Need serious help breastfeeding and formula

[user1498232527]

Hi all,
I'm new here so sorry if I've posted in the wrong area I need serious help.

I had my beautiful daughter on the 11th may 2017 so she's only just turned 6 weeks

Long story short I had an emergency c section and she was a tiny 5lbs
I started breastfeed her straight away like all first time mothers naive thinking it'll be a walk in the park but little did I know

She was inconsolable the first few days and I myself thought nothing is coming out she's probably starving so she'd be on
My breast 24 hours almost which was very difficult for me as I could barely stand with the op
One night the midwife came in and told me I needed to rest I told her I can't because my baby kept crying so she suggested a tablespoon of formula and gave her it from which she calmed down immediately

From there on it was a downward spiral please don't think I'm judging anyone for formula feeding honestly no that's a personal choice but right now I'm giving her so much formula all the while breastfeeding as well and trying to pump in between

I really really want her to have exclusive breastmilk
She's a great latcher but always falls asleep mid feed and nowadays she fusses so much she laches cries then wants the breast again and the cycle repeats..
I think the flow of milk is too fast for her with my milk as I'm usually engorged when I give it to her or maybe it's nipple confusion I'm just now sure

I don't know where to start and I'm desperate
There is no set amount of bottles I give her it's just as and when and then she has about 6-8 contact with breasts in 24 hours and about 6-8 bottles too

Does anyone know how I can succeed at this? I always think she's never full on my milk I also need advice on upping my breastmilk of course with supplements it's decreased

Sorry for the long post! Thank you in advance

Also to add I initially gave her a top up of formula because I didn't wanna take chances with her weight as she was tiny and I was worried she wouldn't get enough from me, of course that's false and I know that now :(

You've done nothing to feel guilty about, breastfeeding is hard but you can continue and increase feeds if you want too :)

I'm no expert but I had similar issues in the early days with my daughter and had to give a few MLS of formula here and there from a cup to balance her blood sugars and she got a bit fussy at the breast because it wasn't as easy to get so she would faff around then fall asleep.

Could you try replacing one bottle at a time with a breastfeed and gradually building up, it might be hard at first but somethinh will clock and she'll figure it out.

BUT if she doesn't take to it please don't beat yourself up about it, if she's got plenty of wet nappies, gaining weight and is happy then that all that matters :)

I would get in contact with this group. There may well be someone who could give you phone support or even a visit.

www.laleche.org.uk/

Ds1 was 5lb15 when he was born. I bottle fed, but he wanted little and often and I was an exhausted mess. The midwife taught us the stroke him under the chin to encourage him to take more milk. She said that they do it SCBU. Before he would fall asleep after a couple of ounces.
Please don't feel a failure. You are getting to know your baby. In my case formula was great, both my dcs did really well on it. Now they're 10 and 12, now there's no one who asks/judges me for bottle feeding.
I'm sure there will be people who can advise on breastfeeding. I just don't want you feeling bad if you choose to ff.

Thank you guys so much my friends don't know I'm giving her some formula on the side and they make remarks like formula babies are artificial they smell weird just petty comments alongside mums are lazy for formula feeding which makes me feel awful

I really wish that midwife hadn't offered me that milk and I continued the breastfeeding exclusively but it's happened now

I tried la leche surprisingly she didn't help much ... ill try calling again

I want her to get the nutrients from my milk that's why I want to breastfeed her exclusively

Does anyone have experience of successfully doing this? It'd help a great deal

Hello! Sorry to hear you're having problems with breastfeeding. Being a first time mum I too felt massive MASSIVE pressure to breastfeed and completely didn't realise how difficult it was going to be.
From a couple of hours after my baby was born he was attached to me for about the first 24 hours - I stayed in hospital overnight and he would not be put down at all! He wasn't always actively feeding but if he did fall asleep and I took him off he would cry wanting more.
At my day 5 midwife check I was beside myself. He had not slept in his crib at all during the night and had decided he would cluster feed all night long. She suggested giving him a bottle of formula to top him up in the evening which, although it broke my heart (again no judgement on formula feeding at all), we started doing. We tried it for about 4 days but it wasn't working, he was still crying for more even after the bottle. I had a full blown melt down and decided the answer was to move to formula completely. For various reasons, mainly the massive crash of hormones I had for going cold turkey, I went back on my decision about 18 hours later. I felt like I needed to give it another go for both him and me. The 18 hours massively affected my milk supply and I spent the next 3 days letting him feed pretty much constantly to build it back up. At my day 10 midwife appt I spoke to the midwife and she recommended oats. So i had porridge twice a day and tonnes of flapjacks!! Plus she said I needed to make sure I was eating properly to ensure my milk had a good fat content - lots of full fat milky drinks (good excuse for a Costa!). It took me about a week to get it back up and in the end I had to cut out the oats as I ended up with massive oversupply.
With regards to the engorgement, fast let down and her choking - For the engorgement try hand expressing a bit off first, it will help with latching on too otherwise it's difficult for them. Fast let down and choking are more difficult to fix. Lots of people recommend leaning back to feed to let gravity help however the thing I found was that it just took time. I used to take him off during let down and let it spray into a muslin then latch him back on. After about a week he would unlatch himself during the let down and by about 8-9 weeks he was coping with the fast flow much better with minimal choking!
Finally.... (please don't judge) I made the judgement that sometimes he just wanted something to suck - he is a very sucky baby! So we introduced a dummy at about 5 weeks and its been a godsend!