Hi all! I have a 10 months old little girl and I'm still trying my best to breastfeed!! My goal is at least 1 year..we are sooo close, but all the sudden I have such anxiety about not being able to breastfeed her that I'm having issues with let down!! I get extremely nervous when she latches that sometimes I don't even get a let down or when I do it takes a long time and by that time she's very frustrated. I have tried everything to calm myself down, read a book, music, but it's getting worse!!! Please help.. my heart is breaking!
Where do you think the anxiety is coming from? Are you experiencing general anxiety or only specifically about breastfeeding? Can you explain in more detail your fear of "not being able to breastfeed?" This could mean many things.
How many times a day is baby nursing at this point? Is baby gaining normally? Is baby eating solids and how often? Is baby having any liquids aside your milk at the breast?
Fennel is an herb reputed to be helpful with letdown. Please research any medicinal herb before trying it.
with the PP. you also might want to look into an app called "Breathing Zone". It walks you through a brief session of deep breathing, and it's terrific for anxiety.
I found that I had a bit of a slow letdown issue when my kids were older- say 18 months or so. When I wanted to speed things along, I would close my eyes and imagine the milk flowing while thinking "letdown, letdown, letdown". Sounds silly, but it worked for me!