Losing sight of why I'm doing this

[Lu28]

I'm probably just having a bad day because I'm tired but I'm really losing sight of why I'm still battling to breastfeed Aisling. It's certainly become much easier from the beginning which I'm really grateful for. But we just seem to keep hitting problems - she still feeds for an hour at a time, from late afternoon on (early morning on the last few days) she just can't be bothered to suck properly and is immediaely screaming for more food so I seem to be constantly feeding and her latest is that she keeps latching on, coming off and immediately getting upset and wanting to get back on, hitting at me all the while and the cycle keeps on without her actually feeding. I've tried burping her and nothing seems to make a difference.

DH is upset seeing me so stressed and keeps saying he'll take her for a night and a day if I'll just agree to let him give her a bottle but I won't, I just want to persevere but I need to know that it'll get easier soon. I'm at the stage where I don't know if I'm persevering for Aisling's sake or just so I can get some kind of sense of achievement. She's still putting on 7oz a week so she's doing really well but I'm not enjoying things right now and wonder if ff would make it better.

Hopefully I'll get some more sleep tonight and be in a better from of mind tomorrow!

 

[Samantha675]

She is probably hit that 6 week growth spurt, and it is a tough one. She may not be getting as much milk as she wants, hence her pulling off frustrated. Just keep at it, and your milk will catch up to her. I know it is frustrating, but very soon it will be soo much easier.

 

[ajarvis]

I agree - probably 6 week growth spurt! It IS annoying, but it does get better!

 

[Pyrrhic]

Agree, 6-7 weeks is growth spurt time.

 

[NatalieW]

Isobel is doing exactly the same, it's such hard work and upsetting

 

[Mervs Mum]

Oh sweetie

It's the double edged 6 week BFing sword.....you have that big spurt to contend with BUT you are right on the brink of a BFing breakthrough. It definately gets better at about this point.

I see from your blinkie that you are pumping. Why dont you spend sometime pumping and gather together a few feeds so you can have a break if you want to. I cant guarantee it but I found that when I did that and took them up on the offer of a rest, it actually confirmed to me why I was BFing her. I dont care what some say, BFing is way more than just feeding a baby - sorry if that's not politically correct to say, but it just is IMO. I think it was at the point that I realised that ie when I was given the opportunity to not do it for a day/evening and part way through I realised my emotional urge to feed her was stronger than my urge to have a break.

Hang in there sweetie. You are doing a wonderful job and I promise you there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I can see yours from here.

 

[Lu28]

Thanks ladies. Thing is, she's 7 weeks now and I was sure we were having the 6 week growth spurt last week from the way she was feeding! It feels as though she's been getting lazy with feeding and not being bothered to such properly and I'm worried that if I let DH take over for a little bit then I'll have difficulty getting her back on the boob...

 

[Samantha675]

Every baby is on their own time scale, some have their growth spurts early some later. I really doubt that by now if she has a bottle feed it would mess her up to go back to the boob.

 

[Hope22]

I went INSANE when Darwin hit his six-week spurt. One night when I had been feeding/attempting to feed him for two hours straight I just burst into tears, and my best girlfriend (who was over at the time) said "that's it, this is BS, we're making up some formula RIGHT NOW" and we did. Luckily my doctor explained to me that too much supplementing would mess up the supply & demand of successful BFing and talked me into discontinuing the bottles for the most part.

For us, BFing got MUCH easier around three months. By that point the baby is more experienced, has a larger stomach capacity, more strength & stamina and you're better at BFing as a team. Do your best to keep going, you will get through it but it's awful and I sympathize. The one fabulous thing about a growth spurt is how easy things feel when it's over!

 

[Mervs Mum]

How you doing today hun?

 

[QueenMummyToBe]

Hun the same thing is happening here.. I thought Amelia was going through her growth spurt last week but this week she is being the same.. feeding all the time, never seems satisfied, coming off the boob and then screaming because she wants to be latched back on.

She has only been feeding from me for three weeks (she was having EBM before that) and it seems like it is one thing after another.. especially because she has managed to lose 4oz since learning to latch on

Try to stay strong and do what makes you happy, breastfeeding shouldn't make you miserable

xXx

 

[Lu28]

Not too bad, things have been going better but now she's not particularly interested in feeding at all! I think it's the heat getting to her to be honest. I still have a sore and red right boob so the milk ducts are still blocked so it's a bit better than yesterday, hopefully I won't need the doc!

 

[sheepy99]

Hope your boob gets better Lu, keep an eye on it as I ended up in the docs today after 2 really bad days of running a fever and feeling awful. She took one look at my boob (half of it was red) and said I had infected mastitis. I had tried to treat it naturally (which is best if you can) but don't let it get to bad as I was so ill today I had to leave my LO with a neighbour as I didn't even have the strength to look after her and my temp was running at 104. I'm on antibiotics now as a last resort but probably should have go in yesterday (it was 26 degrees in my bedroom and I was shivering under a winter duvet!)

 

[sadiescooby]

I'm not sure wether this is good advice or bad! But my LO is now 7weeks old and we seem to have mastered a routine.

I BF her about 5 times throughout the day and then for her last feed she has a bottle of 6-7oz of Cow & Gate at 8pm. I found that at the end of the day I was so drained and couldn't give her enough milk to satisfy her and for her to last the night. And formula is thicker so it does tend to fill them up more! (see my point with good/bad advice).

I gotta say I feel really refreshed from catching up on my sleep and my OH does enjoy giving her her bedtime bottle and I'm free to go to bed whenever I like, 6pm if needs be!! Oh yeah and a glass of wine after her last BF goes down a treat too!!

 

[Sunnie1976]

I've been doing exactly the same thing (bfing all day and a bottle of formula at bedtime) with my lo. He's now 17 weeks and we are still happily breastfeeding for all the other feeds. That one bottle a day really kept me going in the early days! There did come a point when I considered picking up that feed again, but it's a nice routine and my OH really enjoys it too. I also think that it really helps lo to know that it's bedtime because that's when he has his bath and bottle.