[Sanam]

Hi, I have an odd problem. My daughter is 7 weeks old. When I started bf I had huge problems, my breasts were engorged and my nipples became sore because I guess she was not latched on correctly. I was also constantly feeding her and she was constantly hungry. I used to feed her for almost 1 1/2 hours at each time (45 mins on each breast) - and still after that she was hungry. That's when I started supplementing with formula. I also started pumping and feeding her breast milk from the bottle at every feed so I could see that she was getting enough. I tried a few times to put her back on the breast but it always hurt so much that I gave up.

So soon I stopped feeding her on the breast completely and now I pump around 5 times a day and bottle feed her the breast milk, supplemented with formula at each feed. She takes close to 30 ounces a day (which I feel is a lot for her??). But still she seems constantly hungry or just wants to keep sucking.

I really want to get back to feeding her on the breast to stop her wanting to suck all the time, but I'm afraid that now after 7 weeks, she probably won 't be able to suck on the breast?

Any suggestions on how I can solve this problem.

[yltam]

My suggestion would be to get back to bf full time. As I recall, the first twelve weeks were tough. If you are serious about going back to bf, you have to spend the time and have the patience to ride the demand-supply cycle through. Eventually, the breasts and baby reach an equilibrium.

Good luck!

[barbwong_130]

Dear Sanam,

Getting a baby back to direct breastfeeding after they have been using a bottle usually requires some sort of suck training for the baby. Unless you are really lucky and the baby very cooperative you will need professional help to manage this. The best people to help you with this are Lactation Consultants. You might find the local La Leche League Leaders helpful too.

LCs http://www.iblce.edu.au/Consultation...0Kong,%20China

La Leche League – Hong Kong http://www.lalecheleague.org/HongKong.html

Best wishes,
Barb

[MayC]

I have problems too with breastfeeding my baby. For the last 12 weeks I've been expressing milk ONLY without putting my baby on the breasts. Like you, I tried to put her back on. I put her on once a day for the last 2 days and she seemed to suck successfully. However when I tried today (I saw that she was hungry), she screamed even before latching. She was trying to push my breast away.
It is very, very hard.
Putting baby on the breasts will keep your supply. Our ways won't. I think my supply is diminishing (I noticed it in the last 2 days) but then again, probably because mother in law has been in my place from morning till night telling me what to do!!!

[Kate]

I have a very hungry 4 month old who was getting very frustraded when feeding from the breast and would scream and scream if the milk didn't come out on the first suck! I found that having a bottle of water at hand works wonders, let the baby have a suck on the bottle whilst holding him close to your breast and then substitute the bottle for your breast after the first few sucks, mine was easily conned by this and my milk had time to let down. I have now decided to express milk and feed him by bottle in the daytime, supplemented by formula and he has milk from the breast in the night.

[Sanam]

Hi,

Thank you for your message. I just wanted to let you know that since I posted my first message in July, I have succesfully breastfed my baby for 6 months and have now stopped.

I had a really hard time in the beggining, but you have to be persistant if you want to continue. You really need to give time to your baby and latch on as many times as you can in order for your milk supply to increase. And once it does then you'll be glad you did it.

I did supplement with formula in the night and that helped alot as she used to sleep much longer in the night. But as much as you can during the day, latch your baby on. That's the only way the milk supply will increase.

Do let me know if you have any more questions.

Good luck!
Sanam

[lifigirl]

hi sanam i really hope you still visit this site your problem is the same as mine i dearly want to breast feed but my nipples are killing me so i have started to express and give it in a bottle trying all sorts of teats i have also just sent my husband out to buy nipple shields to see if this helps i just hope its not too late to put her back to the breast she was born 4 days ago and weighed 10lb 3 oz but she is a slow feeder not like her sister who was the same weight and could suck a cow dry lol this baby seems very content to have say 2 oz at each feed and nod off for three hours before being bothered to feed again also i was wondering if you could mix breast and formula in the same bottle? any help from anyone would be great thanks

[LLL_Sarah]

Dear lifigirl,

It is not recommended to mix breast milk and formula in the same bottle. I’d feed the breast milk first and if that isn’t enough feed formula second. This way if the baby doesn’t want all the milk you know that it is formula wasted rather than the breast milk.

You mention that your nipples are sore. The most common cause of sore nipples is a positioning and latch problem. I recommend that you see a lactation consultant or LLL leader and get help sooner rather than later with this. Improving the latch will relieve the sore nipples and allow the baby to get more milk for every suck he makes at the breast.

Lactation consultants are listed at http://www.geobaby.com/directory/hea...ness/midwives/

LLL leaders are listed at http://www.lllhk.org/

And on Tuesdays and Thursdays Crystal, a lactation consultant, sees mothers at the Baby Clinic in the Matilda Hospital, 2849 0111

Best wishes,
SARAH