Should I give up?

[Melissa Qu]

My daughter is 10 weeks old and I've been pumping milk out for her since she refused one of my breasts from day one. My supply has gone down a little bit. I started out with 2.5 ounces every 2-3 hours, but now I'm getting 2 ounces or less from each breast every 3 hours. Now that she's taking more milk, I don't think I'll have enough bottles to leave during the day when I go back to work in 2 weeks. Should I just pump out what I can and mix it with formula?

I'm so disappointed that this didn't work out the way that I wanted to. It's a pain in the ass to pump all the time. I really don't want to give her formula but it seems like I'll have to. It just feels like poison to me!

Is it normal to feel so disappointed in yourself? I feel like my body failed me, or that I failed myself, by not working harder at getting my daughter to latch onto the breast she initially refused. I got Mastitis when she was 3 weeks old, then I got yeast on my nipples and ended up giving her thrush. It was too painful to try to put her on my breast again and I still have the problem.

Ah sorry for the story!

 

[Nervous_1]

What treatment are you using for the thrush? I had it for 4 months and fed through it, painful as hell but I'm far too lazy to pump pm me if you want a bit of support/advice

You can mix formula and BM, just for storage purposes go by the rules for formula not BM. I think it's worth giving LO every drop of BM you can, but you have to be a happy mum too, so if that means just FF then go for it and don't feel guilty

 

[Melissa Qu]

Thanks for your reply. We were both taking Nystatin for the thrush, but it didn't work for either of us. So now we're on Diflucan-not working either. I guess either way I'm going to be in pain so should I try putting her on my breast? People keep telling me that she can remove more milk than the pump.

I wish I could start this whole thing over. I never even thought I would last this long so I should give myself some credit. I want to fix this but I feel like it's too late!

 

[Nervous_1]

You can fix this, it's never too late! I would try "naked" feeds (no shields) and see how you go. If it doesn't work, try using a shield but offer boob without it first. Hopefully she'll soon get used to "naked" feeds, but this might help the transition from bottle to boob

Get yourself some fluconazole tablets from the doctor, some miconazole cream to spread on your nipples (wipe it off before a feed though), and some miconazole gel for LO's mouth. Not all doctors like to give fluconazole but it's totally safe, just be prepared to do battle. Then head off to a health food shop (Holland & Barret if you're in the UK) and get some Acidophilus. It helps beat thrush and can guard against it coming back again. I take it religiously every day now!

While you're in pain when feeding, you can take paracetamol and/or ibuprofen. It was a god send to me! Good luck hun!

 

[Melissa Qu]

Thanks so much for your advice. I'll look into this more. I'm wondering if I should take fenugreek like I've been reading. Ah they weren't kidding when they said this is challenging!