (he needs more calories, give him formula) his weight got back to normal. I had tried everything,la leche, nct counsellors, eating (even)more, moving less, switching boobs, not switching boobs, etc etc, nothing worked.

In short, I absolutely agree that single side feeding is mad if your supply is in doubt, but I urge you if his weight doesn't improve to also give formula. This is not bad for him in any way, all that matters is that you are feeding him and he is healthy.

Good luck

"the way that you are fed does have an impact on future health"

Can you provide more details or reference any research papers about this claim?
One of the reasons I struggled on so long was because a doctor told me bf babies have higher iq which has since been found to be nonsense.

NotAnOnlyChild - the research on IQ isn't nonsense. Most good quality research that controls for aspects such as parental education finds that bf babies have consistently higher IQs than their formula fed counterparts, though the results vary....a recent paper found that 9 out of 10 babies are able to take advantage of this (the intelligence supporting elements of breastfeeding) while 1 out of 10 isn't, because of genetic differences. This might account for the variable results.

There's quite a lot in the mumsnet archives about the impact that infant feeding has on health. To be honest it would be utterly amazing if giving milk of a different species to a mammalian infant didn't have an effect - after all, that's the only thing we human mammals eat/drink for the first few months at a time of the most rapid growth of our lives.

If you want a proper thread on this, start a new topic in this folder and I'm sure lots of people will contribute. It's a bit of a highjack of CAM's thread otherwise

WTF re: the 'going for a walk dries up your milk'. How on earth did our hunter gatherer ancestors feed their children?

Sorry, this GP may be a lovely person but she's a complete moron when it comes to breastfeeding.

The links:

• breast compression is www.kellymom.com/newman/15breast_compression.html

• your local baby cafe, Monday mornings is www.richmondandtwickenham.nhs.uk/healthy-living/breastfeeding/

And for NotAn:

• gov't page on breastfeeding benefits: www.womenshealth.gov/Breastfeeding/

• good scientific summary of known benefits, with scientific cites: www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/sciencebf.asp

can't start new thread at mo - am one handed cos bf ing my 7 wk old

(oddly did not have same probs this time)

what i wanted to get across is keeping the baby healthy is what is important bf if poss, if not then she should NOT feel bad about ff.

Notan - no one has even remotely hinted that the use of formula is a 'bad' thing or that CAM (or anyone else) should not use formula, or that if they do they should somehow feel bad.

It does not need to be said 'she should NOT feel bad' about it. Every time someone says that on a thread like this it is missing the point.

CAM does not want to use formula. She wants breastfeeding to work happily and effectively - she has almost been sabotaged in this by well-meaning though utterly dreadful help that has sapped her confidence, bamboozled her with conflicting advice, and made her anxious about her baby. Your situation sounds really difficult - and CAM's is not like that.

Good that the baby this time round is bf well

Still reeling at the idea that going for a walk dries up your milk for the next feed....I thought I'd heard everything, but clearly not. My friend was told - by her mother - not to run for a bus in case her milk curdled, and the doctor's idea of the milk-drying properties of putting one leg in front of another is equally daft.

Making milk is normal. It's what women's bodies do - like breathing, sweating, circulating the blood, making lymph, blinking, growing hair....it doesn't always go smoothly, and there are challenges for some women that make bf difficult and sometimes too difficult. But given the right circumstances, and without sabotage, or barriers of one sort or another, the body just does the job.

Breastfeeding is physically a pretty robust process and is not disrupted by other human activity like walking or running or singing or dancing or skateboarding or sky-diving or embroidery or shopping or typing or ....

You get the picture

also agree that having health professionals giving you conflicting advice is completely infuriating. Hope you can pick your way through this ok CAM.

Thanks so very much all - have found this chain really helpful, thought provoking and a masive source of moral support.

Having given it a lot of thought and taken all opinions into account - my own included of course - and I've decided on the best course of action for me and my DS. It's likely not going to please all of you, but it does please!

I've decided that, whilst I agree with all the pro BF principles, NotAnOnlyChild's post really hits the nail on the head for me and I have started formula top ups - I know not all of you who've responded will agree with me on this but it's what I've decided is best under the circumstances and for the time being.

You see, whilst I understand the logic that demand increases supply, this hasn't worked for me - I've already tried everything to no avail, including incessant feeding - but my volume / his weight was unaffected.

I think those of you who say he probably has his own rate of weight gain are likely right, and thanks for the reassurance that the drop on the charts isn't as drastic as I'd thought (25th to 1st sounded very scary) - and after all he is very content and happy, so clearly very well!

Nonetheless, with winter coming up, I'd like to bulk him up a bit more and also could do with getting him back higher on the tables to avoid the guilt and any more conflicting advice! (I will however be seeing a BF specialist too just to be sure).

I've been doing this now for a day and a half and already feel a massive weight lifted off my shoulders and am seeing some weight being added to him! Of course I'm a little worried he might drop off BF with so much bottle intervention (I'm doing 3 small top ups a day), but 3 months of BF is already pretty good I think and I'm sure he won't drop off that quickly either. Bizarrely though, he seems to be eating even better during BFing and I wonder if there's any chance I'm increasing his appetite and stomach capacity and whether top ups might just be an interim measure, which would be brilliant.

But, either way, he's very happy and putting on weight already I think and I'm very happy and finally feel more in control of things. Hurrah!

Thanks all!