This is my first thread on mn so please take it easy on me if it gets a bit convoluted. I planned to bf my ds (who is now 11 weeks old) on demand and was doing this fine up until he was 6 weeks but have run in to problems since then. He has been having green poos intermittently every day for the past two weeks and I am really depressed that this is the kiss of death on my breastfeeding him. I may have got myself in to this situation.
My mil has been pressuring me to give him a bottle since before he was born as she said otherwise he would be completely dependant on me to feed him (and basically she wouldnt be able to look after him on her own). To appease her (and also so that I would be able to leave the baby with my mum or her every now and again if needed) I started giving baby a bottle once or twice a week since he was born but because he is not used to it he would only drink very little unless he was really hungry which he hardly ever was as I was bf him on demand. When he was about 6 weeks I started a calorie controlled diet which I had been advised would be okay as long as I ate to my allocated number of calories for breastfeeding. Within two weeks my milk supply had drastically fallen. I think baby was also going through a growth spurt as he wanted to feed all the time and I felt like I was unable to feed him to fullness if you know what I mean. I abandoned the diet and in the mean time gave him a bottle every night to make sure he went to sleep full. He started to drink more easily from the bottle at this time. After a few days of eating like mad my milk supply adjusted to accomodate baby and I started giving him less of the bottle (not everyday but a few times in the week).
However my problems restarted last week when my mil came to stay with me for the week. At first I was relieved to have the help but I found that whenever the baby was hungry or crying instead of bringing him to me to feed him (say if I was having a nap or doing some housework) she would automatically start giving him a bottle. She was feeding him about 200ml every day! I really regret not confronting her but I thought she is only going to be here for a few days and didnt want to make a fuss. Also I thought she was doing it to bond with baby as he is her first grandchild. However now that she is gone I have tried to go back to breastfeeding on demand but I am again struggling to produce enough milk to fill my ds up. I have been avoiding giving him the bottle but he has been crying a lot and when I do give it to him he drinks it down really fast and always finishes the bottle when before he would only drink very little. I feel like I am starving my baby but I need him to nurse more even if he is not getting milk to build up my supplies.
My question is do you think it is too late to go back and I will not be able to breastfeed him on demand anymore? Should I just switch to combination feeding everyday and having to give him more substantial amounts of formula? His green poos are really worrying me as well as he has them whenever I breastfeed him which makes me think I might have to switch to formula completely. Also do you think my mil deliberately sabotaged my bf? She didnt bf her children and whenever she stays with us always tries to give baby a bottle. In the past I have always stopped her or regulated the amount she feeds him, its only last week I didnt and now I am paying the price
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Infant feeding
I've ruined it havent I. Please help
19 replies
peacefuloptimist · 15/11/2012 08:42
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