scared i will starve my baby

[kate1984]

I am pregnant with my 4th and am now 4 months gone. I have been thinking about how i want to feed him and it's a no brainer for me as i really really want to breastfeed my son but i have had a few problems before and could do with advice please.

I was young when i had my first 2 children and just bottle fed them, with my son last year i tried to breastfeed but the midwife put me off so much... I have inverted nipples, my right one will pop out but my left one wont at all and it was near on impossible to get him to latch on.

She then told me it was a waste of time and that he wasnt getting enough from me, then told me my milk wasnt a very good quality as he got very bad jaundice at 3-4 days. I could easily pump 7 ounce from each breast though and it looked fine to me? In the end with no help and a yellow baby i just put him on formula

is there any hope? i am not having anymore babies and feel like i need to do this. If there is any advice then please please help me xxx

 

[Ozzieshunni]

How would the MW know the quality of your milk? She should have been encouraging you instead of doubting you! Try again You will not starve your baby. Maybe try pumping on the side with the inverted nipple before latching on baby to see if you can get more of a nipple for baby to latch on to? Or talk to a lactation consultant. You can do it!!!

 

[cat lover]

Your MW sounds like a complete cow and totally useless! How dare she say your milk is 'not good quality'?! I can't help but I know the other ladies on here will. There are definitely ways around BFing and inverted nipples.

 

[Lauki]

Your Midwife is horrible ><.. Your milk is the PERFECT quality for your baby. Formula really isn't gonna be better. If you manage to pump that much, surely your baby will never starve? I struggle pumping 3ounces and Sophie is thriving and exclusively breastfed.

I don't even understand how breastfeeding could have anything to do with your baby being jaundiced ..

Would your baby latch on the side where the nipple would pop out? Ozzies idea of pumping a bit first sounds brilliant!

Please don't listen to the horrid advice of your midwife and see a lactation consultant!

 

[minties]

Breastfeeding helps get rid of jaundice.

Breastmilk from starving women is of about the same quality as healthy well fed women.

You managed to pump 7oz?!? I could never get that using both breasts, let alone that much from each. You were obviously making heaps of milk.

Please give it a try again. I do not understand this anti-breastfeeding thing that happens in other countries. Here you would be made to feel like you're trying to murder your baby if you don't breastfeed. Even now that Thomas is almost 10 months, I get a lot of pressure about it from my HV.

I have tiny tiny nipples that don't stick out at all, they are pretty flat, and I've been breastfeeding for almost 10 months now.

 

[stardust599]

I have inverted nipples too and I managed to get a perfect latch with the Avent nipple shields. My MW said it was fine to use them long-term even if it was a pain sterilizing them all the time. I managed almost 6 weeks with them but gave up due to other reasons (LO had severe reflux, digestive issues and feeding issues).

I used to keep them in a little sealed cup of milton in the changing bag and just shake one out when I needed it. It was a bit harder to latch LO on discreetly but once she was on it was fine, I just turned my back to people until she was on and when she was done I caught the shield in a muslin and fixed my bra and top.

I was like you and could get 7oz+ of milk with pumping but LO just couldn't latch onto my crappy nipples. xx

 

[Lauki]

It's so strange because there's so much campaigning here in the UK about 'Breast is Best'.. But in reality the support and help from most professionals is utter crap and lots of them just seem to say: Just formula feed, it's much easier.

Seems just wrong to me ..

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Yeah, I agree Lauki. I was pushed to give LO formula in the NICU after he was born to raise his blood sugar. However, even the midwives there admitted that all BF'd babies have low blood sugar at first before the milk comes in!

 

[summer rain]

I am horrified to hear yet again, of horrible, envious nasty woman who dare to call themselves a health professional (in this case a midwife) undermining a mum and making her stop BF AGAIN. I really think a serious letter writing campaign to the health secretary is in order.

OP, 70% of all babies develop significant jaundice, so its a completely normal physical process in newborns, while prolonged and higher levels of jaundice are more common in breastfed babies-it isn't unheard of in formula fed babies either, some babies are just genetically predisposed to having very high levels of jaundice and in most cases this looks alarming but is harmless. I have done a lot of research on this and there isn't a case in the medical literature of a baby with 'breastmilk' jaundice (jaundice that tends to develop 4-7 days after the birth and linger) having any type of long term ill effects at all. The sinister type of jaundice manifests itself quite differently. All of mine were jaundiced for anything between 4-16 weeks (that isn't a typo) but while still jaundiced were gaining twice or more the average weight gain a week and all had a minimum of 10 wet nappies a day so they were clearly getting enough fluids. In our case; occasional cases of very severe jaundice have occured in both mine and OHs family so its no wonder our LOs become so heavily jaundiced. In both families FF babies are just as badly affected as well; my OH himself was in hospital for 3 weeks jaundiced but was FF from birth.

I also have flat small nipples and have never really had many problems; except with my eldest who I now know was tongue tied and lip tied. Personally I'd advise something called 'nipple formers' as opposed to nipple shields; its like a breast shell in appearance but it has a smaller hole for the nipple and gently draws out the nipple between feeds. They are made by medela and they say they can be worn as much as you need from 32 weeks of pregnancy onwards, in some cases with inverted nipples they can sort them permanently xx

 

[kate1984]

Thankyou so much! I will get some of the nipple shields and I still have my pump. The other reason why she said my milk was poor quality was he got some little orange crystals in his nappy. He only got this once but it made me think that I was starving him in the 3 days it took for my milk to come in. Thankyou again I'm excited to get going with this

 

[summer rain]

The orange crystals are urate crystals and most babies get at least one incidence of them in the first few days before the milk comes in (and they can occur in FF babies too), and they are harmless (they can very rarely signal dehydration as well, but this tends to be if they occur at a later stage not in the first few days)

https://www.babycenter.com/404_what...by-has-urate-crystals-in-her-diape_3651268.bc

 

[cat lover]

Should we write a letter to the health sec about this issue and all sign it??

 

[summer rain]

These are the nipple formers, this site is quite useful as it explains the difference between them and other products such as the avent nipplette

https://www.poshmums.com/breastfeeding/medela-nipple-formers.htm

 

[summer rain]

Should we write a letter to the health sec about this issue and all sign it??

I am really starting to think thats a good idea, words fail me when it comes to some of the crap that mums are told regarding BF-usually along the lines that they are 'starving' their baby even when weight gain etc tells the complete opposite is true xx

 

[cat lover]

Oh and what also really pisses me off is that noone warns you how much babies feed when they are born. Maybe they think people won't even bother if they know the truth but if I hadn't been told during antenatal that they feed every 3 - 4 hours but in fact near enough constantly I wouldn't have let a bitch MW talk me into formula top ups. I really think this lack of info is what leads so many ladies to stop BFing. OK, sorry rant over!!

 

[patch2006uk]

These are the nipple formers, this site is quite useful as it explains the difference between them and other products such as the avent nipplette

https://www.poshmums.com/breastfeeding/medela-nipple-formers.htm

Those are what I used and they're wonderful! Only thing to watch is if you bend forward, milk gushes out the ventilation holes and soaks everything! I also had some avent breast shells, which were the same thing. I think I found the avent ones less leaky through the holes in the end.

Definitely second the recommendation to start wearing these at 32 weeks though!