Help! BF does't satisfy her...
 

Hi everyone,
Im new to the forums but see there is loads of sage advice. I could use some at the moment.

I am trying to exclusively BF my second girl, who is now 3 weeks old. However, I had her latching incorrectly after about week 1 and suffered a major injury to one nipple. That led me to pump and my husband was pressuring me to supplement with formula. Now, in that short time period, I am supplementing with approx 3 -4 bottles of formula a day (4-5oz each) and it seems to be increasing daily. I am still BF every 3 hours, but she is not satisfied at all - and continues to scream and root after as much as a 45 min BF session. After BF her, she can still down as much as 5 oz of formula. Even the formula amounts seem high to me, let alone combining it with what I am BF her.

Has anyone had any experience with this? I am home with her except for 2 mornings a week when I am at school - so I have the time to BF - but it just seems like a slippery slope towards weaning.

Any help and wisdom is much appreciated!

Do you have a supply issue?

Have you tried oatmeal and/or fenugreek?

Just because she is nursing for 45 minutes doesn't mean she is getting a lot of milk.

Have you tried pumping and feeding her the expressed milk so you can actually see how much she is taking?

coco_n that actually doesn't tell you anything. A pump never works as effeciantly as a baby :D

supplementing that much is going to hurt your supply and she'll soon have a bottle nipple preference because babies get lazy fast.

If you can spend the weekend laying in bed with her nursing constantly. No bottles. Drink as much as you can, and have meals brought to you. Babies for the first 6-8 weeks (sometimes less sometimes more) tend to want to nurse CONSTANTLY reguardless of hunger or not. The key is you have to watch her diapers. If she has at least 5-6 disp diapers that are wet a day that is GREAT, she is getting enough. BF babies can either poop during/after every feeding or it can take up to 10 days. Nurse nurse nurse nurse nurse as much as you can.

Just keep going. You can do this! Take all the bottles and formula and take them some where for a few days so you are tempted to revert back. BFing is hard in the beginning but it gets SO much easier.

Also 45 min session is ok but it's better to do a lot of mini sessions. Try keeping her on one side for 15-20 min. Give her a paci and see if she'll be ok. If not switch to the other side for 15-20 min. Try doing this every 3 2 to 3 hours during the day and no more than 4 at night.

:ita
I agree with everything Ruby said. Great advice.

Remember, BFing is a supply/demand process. If the baby is not drinking enough from you, your body will not produce as much.

You can do it! :D