EPing to BF- lost cause? (XPost from 0-3month)

AllieAGame · June 2013

Hi all! My LO is almost 4 weeks old and had a really rough start to BFing, to the point where I started pumping and feeding her bottles of BM after she went a whole day with no dirty diapers, and thus no food (presumably). From there it just became so much more reassuring to pump and feed her bottles of breast milk since it allowed me to know how much she was eating. Now that she is older and has regained her birth weight and some, I'm interested in trying to get her back on the boob- she will still latch and feed, but she's lazy about it and her suction doesn't feel strong enough, though maybe I'm overestimating that sensation. Also, even if I leave her on the breast for 20+ minutes, she will still readily take a bottle and show hunger cues, which leads me to believe she is not eating much on the breast.

Has anyone successfully gone from EPing back to BFing, or is this a lost cause? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I definitely should have checked the previous posts first, I'm sorry. I see that there is an identical question a few posts down. I hate it when I break Bump rules!

AllieAGame · June 2013

Thanks! This is very encouraging. I wish things had started out differently, but we did what we had to do and then I got...something. Not lazy, because the double nursing and pumping is incredibly time consuming, but I guess I just didn't trust my body and my baby. DH may take a day off work this week and I may try my "power BF day" then when I have some help.

PipSqueak0313 · June 2013

After about 2.5 months of pumping andbottle feeding half of LOs feedings, the other half were formula bottles, I was finally able to get LO to nurse. From pumping I knew I was getting 2.5 to 3oz per breast and LO was used to 3oz bottles. In the beginning, after he nursed one side, the other side was still full, and I needed to pump for daycare bottles bedtime bottles so I would pump after he nursed. I found that the side he nursed on would have less than 12 an oz while the unnursed side had my normal output.

I kept with giving him a bedtime bottle because he could eat it with less effort and therefore eat more and sleep better than when I nursed him to sleep. As hehas nursed longer now my body has adjusted to a new demand so now Im not having to pump after nursing for my comfort. The other good thing is that LO is no longer needing more than 2to3oz of formula per day, if he even needs that much as the last formula bottle was at day care when I forgot to pack any bm.

jedimindtrick · June 2013

KateRN08:
I did everyone I could to BF... She was admitted for failure to thrive because she wasn't transferring milk. I saw countless LCs and it was finally discovered that she had a tongue and lip tie. I had the ties release when she was 3 weeks old but it didn't make a difference. I gave up in BFing for about 2 weeks and pumped and bottle fed trying her periodically but she still wasn't effective. Last Tuesday I decided to give her a try and honestly it just clicked. She started nursing perfectly. I rented a scale and have been doing weighted feeds. Today I've only done two of the feeds weighted because I'm more confident that she is gaining and getting what she needs. I don't want to jinx it for us but I haven't needed to give one bottle today and she has been transferring 2.53.5oz per feed.nbsp;

That's great Kate! I'm happy it's working for you now!

EPing to BF- lost cause? (XPost from 0-3month)

Re: EPing to BF- lost cause? (XPost from 0-3month)

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