Feeling very down about feedings

Has she been checked for tongue tie?

@Lucy they checked the first nights stay in the hospital and then the feeding team checked for tongue tie and lip tie a week later. Feeding team said she’s just lazy and doesn’t like to suck which is why we switched to pumping, but when she does occasionally it’s painful like no other even with “the perfect latch” 🥲

You absolutely are not a failure, feeding your baby is what is important and you going beyond your pride and want and using formula is feeding her-i had to do the same and I struggled with it at first. Aldi’s do a fantastic Mamia formula that’s almost identical to aptimol and it’s only a few £-my health visitor says a lot of her mums swear by it and it’s what we use. You should be proud of trying so hard, that’s what a mum does

Have you tried nipple shields? My baby wouldn’t latch until we tried them and then latched straight away with no pain

@Hannah unfortunately she latches just fine and the feeding team says it’s even “a perfect latch” but she refuses to suck longer than a couple seconds because she doesn’t want to work for it, so I express and she loves a bottle. Can you use shields for pumping or no? If I can pump without literally sobbing each time it would be a miracle 🥲

@Fiona thank you, I really needed this 😭🫶🏼 I’m going to look on Aldi’s website to see how much and try to see if we can make it work!

I'm having the EXACT same nightmare, we actually had a weeks stay in the hospital as he had a 13% weight loss. Had to express to get his weight back up, then was advised to stop giving a bottle and only offer breasts. 2.5 days later my nipples were bleeding, I went back to pumping, and added formula to make up the difference, it took 2 days and so much lanolin cream for it to not hurt whilst pumping. Currently 3weeks 3 days I put him on the breast whilst I'm waiting for bottles to warm then express the rest and it's going alot better

@Anisa the only thing is that expressing is also super painful so I’m a couple feeds away from completely throwing in the towel 😭 I’m sorry you’re going through it as well!! Ugh

@Heather-Jayde I love that it’s gotten better!! Mine had a 9% weight drop so we upped her expressed bottles and gained the weight back thankfully! I’m glad your babe is doing a lot better ☺️

BF is harrrddd and so painful. I am 8 weeks in and scream in pain when my son latches. I have asked for help 3 times and gotten nowhere. I have to use nipple shields for feeding and the only 2 things I have found help with the pain are nipple cream and silver nipple covers. You put the cream on then the silver covers and they work to repair the nipple x

@Sarah it's still painful when he is on don't get me wrong! But I'm just hoping and praying that as he gets bigger, it corrects itself. I'm giving myself mini targets currently telling myself 6 weeks! If we haven't got it by then (I'll probably say 8 weeks) I'll just continue to express and stop putting him to the breast! I honestly cannot afford formula! How quickly did she gain the weight back? We still aren't quite back at birth weight yet! X

@Kiran I'm pretty sure it's not recommended to use the silver shields with cream, but with breast milk as it will damage the shields in the long run. I generally alternate, shields at night, cream and nipple pads during the day!

I feel your pain! I'm going through the same thing. My baby was diagnosed with a tongue tie recently and they attribute all of this to that. It's rough and I have a whole lot of mom guilt in relation to breastfeeding

I would just switch to formula at this point without guilt- it’s fortified & just as nutritious- even more with the iron & Vitamin D. Your baby got quite a bit of immunity from the breast milk already. If pumping & breastfeeding are both painful even when done correctly that is a sign to not continue. Pumping shouldn’t hurt at all. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.

Are you sure you are using the right flange size? I recommend getting a circle ruler and measuring (or a regular ruler), then you add 3 or 4mm to that measurement. So if you have 20mm nipples you need a 24mm flange. Do it just before a pump/feed so nipples aren’t enlarged. Use Vaseline before pumping too to help reduce friction. It takes a while for nipples to heal properly, probably weeks. I recommend looking at mother.shaheda on instagram. She has done a few posts on healing methods for nipples. You basically don’t want them to stay moist for too long as they are then more vulnerable to damage next feed/pump. Good luck mama it’s so hard x

Please do not feel like you’ve failed. I breast fed my daughter for 4 years and we went through one hell of a journey! If it’s less pain let her drink from bottles with your milk, she’s still getting all she needs xx

@Lacey I just contacted the breastfeeding team over this comment and there’s a chance my flange is too big which is suctioning too much of my boob into it, causing intense pain. I tried measuring mine from the website but I can’t quite figure it out so they’re sending someone to me in person to try and figure it out. Crossing my fingers it’s a flange issue and using the right size will solve all of this 😮‍💨 (I also have a Medela pump, but the one it came with was hurting so I bought a size up from Amazon and it’s still hurting, so maybe I need a size down from the original? Idk)

I’ve also had huge trouble trying to find a flange that works, if you manage to fix your issue let me know! I’m also using medala and have tried 17,19,21 and 24 but nothing seems to work

@Lucy I’ve tried 24 and 27, so I might need those smaller sizes! I’ll let you know if the breastfeeding team comes tomorrow and what they recommend, maybe it’ll help you too!