I think I just need some good vibes, whether it’s a success story or tips or encouragement. I’m at the point in my breast-feeding journey that I wonder if I’m just forcing it and I feel so torn that I’m making my 10 week old miserable. Usually she’s pretty happy to latch. I try to make it stress-free and just an option. But this week she just has been so upset won’t latch, cries real tears, and is very upset at the breast. Maybe it’s from her two month shots? But I wonder if we’re just taking two steps back instead of steps forward. I’m currently working with a IBCLC who is great and there has been progress, but is it enough? After ruling out, tongue tie and torticollis by multiple doctors and multiple lactation consultants we reached the conclusion that my 10 week old just has a poor transfer and gets very tired on the breast. She has gotten better with an uptick of 1 ounce every 1015 minutes and she normally drinks 4 ounces from a bottle. Does she have a chance of being exclusively breast-fed? Has anyone else been through this? I don’t know if I can make it a year exclusively pumping. I’m currently still triple feeding and I’m ready to call it quits so she’s happier.
u/Avocadn0pe
My girl is 8 weeks on Sunday and breastfeeding has been quite a mountain climb. Started with labor complications that ended in emergency c section plus me hemorrhaging and her almost being admitted to NICU, family interrupted golden hour, having wonderful lactation consultants in the hospital but being so “out of it” I just didn’t take in much or start pumping. We ruled out tongue tie and torticollis by multiple LCs in the hospital and outpatient doctors and we thought she was just a slow eater until she lost more than 10 percent of her body weight. I started pumping to supplement her boob sessions with a slow success rate since I retained so much fluid from the c section.
We had our fourth lactation consultant visit yesterday and she’s gone from 18-20ml a feed in 30 minutes to an ounce in 10ish minutes. She’s still sleepy, takes too long to eat (over an hour and then is hungry 45 minutes later) needs lots of stimulation during a meal, still needs to be topped off. Triple feeding will be a regular thing still for awhile, can’t ditch the nipple shield just yet, along with giving her a bottle at night since she can’t stay up during night feeds (too good of a sleeper and we wake her up every four hours at night).
I had visions of camping and adventures with my girl where I could “whip em out” and not worry about formula or bottles. I often feel trapped in the house and overwhelmed at the logistics of triple feeding in public or not at home. She’s worth it, for sure, but I still worry I might be stressing her out and doing more harm than good. I live on the tracking app making sure on the days she latches more she has plenty of wet diapers (a few days she didn’t have more than 6). I almost gave up the day before our last LC appointment and became an exclusive pumper but it just doesn’t seem sustainable to triple feeding forever. But I am trying to live for the moments in between the breast feeding struggle and stress. She’s the happiest girl and I can’t believe this is who was chilling inside me for 9 months. She’s everything I imagined and more.
Just hope someone reads this and can know they aren’t alone.
Edit: sleep deprived typos