baby fighting breastfeeding

[kayla93]

Hey ladies,
I have been trying again to breastfeed my daughter from the breast instead of pumping because I have been trying to increase my supply. I went to pumping only twice a day and wanted to increase my supply again. I know that having her feed from the breast is the best way to do that, so that has been what I have been trying. We have to use a nipple shield because I have inverted nipples, and she did great for the first few days. Now, everytime I put her on, she sucks for a few seconds and then burrows her head and fights me off, and cries! I have tried feeding her a bottle first and then feeding her from the breast and that doesnt help. Does anyone have any tips or ideas? or does anyone know why this is happening? I really want to breastfeed her, and am really upset that she is fighting me off. I feel like she doesnt want the breastmilk and I have been trying so hard...

 

[seaweed eater]

How old is she? The flow is faster from a bottle so she may be frustrated that she's not getting more milk at the breast. One thing to try is a supplemental nursing system, which is a tube that attaches to your breast so she gets her EBM from there instead of from a bottle. You could also try pumping or hand expressing for a minute or two to get a letdown so that the milk is already flowing by the time she starts sucking.

 

[Janers]

I feel for your pain! I pumped for almost 10 weeks and the entire time i was trying to get her back to my breast.

My daughter would fight me, I was sure she hated breastfeeding, she seemed miserable, and I was afraid I was doing it more for myself then for her. Boy was I wrong, the amount of work I put in was well worth it, breastfeeding is amazing for both of us! Now she won't take bottles!

I digress... my advice is too put your LO on the breast as often as you can, every time your LO looks the slightest bit hungry offer her some boob. I mean constantly, as much as possible. When I was doing this I would still offer my LO a bottle of expressed milk every three hours or so, but before doing so again offer the breast.

Try not to get frustrated, your LO is just used to a bottle, in the end the reward of breastfeeding will be worth it. I remember the feelings of failure and guilt when I was afraid I wouldn't make it work, I gave up soo many times. My daughter is 7 months now and we're still going strong, i'm very proud of her!

I hope I helped a little bit, make sure too keep track of how many dirty diapers she has, once my daughter stopped having bottles I would weigh her every two days at our local nurses office just to make sure she was gaining.

If your able to contact your local Le leche league I found them to be a GREAT support system.

Good luck! You can do it!