Part bottle, part breast. Milk never come through?

[Serene123]

She is bottle fed but on the odd occasion I stick her on my boob. It's still colostrum. They went hard ONCE but that's it. Will my milk never come through if I'm only sticking her on my boob once a day or so? I wish it would but I'm afraid it never will. I can't take her off the bottle and keep her just on my boob because she's not satisfied now she has had a bottle.

I don't want to stop putting her on my boob purely because of how close we are when she's on.

So yeah, because I'm mostly bottle feeding, am I going to dry up and never get milk?

 

[Margerle]

Your milk will come in regardless of what you are doing to feed her.

Milk coming in is a hormonal thing and has nothing to do with you or baby. It has to do with the decreasing progesterone and the accumulating prolactin in your body.

https://www.babyandbump.com/pregnancy-third-trimester/33810-pumping-destined-fail.html

 

[Holldoll]

If you have the time you could abandon the bottles and feed her with the breast until she's satisfied.

 

[Serene123]

I've tried but after 5 hours she gets so restless and distressed that she won't latch on anymore!

 

[mBLACK]

I learned this in my pre-natal classes. If you want her to take the breast, get dirty, as in don't shower for a few days. Also, don't use any smelly things like smelly soap or perfume. After a few days, lay skin to skin with her like naked I mean, and tickle her lips with the nipple, the breasts secrete an odour the same as your amniotic fluid and she will be drawn to it. Smelly things take away your natural odour, which is what baby's attracted to. If that doesn't help I'm not sure what else you could do, maybe switch to a nipple on the bottle that's more difficult to get milk from, so she will settle for the breast?

 

[Holldoll]

How do you know that it's colostrum and not milk? Mine only got hard once as well. In fact, today was the first day that I really felt like they were producing milk and we swollen because of it. Izzie is back to birth weight and she's exclusively breast fed, so I'm obviously producing enough milk.

 

[anita665]

I just woke up one morning to find my boobs had gone really massive and hard (more stretc marks ). It looked like they'd gone up 2 sizes iver night.

Keep trying and maybe hand express a little to check whether the milks there yet. I guess for some people it just takes longer.

Even giving her a bit once a day is doing her lots of good though so it's great if you can keep it up and it should help her to fight off that cold too.

 

[Linzi]

I just woke up one morning to find my boobs had gone really massive and hard (more stretc marks ). It looked like they'd gone up 2 sizes iver night.

Keep trying and maybe hand express a little to check whether the milks there yet. I guess for some people it just takes longer.

Even giving her a bit once a day is doing her lots of good though so it's great if you can keep it up and it should help her to fight off that cold too.

Yep, Ive gone from a 34D to a 34F since Seth was born.

Im sure if you're giving her a bit a day then you should still keep producing. Have you considered expressing and bottle feeding?

xxx

 

[TashaAndBump]

Your milk will come in.

If you want to increase your supply once it's in, you will need to put her to the breast more than once a day. Why don't you try giving a few routine bottle feeds, and just try putting her to the breast a few times a day inbetween (like an hour or two after feeding so that she is not too hungry and won't get frustrated) Sounds to me like she has got the hang of latching on and will naturally do that - so the more she does latch on and suck, the more your breasts will be encouraged to produce milk. If you cut down (not cut out) the bottle feeds and slowly substitute with breast feeds, your boobs will soon be producing enough to keep baby happy and full

Remember, nobody produces masses of milk at first - Most babies get frustrated and want to suck away on the boob all day, but it's that which encourages your breasts to produce milk sufficient enough to soley feed your baby.

Keep it up, hun. You're doing a great job

 

[momandpeanut]

I have been talking to my relative who is a breast feeding support worker (she has also fed her 4 children ) and her advise was it can take up to 4-6 weeks to get little one into a feeding routine ! Feeding can be every 1-2 hours all day everyday and it will feel like you are not filling her up for the first 2 weeks !

As for topping up with a bottle your body will only continue to make the amount baby suckles so your body effectivly shouldnt make the extra you are giving in a bottle.

Hope this helps a little

 

[KarenLV]

Perhaps hire a breast pump from the hospital and express regularly. Your milk supply will come in faster and increase,then you can also feed her the expressed milk to help build her immune system.