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Infant feeding

bf difficult again

7 replies

Scree · 18/06/2007 21:26

Grrrrrrr! DD is 5 months
Letdown is starting to take AGES, by which time DD is screaming like a banshee, and won't suck at all.
Last night she woke at 12:30 for a feed, and screamed for about 2 hours whilst I tried to calm her then try to feed her again. I didn;t have a letdown the whole time! and she didn;t feed. Hovever she did sleep next to me afterwards until 6:30. Then all too often, by the time I do have a letdown she is so upset she won't suck.
(History: I have a very enthusiastic let down, DD couldn't cope with it, but got used to it and now won't feed without it)

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Scree · 18/06/2007 21:27

Suppose I'm asking for ways to increase supply of encourage let down.

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SenoraPostrophe · 18/06/2007 21:37

a tough one.

are you sure the let down thing is the problem? could it be teething? wind? just a development phase? (mine all went through phases of being hard to feed).

If it is ;letdown then it could be because she's not feeding. Could you express a little first? I suppose if nothing else that will let you know if that really is the problem. Do you know how to hand express?

finally at 5 months she may not need a night feed any more. if she's going to scream like a banshee I'd take the opportunity to try and get her back to sleep without feeding just to see what happens...

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Scree · 19/06/2007 09:22

Thanks Senora,
I think you may be right about her not necessarily wanting to feed. Earlier on last night I managed to settle her without feeding when she woke. Then at about 1:30 she fed well, without a let down, but my breasts were feeling very full, ( a feeling I haven't had for months)which must have been ok for her. Then she fed again at 5:30, which was fine.
Also, yes, good point, she is showing all the signs of teething atm.
It's such hard work sometimes.
I have tried hand expressing to encourage letdown, will try again.
Thank you x

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popeye123 · 19/06/2007 13:36

Hi Scree,
Sounds like you're sorted now but I just thought I'd add that it took me months and months to even feel the let down and many mums dont feel it at all. So you might be worrying about nothing. Its highly unlikely you will ever run out of milk if your baby is heathly and feeding regularly.
If it is her teeth then I'm not surprised she doesn't want a boob shuved in her mouth!

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SenoraPostrophe · 19/06/2007 19:05

It is hard, yes.

how did it go?

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mears · 19/06/2007 19:18

Scrre - it may be p[ossible that you don't feel your letdown any more - it would be surprising for it not to be there since you have got to 5 months. The screeming may be due to something else like teething or earache. Babies with ear ache often cry when lying down. Perhaps try some calpol?

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Scree · 20/06/2007 09:07

Senora, She was a bit more patient yesterday and this am, and kept sucking long enough to activate letdown. I've been going longer between feeds, which seems to help, and trying other ways of soothing her in the night before trying to feed, whih has been much better.

Thanks Mears, I have very strong let down, and can definitely still feel it, just weird that it seems to be taking a lot longer than usual atm to kick in.

I know it's only a stage (it's only a stage, it's only a stage- repeats ad infinitum), but I feel like I have to avoid situations where I may need to feed her in public at all costs, which can be a bit tricky.