I went through that with my son and quit within a few days. It really depends on how badly you want to breastfeed. Try getting in touch with Le leche.
Your best bet would be to ditch the bottles completely and latch baby every 2 hours latching takes lots of practice the more you do it the better you get. After you latch your baby and the feeding session is done drink a glass of water and pump 1 breast at a time for 20 mins. A piece doing massaging and compressing toward your nipple to help get the most milk out. Please remember a pump is not an indicator of how much milk you are producing a baby is more efficient. The lactation consultant should see you regardless and if you are going to supplement do it with your own milk also invest in a supplemental nursing system to supplement and nurse at the same time to help with production always drink plenty of fluids. Try the side Laying position it could really help do skin to skin often and you and baby hang out in bed so you can be more comfortable at learning to latch. Message me if you have any questions.
You can make breastfeeding work its just going to take time and effort. Persistence is going to be key. I recommend nursing as frequently as baby wants. The more you get baby to nurse the more your milk will come in. Try to exclusively nurse and use bottles as a last resort like if baby nurses and is freaking out after because she's still hungry give just a small amount of formula. Drink lots of fluid yourself. I've heard eating oatmeal helps increase production. Also like mentioned above after nursing pump a little even if nothing comes out because it will stimulate you to produce more. Hang in there you can do this :)
Try to do as much skin-to-skin time as possible with the baby too - that will help your body produce more. When you are nursing, make sure the baby's mouth is open with her lips out. I had a difficult time with my kids latching and that was part of it - make sure the lips are out and not curled in/under. I also have an inverted nipple on one side that made latching tough. Stick with it.
Try pumping after you feed your baby too - that will help your body think you need to produce more.
Best of luck!
Thanks ladies! I was finally able to meet with the LC and she ended up giving me a nipple shield, which really helps. We are still supplementing because I feel as if she is starving if not. I can pump right afterwards and still get milk, so I think she is still having problems transferring the milk. Some days are better than others though. Meeting with the LC again tomorrow. I'm interested in seeing how much milk she is actually taking in.
Glad to hear things are going better :)
Met with LC a second time. Alexandria only took in 12 ml from nursing (improvement over last week's 2 ml). I am pumping more milk, although I'm still a shy bit short of what I need to only feed breast milk. I'm taking fenugreek and blessed thistle, which seem to be helping. I bought oatmeal too, but haven't made any yet. Meeting with LC on Thursday, so hopefully we'll see another increase in the intake.
That's wonderful! Keep up the good work :)
When you are nursing, make sure the baby's mouth is open with her lips out.
That's excellent keep up the better work.
Hope all is going well. Glad you were able to meet with a LC and get some help. I met with one and got help too! They're great!
