Too much demand and not enough supply. (Breastfeeding in General)

Member Name: lexijoe

Product:	Breastfeeding in General
Date:	04/02/03 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Antibodies to fight off germs, Free, Don't have to sterilize or heat up.

Disadvantages: Doesn't work for everybody, Cracked nipples, Tiring

I thought that breastfeeding would be easy and when my midwife suggested going to a class on breastfeeding before my daughter was born I pooh-poohed the idea and didn't go. I though that it would be no use and that I couldn't learn anything about breastfeeding until my daughter was actually there and being breast fed. How wrong was I!

The first time I fed my newly born daughter I was lying on a recovery trolley after having an emergency caesarian and that was bizarre to say the least. She seemed to latch on well and obviously had enough as she went to sleep. The midwife who was helping me said she was a good feeder and that I ws lucky because not everybody finds breast feeding easy. The next day is when the trouble began.

I was constantly repeating the words 'tummy to mummy, nipple to nose' but I couldn't get the hang of her being on her side and she seemed to prefer being on her back and turning her head. The only way I could get her on her side was to wait for her to latch on and then gently turn her. This seemed to work ok but she would fall asleep and just suck on the end of the nipple. This made my nipples very cracked and sore and feeding her was excruitiating. I would find myself tensing up and crying everytime I feed her from the pain.

As I was feeding on supply and demand it felt like I was constantly feeding and the pain was getting worse and worse. My midwife suggested nipple shields (seperate opinion) and after a day of using them my nipples healed enough for me to go back to breast feeding without them. But the problem was still there as she would still suck on the end of the nipple. A midwife sat with me one night in the hospital ( I was in for five days) and watched me feeding. She noticed that Kay would latch on fine and then would slide off and then do little nippy motions with her mouth to grab the breast back into her mouth. this would only take some of the nipple into her mouth and that was what wa
s causing the problem. She suggested that everytime she fell asleep at the breast to completly move the breast away from her and then to offer it again when she woke up so she could latch on properly again. This seemed to work but I had had to resort to a bottle at night as she was constantly feeding through the night and I was getting maybe twenty minutes sleep all night.

Because I had resorted to a bottle of formula milk my milk supply began to be less substansial and so I tried expressing and found I could only express tiny ammounts at a time and maybe only enough for a full feed once a day. I began breast feeding her first and then giving her a bottle so that she got the right ammount of milk. She has just turned 3 months old and no matter what I did I couldn't make enough milk. My milk supply kept drying up and she would breast feed for a few minutes and then would cry because there was nothing coming out. She is now on formula exclusively.

I wish I had gone to that breast feeding class as maybe I would still be breast feeding her but then again maybe it wouldn't have made any difference.

I felt I had good help from some of the midwives in hospital but also they were forever forcing down my throat that breast is best and to keep at it. However much I wanted to give her a bottle so that I could get even an hours sleep they would talk me out of it until I was so tired I was afraid I would fall asleep feeding her and drop her.

As it is, she is a happy, healthy baby who has a smile for anyone and occasionally a giggle for me.

The only advice I would say to anyone thinking aboout breast feeding is don't be afraid to ask for help and don't be afraid to keep asking for help. A happy mummy helps to keep a baby happy.

Good luck.

Summary: