i want her to thrive and they say she's not. pissed me off at first, but at the end of the day, they are the professionals and i'm an old first time mum.
Carolyn, I am so sorry you are getting a hard time from all quarters. Health Visitors and Midwives tend to know b***** all about breastfeeding and rarely have any constructive advice to offer. They are not very professional at all about BF in my experience. Doctors are often just as bad. Have they given you any constructive advice about how to remedy the situation if they feel that your baby needs more milk? Eg., how to increase your supply, or improve the latch, or do breast compressions so your baby gets the milk that is there effectively?? They should have tried everything before promoting formula top-ups but often it is easier to just press you to give formula so the charts look nice. How much weight is your daugher gaining? is she maintaining her centile? If not, how many centiles has she dropped?
I think the best advice I can offer you is to call a qualified lactation consultant and get them to come round to your house. They may charge around £40 but it will be money well spent if you can afford it. They will be able to give you sound advice about whether your DD is really not thriving (I bet the answer is no, no, no!) and what you can do about it if there really is concern.
Have a look at this page and if you scroll down there are a couple of lactation consultants in the Derbyshire area who do home visits or offer telephone support:
https://www.lcgb.org/locallc.htm
Other suggestions (not sure if you've tried them already, if so ignore): Domperidone on prescription from your GP, at least 4 tablets a day. They
can prescribe it if they are so inclined - mine did.
Fenugreek capsules from Holland and Barrett - 3, 3 times a day. Makes you smell of curry, but seems to be an effective aid to increase supply.
Pumping with an electric hospital-grade pump
after every feed, including during the night - it's a pain but very effective at increasing your supply; carry on for a bit after there is nothing more coming out. This will signal to your body to make more milk. Also, put your daughter on every time you see an opportunity for comfort sucking, eg, when she is feeling sleepy, stressed, cranky or overstimulated.
'Compress' your boob when your baby stops actively drinking at the breast. You do this by making a 'c' shape with thumb and index finger and putting this around your areola about an inch away (sorry quite hard to describe!), and then pressing quite hard against the chest wall. When she starts drinking again, release. Repeat again when she stops drinking. This kind of squeezes out some more milk for your bub.
Do some 'switch nursing' - this is where you put bub on one side for a short while, then the other side, then repeat as often as you can in one session. the baby gets more milk more quickly as they stimulate the breast more effectively while nurssing initially. More milk removed = more milk produced.
Some babies are just high-need, and it has nothing to do with feeding really - it could be colic, reflux, or just their temperament. My DD was incredibly high-need for the first three months. She was actually worse on formula. At 12 weeks, wham, she changed overnight. She is now so placid and a total joy. Just to let you know that there is hope on that score!
best of luck and ask away if any more questions.
PS, I just read some of the stuff your HV has been telling you in your other posts, especially about the 'need' to stop comfort sucking: what an absolute load of crap, this is exactly the wrong thing to tell you. Ignore her. She is obviously completely ignorant about BF. If your baby does become dependent on sucking for everything, you can wean her off later: it can be done relatively gently and your baby won't become 'clingy. What a load of rubbish. God, can you tell I am angry!
Lucy