Advice please!

[CVR1986]

All through my pregnancy I wanted to BF, but Lauren was born with100% tongue tie so I was unable to feed her. She was cup fed formula by a midwife whilst in hospital.
We had her tongue snipped at 2 days. I have been combination feeding since but really wabt to EBF.
The problem is that she never seems satisfied with breast milk. She will feed for 1 hou. Stop for 5 minutes then cry, then an hour, stop for 5 minutes so on so forth.
If I give her formula she will be happy and awake for 2 hours then sleep 2 hours, wake up and want feeding about 15 minutes later.
I really dont want to give up BFing but it really is constant. I literally have time to do a wee and change her then start again...she is sucking properly the whole time.
Bf and constantly attached but crying LOTS or formula and happy baby feeding every 4 hours?!

 

[Care76]

We had this issue with my son and it turned out his tongue tie wasn't released far enough. Even though doctor's and LCs said he was fine. He also had lip ties. I went on domperidone to increase my supply and we had his tongue released again by somebody who knew more of what they were doing.

Now I have mostly switched to moringa for my supply. I still take 2-3 dom a day, but not the 20 a day I was taking.

Good luck!

 

[CVR1986]

Thanks....her tongue tie is definitely fully snipped! The lady who did it was fab. Im thinking of trying fenugreek and pumping more often to see if it helps. She has just been feeding 2 hours. Now 3 mins later wants back on. Very tiring and makes me feel rubbish that my supply doesnt satisfy her.

 

[Flake-y]

The only way to increase your supply is to have her on the boob as much as possible. Any formula you give her will just reduce the time she's feeding from you, which in the long run won't help your supply. It's hard going, but the constant feeding is her way of telling your body to produce as much milk as she needs. Hope it doesn't last too much longer.

 

[Care76]

I wouldn't take fenugreek. It isn't good to take for long or in such high doses. it can mess with your blood sugar. Fennel is good. But moringa (also called mulunggay or something) works great. Maybe you can get a script for Domperidone? It sucks to take meds, but it worked so much better than herbs (except moringa, but I have to order that online).

Like the poster above said, just keep at it. It is tiring, but it is the best way.

And, I also thought the doctor who did my son's first release was great. But I have learned so much in this past 13.5 months. If I didn't go to the International Breasfeeding Centre I would have never known.

 

[CVR1986]

I only know its good as my tongue tie was only snipped to 50%. Laurens frenum is totally gone and no sign of it coming back. I guess Im just really struggling to have her on me all day as I just cant get comfortable.
Im pumping 15 mins each side every time she has formula but I can inly get about 1.5oz total all day.
I do feel quite down about it to be honest.

 

[Care76]

It is best not to pump if you can. I only get between 1-2 oz when I pump now, but I know my son is drinking a lot when nursing. I bet he gets between 5-9 oz at least each feed. Maybe more. I know I pumped a lot more when I was on more dom. The more baby is at breast the more milk your body will make. The pump doesn't do a good enough job. Some women can pump tons and some women can't. If you do feed formula, try using a lactation aid.

I don't know if you have heard of Jack Newman, but he has a lot of great books and tons of awesome info on his website and facebook page. He runs the International Breasfeeding Clinic. He has videos of how to tell baby is getting enough milk, breast compressions, etc... Here is the site. Good luck! It can be hard when you have low supply.

 

[noon_child]

Domperidome isn't licensed by NICE for increasing breatmilk so in the UK (or wasn't back when I was bf - 2yrs ago) so the OP wont be able to get a prescription.

It sounds like your baby it trying to stimulate your supply but you are playing catch up because of not being able to feed straight away and having some formula in the mix - so she is at her three week growth spurt wanting more milk than ever while your boobs are maybe on week one?

You have a few options. If you want to breastfeed then you have to be strict with the formula. If you chop and change (one day doing lots of formula, the next day trying to do all breastmilk) then these marathon sucking sessions will continue and be a longer more drawn out process as your breasts will never learn how much milk to make.

When I was suplimenting but wanted to get back to exclusive breastfeeding I made sure that she only ever got the same amount of formula, I never increased it, so all growth spurts and hungry days were dealt with by putting her on the breast NOT upping the formula feed. Because we were only on a 2oz suppliment it was easy to cut this out when she was older (about 3months I think) and it wasn't such a big % of her daily milk. I chose a feed where I felt most stressed out by bf and only gave the formula then, so as to give me a chance to feel more positive about breastfeeding.

I'd also advise LLL or NCT lactation consultation as even if her tongue tie is fixed she still might have other latch issues. My LO wasn't tongue tied but she still pulled her tongue back in to her mouth when feeding and it took about 10weeks for her to get the hang of doing it right.

Does she feed through the night? I alwasy felt my LO fed more deeply and got more milk at night (except when she was so hungry she couldn't latch for screaming - at which point I syringe fed her 10ml or so of expressed milk to calm her and then tried latching). Milk production is highest at night so I'd say never give formula instead of a night feed - especially as then you have to go and pump to make up for it so you're awake even longer then!

 

[Care76]

Maybe it depends on your doctor like here, because one of my friends in the UK was prescribed domperidone one year ago.

Something else that worked great for us was CST (craniosacral therapy). Sounds hokey, but it works if you can find a good practitioner.

You might just have to try different things and see what works for you. For me, I just stopped all formula and only fed at breast. Even though at the beginning it meant my son was nursing all the time. It can be hard and a struggle, but for me it was worth it.

 

[RaspberryK]

Your baby is only 3 weeks old. Almost constant nursing can be very normal, you've not had time to establish a supply yet, and the formula probably isn't helping.
Can you get some advice from a lactation consultant or peer supporter?
Xx

 

[CandyDay]

If you can have a nursing day. Ditch the formula and just hang out with your LO all day nursing as much as possible. Get snacks and drinks ready so you can just grab them and munch. Have some movies handy and hang out with your LO. If you have a sling or a wrap trying nursing in that so that you have hands free. Keep yourself topless and LO naked and get lots of skin to skin.
There are lots of lactogenic foods that you can eat that are supposed to help with supply. Oatmeal is good....not the instant kind. You can look up a recipe for lactation cookies as well.
Fenugreek and blessed thistle help with supply. And there is mothers milk tea as well.

 

[cat_reversing]

keep it going!! bf is learnt by both mother and child, some find it easier than others so give baby time to get it right.
If yours is anything like mine you'd better find your comfy sofa spot, get snacks/drinks for yourself and feed, feed and feed.
If bf is important to you then keep going and you'll get there in the end.
I took fenugreek for about 2 weeks and it definitely helped up my supply.

 

[CVR1986]

Thank you ladies. I am going to get some fenugreek today as it cannot hurt to try it. I have been pumping more and I am slowly getting more out.
I have tried to feed at night but she seems unable to latch when sleepy.
I have left voicemail for my HV to call me as she is also a breastfeeding lady. I can get to the drop in clinic on xmas eve so Im going to go.
When Im at home and not going anywhere I am sitting here all day bfing.

 

[noon_child]

I have tried to feed at night but she seems unable to latch when sleepy.

This is very common when they are so little. Try changing her nappy before each feed, keeping all her clothes off during the feed and even tickling her to keep her awake. If all else fails pumping at night (although exhausting) often yields more milk and because of the higher levels of certain hormones at night might stimulate your supply more than doing it during the day.

It sounds really counter intuitive but the secret to increasing supply is allowing your baby to be hungry (i.e no formula, no top ups) and this will force her/him awake and to the breast more often. Once milk is established (after 6 weeks ish) you can relax a bit more and consider whether you want to combi-feed or exclusively breastfeed but combi feeding before this point often leeds to formula feeding because it is so hard to establish a supply of breastmilk if they aren't at the breast enough.

I'm really glad you are getting more advice as a poor latch doesn't stimulate as much as a good one and those mammoth feeind sessions can leave you feeling resentful and drained.

 

[Rachel_C]

As others have said, just keep baby to the boob. It's completely normal for such a young baby to be on the boob pretty much all the time! While you've been using formula you've gotten an unrealistic idea of what feeding a newborn is like, because formula isn't 'normal' for humans and the body can't process it in the same way. I would just take a few days where you cancel anything other than eating, sleeping and feeding your baby and spend it skin to skin in bed/on the sofa (borrow some DVD box sets you've always wanted to watch).

I would definitely have a read of Dr Jack Newman's Facebook page or website, he posts some very helpful things, including a description and videos of babies swallowing properly (on 8th Dec on Facebook he posted a link to a newborn baby who has done the breast crawl and you can see the baby pausing while feeding) . It's worth checking that LO is getting milk just for peace of mind - you should be able to see a pause after a couple of sucks, which is where she's stopping to swallow milk. If that's fine, just carry on feeding

 

[noon_child]

It's worth checking that LO is getting milk just for peace of mind - you should be able to see a pause after a couple of sucks, which is where she's stopping to swallow milk. If that's fine, just carry on feeding

This is good advice BUT I could hardly ever see the pause (and neither could LC's I saw) but due to wet nappies I knew she was getting milk - she was just a poor latcher so her mouthfulls were not quite as big as they should've been...if you get enough wet nappies on no formula then milk is getting there!

 

[CVR1986]

As OH has now finished work Im going to try to bf through the night as I can wake him to keep me company and settle her after as she loves to snuggle daddy. I just need to persevere.