BF Frustration

kem717 · October 2008

DD was born Tuesday night, my milk has still not come in. I was told in the hospital to supplement, offer her breast first and then let her take what she wants from the bottle. The ped. today said to stop doing that and to wake her up every 4 hours to nurse if she doesn't wake on her own. I tried getting her to nurse 3 hours ago and she just fell asleep or cried. The last time she really ate was 9 am, she nursed for maybe 10 minutes and had 2 oz of formula. I pumped a little to try to get my milk to come in and a little colostrum came out. Should I feed her what I pump by bottle, do the formula, or just make her nurse? She just sleeps and sleeps! It's so frustrating! Anyone else share my pain?!

AndysKandi · October 2008

You are 3 days out, so your milk not being in is no cause for alarm just yet. The best thing you can do is nurse, nurse, nurse! If you have to supplement (because baby loses too much weight or whatever), just make sure you only do it after nursing. When your milk is in, stop supplementing. By doing that, you are satisfying babies hunger therefor she won't be hungry to nurse, and the less you nurse the less milk you make. It's all about supply and demand.

You are definitely not alone. BFing can come with a lot of challenges! Your milk will be in soon, I'm sure. Congrats and good luck!

CHI-06 · October 2008

I had such a hard time getting our daughter to stay awake to eat as well. She never really ate as long as they wanted her to. They told me not to be concerned as long as she had the right amount of wet/dirty diapers each day. I had to try so hard to wake her and keep her awake to eat. Generally that early it would be 5-10minutes tops per side. When I pumped a tiny bit even I tried to feed that to her. It is not unusual for your milk to still not be in though...you still have time! Trust me....it really does get easier!!!

middlemarch26 · October 2008

DS was born on Saturday morning and my milk came in on Tuesday. The first few days he just slept a lot, and fussed at the breast a lot. Monday night was actually hell-ish. I nursed him practically constantly.

At this point, don't worry about what you are pumping. It is NOT indicitive of your supply. Just keep putting her to your breast. She'll get a lot more out of you than the pump will, and that will also help your milk come in. Nurse her every hour if you have to. Right now, her stomach is so tiny that it can only hold something like 2oz anyway.

Have you read a good breastfeeding book? So That's What They're For is cheesy but very helpful! See what they have in your public library. Good Luck!

PMJacobsen · October 2008

my LC was my salvation! see if ur ped has one on staff.

n&bcarlson · October 2008

Definitely see an LC. And pump like crazy. Your milk will come in. My DD wouldn't latch and was very sleepy. Then she got dehydrated and developed jaundice. We supplemented with formula but I always nursed first and then pumped. By the end of the second week, I pumped enough that I could supplement all BM instead of formula, and with the help of an LC at the hospital we used a nipple shield to get her to latch (around 3 days old) and weaned from that at 5 weeks. Now she is doing beautifully and I don't have to pump or supplement- we just met with the LC for the last time yesterday .

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