At the end of my rope...please help

[lizziemc]

Hi my baby is 5 days old and she is perfect. I had a 36 hour labour with only gas as pain relief which ended in a vacuum birth and epistiotomy(sp?). I have been breast feeding her since birth and it was going ok but I'm so physically worn out after the birth that I really feel I can't go on. I spent my day crying today. Everytime I look at her my heart fills up with love and then I feel guilty for dreading feeding time. I've had help from a lactation consultant who said that I was doing everything right but everytime she latches on it feels like a razor blade slicing my nipple. I've tried creams, compresses and ice but nothing works. My nipples are all cracked and bleeding.
My poor husband has just come back from the shop with a bottle of formula. Can I just give her some tonight? I'd like to bf her a bit also but I need a break. How do I combine without making Baby sick?

 

[Bonnie11]

Do you mean how do you feed her with formula or how do you combine it?

Just pop it in a bottle (if ready made) heat it up in some hot water, test it and try her with it. She shouldn't get sick, no more than usual feeding type sick if you know what I mean!

I'm sorry it's been so rough for you. It sounds like you are doing the best that you can so please don't feel guilty. You might just need a little helping hand. It makes no sense to dread something so much it eats in the way if bonding with your baby. Breast feeding can be hard work and its worth persevering but if you are so unhappy and it's not working then you need to look at other options. A happy and healthy mummy is the most important thing for your baby right now.

Speak to your mw or health visitor. It's with getting some nipple shields and maybe try expressing for a few days to give your nipples a break but still carry on with milk production. It yiu can combine feed from now on. I would try her with the formula and see how you go, you are doing the best you can so don't eat yourself up. Labour and childbirth is rough and it's ok to give yourself some time to get your mind and body around things. Give her a bottle and see how it goes xxx

 

[cocosianelle]

I'm not sure if you've posted this on the breastfeeding forum but I'm sure a lot of the ladies would be able to give you some very good advice on making feeding times more comfortable.

This is how it started with us, in the end I caved after 3 days as I was just so sore and bleeding too, no amount of hand expressing was working either.

Its really up to you what you want to do, like PP says as long as you and baby are healthy then who cares what they are fed.

One thing to consider if you want to keep BF is to keep on with either expressing or feeding if you can as this is what will get your milk to come in.

Just a thought but have you checked your LO for lip tie or tongue tie? This seems to be a much more common issue than I thought.

Keep us posted and congrats on your LO

 

[lizziemc]

Hi Girls, thank you both for your replies. We have just gone with the formula. It seems to be satisfying her a lot more and I feel a lot better. I' ve squeezed out some of the breast milk tonight, I'm not really sure what the best thing to do is. Should I just leave it in the hope that it dries up or express a little every day till it tapers out. So glad we've made this choice as I have a lot of bleeding and some clots and am just physically not recovering well. I'm going to see my doc tomorrow to talk things over. My baby does have tongue tie but I live in Ireland and only 2 docs in the country snip the membrane and the closest one is over 4 hours away, a journey I cannot undertake this minute. Thanks again x

 

[Bonnie11]

I'm glad you have come to a decision that you are happy with. Sounds like its working out a lot better for you and your family.

Releasing a bit of milk is tricky. Every time you express you are telling your body to produce more, it's best not to but if it becomes really unbearable then yiu an do a very small bit to release the pressure! This may make it take longer to dry up completely though.
Best thing is right fitting sports bra, cold ice compresses (frozen food works fine) but you can also get the specific lansinoh breast pads that go in freezer. Cold cabbage leaves are 'supposed' to help.

There is a link here to a great website fearless formula feeder.
https://www.fearlessformulafeeder.com/2011/10/tips-for-drying-up-breastmilk-without-the-attitude/

She tells you about formula feeding straight without all the guilt that you should be breast feeding! It's a great site.

Good luck, let us know how you get on xx