Breastfeeding/Breastmilk Supply

[Jellybaby13]

Hi,

To give a bit of a background. I had my daughter via planned c-section (frank breech) two weeks ago today. My milk took around 5 days to come in so it was a stressful few days in the hospital trying to get her to breastfeed so the midwives topped her up with breastmilk and used a mix of cup feeding and bottle feeding.

I was also supplied with a nipple shield due to having 'flat nipples' (never knew there was such a thing!). So I think all in all my daughter has become very confused with everything and hasn't really been able to latch on despite my desperate and constant trying.

Last Friday I saw a lactation consultant which worked brilliantly but I'm seeing her again tomorrow before my follow up appointment next week because I'm struggling again. Yesterday I managed to get her to latch onto the nipple without shields or anything all day but today she just won't have it so I've had to feed her through the bottle/nipple shields. I also think the nipple shields are contributing to sore nipples despite me being shown how to put them on properly. And my nipples are in so much pain. I've been shown a proper latch and I think she was latching on correctly yesterday but I think they're just sore from all my trying and now hurt despite the proper latch.

Anyway, on top of all this I'm pumping too. All the experts have said that there's no better thing to get my supply and demand up than baby herself but what I want to know is if the pumping by itself will do it? I'm going to see it out with the consultants because I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet but I do want her mostly on breastmilk. Has anyone got any experience in just pumping and feeding through the bottle? Does it work or will my supply dwindle away? Would it increase if I increased the pumping frequency?

My goal is for her to get as much breastmilk as possible and I'm wondering if the method really matters? I'm tired, getting stressed and emotional when I'm trying to breastfeed, she's getting stressed cause I'm not able to supply quick enough, I'm tied to the house because I'm not confident with it in public.

Any advice on this would be helpful. I've had all the advice on actual breastfeeding that I can get from midwives, health visitor, other mums, lactation consultants but I'd like some advice on the pumping and bottle feeding please.

Thanks

Thank you.

Pumping indeed will keep your supply up! It’s true that nothing can suck milk from a breast as efficiently as a baby but pumping works just fine. I combination fed for the first month with both expressed and formula, I had a fair few breakdowns when we had a bit of trouble breastfeeding and I felt like I wasn’t able to supply her with enough milk so I used to bottles to top her up and pumped whenever my partner gave her a bottle. You just need to ideally pump whenever she’s bottlefed and 30 minutes after breastfeeding to increase your supply if you want to. I’d suggest to keep trying with breastfeeding, don’t give up just yet, the first month is the hardest, it’s no walk in the park but it does get easier, I have my bad days and my good with it!

Your experience sounds very similar to mine - no c section but baby struggled to latch and I hand expressed/cup fed in hospital before trying a nipple shield with great success. I intended to only use the shield short term and get her to latch once we were home, but despite help from midwives and health visitors and BF support people she has never managed to latch without it. Perhaps if id tried a lactation consultant we might have had more luck, who knows? So 6 months on we are still using the shield 🤷‍♀️ It’s not ideal but it allows her to get BM which like you I felt was important. I pumped regularly and have never had an issue with supply.

Thanks for the help/advice both. I saw the lactation consultant again yesterday (one from a different region because mine was on annual leave) and she got me to lie down, she latched on immediately lying down without nipple shields and she advised me to keep trying this technique until she gets the message of what's supposed to happen with breastfeeding and then slowly introduce sitting down. I have a follow up appointment next Thursday but so far so good with lying down. She seems to struggle with the right breast more than the left, I'm not sure if it's cause it's bigger?!

Anyway, I'm not going to give in just yet but it's nice to know the options are there if it gets too much. I too have had several breakdowns over the breastfeeding, it's just so heartbreaking when your baby is crying in your arms and you can't give her what she needs.

Xx

Babies always have favourite boob and one they find more difficult.

Same here. DD and DS prefer/perfered my left. I got told that I may not have the same amount of milk ducts in both breasts which I thought was interesting.
My right side tends to come out quite quickly and it's a bit much for them.
Expressing really helped. Both for keeping supply up and for taking the edge off the right side.