About to give up

[@llli*melissawoods]

I totally agree, your supply is awesome. I wouldn't supplement with formula. If you're worried about her getting enough, just nurse more frequently. Did you know formula isn't even proven SAFE for preemies or even full-term infants under 12 weeks? Powdered infant formula inherently has bacteria. Formula feeding has risks! If you have to, you have to. But honestly, I feel like your confidence is shaken, and that is the main issue. You are doing an awesome job! I also have some trauma from when my 5 month old was a newborn. My milk took forever to come in and we HAD to supplement the first two weeks. He's been exclusively breastfed since then, but I still count diapers and weigh him often. Your pediatrician sounds great. I have had some bad experiences with pedi's undermining me as a breastfeeding mother....but I am so so happy we stuck it out

[@llli*rdh2378]

Thanks for the encouragement... so many of my friends and family are trying to get me to go to pumping and bottle feeding and I'm resisting. She has proven to me that she CAN nurse efficiently & so I really wanna keep trying to get her back on track and eating more from me. Going to go to the LLL meeting tonight & try to schedule another meeting wih th LC soon

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Thanks for the encouragement... so many of my friends and family are trying to get me to go to pumping and bottle feeding and I'm resisting. She has proven to me that she CAN nurse efficiently & so I really wanna keep trying to get her back on track and eating more from me. Going to go to the LLL meeting tonight & try to schedule another meeting wih th LC soon

At this stage, pumping may seem easier in some ways, but trust us, it is NOT. In the long run, breastfeeding is easy and convenient, where pumping just isn't. Hang in there, give yourself a few more weeks to settle into this new thing, and tell your friends and family to just give you a chance here (i.e., back off!).

[@llli*rdh2378]

so far today she's only had 3 lightly wet diapers and only one medium greenish poop. She wasn't all too interested in her 2nd bottle @ daycare, though I guess she ate all 100 of the 1st one. I do NOT think pumping is easier and do NOT want to have to go that route, but she really seems to be lazy at the breast these last few days and I am almost 100% sure she could not be getting enough to keep putting on weight. Praying that tonight is better!

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

At this stage, pumping may seem easier in some ways, but trust us, it is NOT. In the long run, breastfeeding is easy and convenient, where pumping just isn't. Hang in there, give yourself a few more weeks to settle into this new thing, and tell your friends and family to just give you a chance here (i.e., back off!).

Pumping is SO NOT EASIER. I do it because I have to for my cleft baby who cannot nurse well enough to thrive via BFing alone, and it takes me 46 hours a week to pump, feed the baby and clean up. 120 minutes a day, around the clock, pumping is required to maintain your supply. Take those stats and tell them to back off and leave you alone while you work this out.

so far today she's only had 3 lightly wet diapers and only one medium greenish poop. She wasn't all too interested in her 2nd bottle @ daycare, though I guess she ate all 100 of the 1st one. I do NOT think pumping is easier and do NOT want to have to go that route, but she really seems to be lazy at the breast these last few days and I am almost 100% sure she could not be getting enough to keep putting on weight. Praying that tonight is better!

If you can, what about taking a nursing vacation? Throw the bottles out the window for now, stay home and NURSE. That will build your supply faster than anything, cure that laziness at the breast and then get some weight on her.

Sorry if I missed it, but maybe changing the type of bottle will help. Nipples are easier to nurse from than breasts, so you need to find the toughest nipples to feed from. I used the Breastflow for my lazy nurser to make sure he didn't get taken in by easy to use bottles.

I don't get fussed about poopy diapers, but I do watch wet diapers.

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

so far today she's only had 3 lightly wet diapers and only one medium greenish poop. She wasn't all too interested in her 2nd bottle @ daycare, though I guess she ate all 100 of the 1st one. I do NOT think pumping is easier and do NOT want to have to go that route, but she really seems to be lazy at the breast these last few days and I am almost 100% sure she could not be getting enough to keep putting on weight. Praying that tonight is better!

Totally agree with Aprilsmagic here - just keep nursing her, the less bottles she gets overall (the less "choice" she has), the less lazy she will get at the breast. A lot of babies really get lazy at the breast when they are being offered a lot of bottles. Especially fast flow bottles, where they don't have to suck much. It's hard, but truly, the answer to lazy breastfeeding is MORE breastfeeding, not less.

Also, it's early in the day, so you could still easily hit your diaper quota - just keep watching those wets.

[@llli*duaeguttae]

Totally agree with Aprilsmagic here - just keep nursing her, the less bottles she gets overall (the less "choice" she has), the less lazy she will get at the breast. A lot of babies really get lazy at the breast when they are being offered a lot of bottles. Especially fast flow bottles, where they don't have to suck much. It's hard, but truly, the answer to lazy breastfeeding is MORE breastfeeding, not less.

Also, it's early in the day, so you could still easily hit your diaper quota - just keep watching those wets.

I agree with all the above, and will second something said earlier that breastflow bottles can help with a lazy nurser.

My son's situation was different in that he had a "disorgnized suck" and couldn't nurse, or finger feed, or feed from a bottle successfully as a newborn. The poor child was never allowed to sleep because we spent all our time trying to feed him. We did have to use bottles just to nourish him, but as soon as I could I kept him at the breast (with an SNS) as much as possible because the best practice for breastfeeding is breastfeeding. His growing and practicing helped, but we also saw some amazing results by having him treated by a pediatric chiropractor at the LC's suggestion. He went from taking 2 hours on a small bottle to 30 minutes. He also went back to the breast at that point after having had a period of refusal.

I think a nursing vacation does sound like a great idea and "banning" bottles temporarily if your situation allows you to do that.

I'm so sorry that people are pushing you to pump. I can hardly imagine that and must believe that they have no idea what the world of pumping is like. I exclusively pumped for my first for thirteen months and think it was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. I was willing to do it for my second when things were not looking good at first, but my life and his got so much easier when we got help for his sucking problems and I gave him one nipple to master (literally one because he learned to nurse just on one side at first).

I'm glad you're persevering. It can take time and hard work, but it's worth it.

[@llli*rdh2378]

I agree with all the above, and will second something said earlier that breastflow bottles can help with a lazy nurser.

My son's situation was different in that he had a "disorgnized suck" and couldn't nurse, or finger feed, or feed from a bottle successfully as a newborn. The poor child was never allowed to sleep because we spent all our time trying to feed him. We did have to use bottles just to nourish him, but as soon as I could I kept him at the breast (with an SNS) as much as possible because the best practice for breastfeeding is breastfeeding. His growing and practicing helped, but we also saw some amazing results by having him treated by a pediatric chiropractor at the LC's suggestion. He went from taking 2 hours on a small bottle to 30 minutes. He also went back to the breast at that point after having had a period of refusal.

I think a nursing vacation does sound like a great idea and "banning" bottles temporarily if your situation allows you to do that.

I'm so sorry that people are pushing you to pump. I can hardly imagine that and must believe that they have no idea what the world of pumping is like. I exclusively pumped for my first for thirteen months and think it was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. I was willing to do it for my second when things were not looking good at first, but my life and his got so much easier when we got help for his sucking problems and I gave him one nipple to master (literally one because he learned to nurse just on one side at first).

I'm glad you're persevering. It can take time and hard work, but it's worth it.

I work full-time so banning bottles isn't an option, but I have been EBF'ng in evenings and on weekends. She had a disorganized suck/swallow pattern in the NICU, but the LC I've been seeing hasn't said anything about it. She clicks a lot (comes of and one the breast), but she's not worried about that either. I just need to have more faith an trust I guess.

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Just make sure you're using the lowest-flow nipples possible - or something like the Breastflow - to help with nipple preference.

[@llli*mommal]

Has anyone checked your baby for tongue tie? Clicking can be a sign of a tie... But it can also happen when a small, young baby is trying to deal with a fast letdown of milk.