Difficulty Feeding

[lcorteen]

After reading the fantastic article 'Yes, actually, breast is best' I thought I would post my story of overcoming some problems breastfeeding my first daughter.

I cannot help feeling disappointed (for both mother and baby) when friends either don't start breastfeeding or switch to formula in the first few months. Usually the story of 'not enough milk' is told with regret, but also with a definite belief that there was nothing they could do.

So... I have had succcess increasing my supply so that my daughter went from losing weight at 3 weeks, to being a porker at 8 wks. I hope this helps someone who thinks there is 'nothing they can do'.

DD fed for 2hrs after being born. I now know that she was not really 'feeding', just sucking, bonding and having cuddles, which was lovely. The various midwives in the hopsital popped in to see 'that baby that's still sucking' and laughed at her appetite. We thought it was funny too. Unfortunately she was not properly attached and grazed both nipples. I felt I was not 'getting her on' properly, but every midwife who checked in the next few days said she was fine, that I was doing well and that was correct. By this stage to the point each nipple had a scab covering the entire top of the nipple, which would come off each time I fed and bleed. My daughter would vomit bits of blood and scab after feeds, but the midwives weren't concerned, so I persevered, and was sent home. Needless to say, feeding was very painful and not that enjoyable thogh of course I enjoyed the cuddles and the wonderful feeling that comes with being able to feed your baby and help her grow.

When DD was born, she was wide eyed and placid. Withing 24 hrs she was screaming her lungs out and this continued for 3 weeks. She rarely slept (about 3-8hrs in 24, the rest of the time screaming). I now feel she was hungry but I was so reluctant to feed her because of the pain that I tried to keep her to 3 hourly feeds. She also vomited a lot, and her poo came out like froth. We actually took her to hospital at about 10 days old because she was 'too placid' - we thought there was something drastically wrong with her!

Our GP sent us to a paed and she was diagnosed with lactose intolerance, colic and reflux. She was prescribed medicine for the reflux and he suggested feeding her a combination of lactose free formula and breastmilk to see if that would calm her and help her sleep/relax.

It didn't, and after about a week, we stopped the medication (I was never happy about the 'colic/reflux' diagnosis) and took her to the Breast Feeding Centre at King Edward Hospital. I had laser treatment on my poor nipples, which helped them heal and they were able to see that yes, she wasn't attaching properly and helped me sort it out (though DD refused to attach in a manner that was totally comfortable, it was much better and obviously my nipples hardened up and got used to 'her way of doing things' - in fact, as soon as I relaxed about trying to get her to attach properly and just let her do her own thing, it hurt a lot less ). I stopped the lactose free formula and started exclusively breastfeeding again (against the docs wishes, but with midwife support). She was still screaming a lot and not sleeping and by this stage (about 3 weeks old) she had started losing weight.

The penny finally dropped that she wasn't getting enough milk, so I convinced the BFC to lend me their scales so I could weight her before and after feeds to work out how much milk she was getting each feed and in a 24 hr period. This confirmed my suspiscions - she was getting 20-50mls per feed and under 200mls in 24 hrs. Not demand feeding (because my nipples were so damaged and sore) and switching to formula had severely depleted my supply.

I can tell you I was fairly emotional at this time (sleep deprived new mother on the warpath!) and was not overly pleased withe course the paed had set for us. I was determined not to give in and to breastfeed my DD.

So... with the fantastic help fo the BFC, I started using a 'supply line' to increase my supply. It is a tiny tube that you put into a bottle of expressed (I had to start with formula) milk and stick the other end to your nipple, so that when the baby sucks your nipple they get milk even though your boobs are empty. The extra sucking stimulates extra supply and the theory is that it slowly increases your supply. On the paperwork that came with it were details of how to use if for mothers who are breastfeeding adopted babies, which I found so interesting.

I spent the next two weeks in the following routine, 24hrs a day:
-Feed DD from my boobs
-Place supply line with expressed milk (initially formula) on nipple and let DD have that as well
-Settle DD to sleep
-1 hr after end of feed, express (luckily hired an electric pump!) milk for next feed
-crawl into bed for 45 min sleep at night or do a chore/sit down with a cuppa in day
-start again!

At night I would normally set alarm for 1 hr so that I could sleep in between feeding and needing to express, then express, then crawl back to bed

DH was amazingly supportive, cheering me on from the sidelines. I felt every emotion under the sun! Desperately tired, extremely proud of myself, completely overwhelmed, angry about the events that lead to the situation... etc. Every night I would cry saying 'I just can't do it anymore, I'm going to give her formula' and every morning I would wake up saying 'I'll just do it for 1 more day'. I lasted 14 days, by which time I had increased the feeds to 60-90ml on average, but at times 120ml (this was pretty exciting as you can imagine).

I had done it. And it was so very worth it.

So if you are reading this feeling that you can't, I am living proof. I'm not superwoman or super anything, just a normal person.

When I was at the BFC I met a woman who had 5 children. She had come back to catch up with the midwives with her bubba. After feeding her first 4 kids, the 5th simply refused to take her breast. So she expressed for 6 months and kept trying until finally her baby agreed to was better from a boob than a bottle. At the time I was pretty 'woe is me' about my situation, so it was great to have a reality check in the form of this amazing mum, who committed to express everyday, in between getting 4 kids fed, dressed, to school and everything else, so that she could breastfeed.

I hope this helps someone. (or provides a giggle at my expense at least )

xx

[hanabi]

No giggling here Icorteen. I relate to your experience, only we never did open that tin of formula in the pantry. But the nipple trauma, the crying baby, the fragile emotions, I still remember it all like yesterday.

Thank you for sharing.

[*kaos*]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your story. And congratulations on your triumph. I just know that someone struggling will read this and it will help change their perspective

[emd]

Wow! Your story is amazing. Thankyou so much for sharing it. I find breastfeeding is hard work, but bottle feeding is even worse - and I just LOVE reading success stories. You should be shouting from the rooftops about what you've achieved.

[lcorteen]

Thanks! I am so glad I persisted and listened to the roaring mamma within!
xx