3 months of BF... is giving up the only option?

[Freya]

HI there,

I've been bf for 3 months today , and boy it's been a journey of highs and lows! I could really do with some advice........ Gracie is a small baby, on the 2nd percentile. She has always been a little and often feeder, but at 12 weeks old, she still takes a good 45 mins to 60 mins to drain both sides, where I thought she would have learnt by now to be more 'effiecient' at stripping the breast by now????? Perhaps this comes with weight/growth?

She can last for three hours between feeds during the day as she is distracted by activities and naps (timed at feed start), but it can be 2 hours through the night. I have resorted to my OH giving her a FF at 12am to give me a break as have started to get really exhausted.

So....... I love, love, love bf, but I'm thinking about changing to total FF, so others can take a turn at feeding so I can catch up on some badly needed sleep and get more of a life back.

Can anyone give me hope that her feeding WILL change to make it easier/quicker? OR that she will go longer between feeds in night soon?

Thanks for any advice you can give me!!! Oh yes, I have never been able to express so sadly that's not an option either.

xxxxxxxxx


P.S (I dont often get chance to reply or start threads these days, but I always use my mobile phone to access the site during night feeds and reading the posts gives me great comfort as I think 'me too', 'glad I'm not alone'!)

 

[ryder]

Its totally your call... Youve done a great job so far, but its going to come down to what will make you happiest!

If you dont mind feeding alot then continue on... if you really want to give some bottles so others can help out there is nothing wrong with that.... Feeding as often as some bf babies feed it definately hard, and while some women can do it, some cant, and that doesn't make anyone any worse a mum.

Have you thought about expressing at all? RAWife posted these bottles that are actioned to work like it would bfing, maybe you could try and express but still do some bfing?

 

[Freya]

Hi Ryder - sadly expressing never ever resulted in getting alot off! Not sure why, even hired an electric pump from the hospital! I pumped on and off for 3 days this week just to get 3 oz off so I could leave a small amount with my mum whilst I went to get a hair cut! Hilarious!

So, it's definitely formula or boob for gracie.... maybe I could introduce more FF and still BF sometimes too? Will have to look into it!

xxx

 

[ryder]

Perhaps start off by try 1 or 2 evening feeds and see if you can get her to go longer in the night for you? Thats odd that she goes longer during the day then in the night. I can see how it would be hard.

 

[Pyrrhic]

Niamh is the same hun, during the day she takes about an hour to feed then goes for three hours between feeds. She sleeps through the night though.

The bottles that ryder mentioned at breastflow www.breastflow.co.uk I use them with great success. My LO had nipple confusion, and they really helped us when I had to bottle feed sometimes.

I think if you feel switching is best, then do. The best thing for your baby is to have a happy and well rested Mummy. IMO there is nothing wrong with giving her one formula feed in 24 hours, (If you combine feed a lot it can affect your supply) but I would suggest instead of giving her this at 12am when she wakes up, give it to her for her last evening feed. Do you have any sort of bedtime routine?

 

[Freya]

Hi Rafwife, thanks for your advice!

Luckilly Gracie doesn't have nipple confusion, and takes to tommee tippee CTN bottles - one less problem at least.

Also, she's a dream in every other way at night time. She's recently started to go into her deep sleep cycle from 9pm, when we put her in her cotbed (in our room) and this lasts till 7am. She stirs for feeding only (and seems genuinely hungry as she drains both breasts and has a good 6-7 oz of FF), she doesn't open her eyes for the feed and goes straight back down ok.

The FF OH gives is the one at about 12am... but just doesn't seem to sustain her for much longer than a BF does at night (perhaps 30 or 60 mins more ).

It's great that your little girl sleeps through the night! I sooooooo hope mine will soon.

Perhaps it is down to her size and weight..... logically perhaps her tummy isn't big enough to hold a lot of milk to keep her going????

It's a puzzle.

xxxxx

In a perfect world I want to carry on with bf, but since coming down with a cold I feel super exhausted, so is no doubt making me feel more negative.

 

[Ell87]

My DD is 1 on Friday and sleeps through, but only because we co-sleep so she has access to the boob during the night (She feeds a lot, but it's more for comfort). Is co-sleeping an option? I know it's not for everyone.

I went through the same with DS and DD1, I gave up BF'ing at 6 weeks and 3 months respectively. I put them onto formula and it worked well for us all.

I'd try giving her a bottle of a night time before bed, see if that helps settle her a little better.

Good luck Either way you've done brilliantly already so you should be very proud of yourself!

 

[bluebell]

I bfeed Jay but have just started giving him one formula feed a day (he has 7oz) as he was following the 7th percentile and I wanted him to gain a bit more weight. I think your definitely right about the bigger they get, the longer they last between feeds as it's only recently that Jay has dropped him middle of the night feed

His feeds do vary aswell. Through the day he usually only feeds for about 15 mins max, but he feeds for about 45 mins at 7pm before bed. I find that if I feed him every 2 hours or so through the day, he fed less often through the night (when he was waking for feeds). I also find that giving him a dream feed at 10 really helped too, although I will probably be dropping this feed in the next few weeks.

I'm planning on weaning Jay onto formula slowly now though. I bfed him solely for the first four months and plan to continue combined feeding over the next few months, but by the time I go back to work (at 9 months) I want him to be formula fed, as like you, expressing doesn't work for me

Good luck in whatever you decide

xx

 

[Chel]

Personally I'd hang in there... I love love love BFing also and Jasper is having a similar but different issue with feeding, as he's 3 months old and already MORE than doubled his birthweight, he's a serious and frantic hungry feeder, he drains me dry in 10 minutes and keeps sucking hoping for more! (he then more often than not throws up a little, as he's so greedy!)

I'm tempted to give him a bottle to supplement his feeds, because my boobies just sometimes dont feel like they're doing it for him!

I held out and since about 10 days ago he started to stretch out his night feeds, he's done a couple of 7 hour sleeps without waking! Absolute miracle! He was getting so bad he was feeding almost every hour from 3-4 am till 7-8am!

I cant wait till solids, I have a feeling that that'll just make all the difference, and if, not, I'm still standing by the boob.... I just think, how awful would it be to give up the boob and have things not improve.... the bottle is no garrentee!

 

[Freya]

Hi Ell87 - Thanks for your advice! yes, I have co-slept every now and again, not all the time though. Sadly (big blush) my boobies aren't very big, so cant quite get a good latch/position when I'm lying down next to Gracie.... but co-sleeping is fab for waking up, feeding and getting back to sleep quicker!!! I loved it... sadly OH not so keen on co-sleeping as he is a heavy sleeper and worried about squashing her! He is sent to the spare room when I co-sleep! xxx


HI bluebell - yes, am wondering whether to feeding Gracie up every 2 hrs in the day instead of every 3 (where possible) to see if she'll go a little longer between feeds at night if she's 'fuller'??? It's worth a try for a few days.

Hi Chel, I know! that's the big gamble, changing to more FF and NOT getting any different outcome than boob , and then having milk supply adjusting to not feeding as much so it wont be easy to swap back (although I hope my milk is more established now at 12 weeks??). You've given me some hope that things can change as they have with Jasper. My mum also reckons it'll be weaning where we'll see the big change! Arrrrgggh another 12 weeks!

xxxx

 

[sam#3]

Personally I'd hang in there... I love love love BFing also and Jasper is having a similar but different issue with feeding, as he's 3 months old and already MORE than doubled his birthweight, he's a serious and frantic hungry feeder, he drains me dry in 10 minutes and keeps sucking hoping for more! (he then more often than not throws up a little, as he's so greedy!)

I'm tempted to give him a bottle to supplement his feeds, because my boobies just sometimes dont feel like they're doing it for him!

I held out and since about 10 days ago he started to stretch out his night feeds, he's done a couple of 7 hour sleeps without waking! Absolute miracle! He was getting so bad he was feeding almost every hour from 3-4 am till 7-8am!

I cant wait till solids, I have a feeling that that'll just make all the difference, and if, not, I'm still standing by the boob.... I just think, how awful would it be to give up the boob and have things not improve.... the bottle is no garrentee!

im so pleased i read your post, this is exactly the same as harry, apart from the night part unfortunately!! he does the early morning hourly frequent feeds too and now i just put him in the bed with me and let him help himself!!!
x