Thank you all for sharing your experience with me. I developed a complication from my C-section that seemed to dry up my milk supply, or at least contribute. My body was rushing to fix the damage from my C-section, my stomach area filled up with fluid that was extremely painful, that it couldn't produce enough milk to fill a thimble. I tried everything the nurses and doctors told me to do. I pumped everyday anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 mintures every couple of hours to every hour, and tried to do regular breastfeeding, but there just wasn't anything there. I was heart broken. I had enjoyed breastfeeding my son and had planned to for the first year of his life, but there at the end I was only getting a drop of milk out of one breast, I was devasted. I felt like such a failure and a horrible mom that I couldn't even breastfeed my own child. But he was doing just fine on the formula and was fat and happy and he didn't miss my milk. I still feel bad about it, but at least I don't break down and cry about it anymore.
I had trouble with my first son. He was in the hospital for 8 days and couldn`t eat. When they finally let me try to feed him, the nurse wiped my nipple with an alcohol wipe. He took one taste and never took it again. The doctor told me to just to not give him the bottle. Well, I tried that. SEVEN hours and nothing. He just refused to feed (this was at one month) and he was screaming, I was crying . . . my sister-in-law came bursting in (she lives next door) took him away from me and gave him a bottle and got angry with me.
I decided that was it and we went with the bottle and I quit trying, but I felt SO guilty about it. However, my son has had 3 surgeries for a birth defect and he`s recovered super fast after each one and he`s almost never sick. He`s a super healthy, smart little boy, he didn`t suffer a bit from having formula.
With my second, I was really stressed out about whether or not I would be able to feed. My milk took four days to come in, so he got started on a bottle. He was happy to have the breast, too, but I found that I didn`t like breastfeeding, plus I never had enough milk for my hungry little guy, so I breastfed, supplementing with a bottle for 3 months and then we switched to the bottle.
Yes, I had a lot of trouble. My daughter had jaundice, so was kept in an incubator the first 3 days. They made me pump to keep my milk coming in and even though her first feeding was on the breast, she got used to the bottle very quickly and would not latch on. I pumped for 5 months - all I did was eat, sleep & pump, boy was I tired. I thought it was important for her health, so I did it and she is almost 8 and VERY healthy and pretty smart too, so I'm happy with my decision.
Yes. It was really difficult for us. It took 2 weeks before she would breastfeed at all and after that I didn't have enough supply to breastfeed exclusively. Going back to work made it worse, but looking at my family it really shouldn't have been a surprise.
It felt really traumatic at the time, but I did what was best for us and I do feel successful in the end.
I did not have any trouble breastfeeding, but my daughter did. Her second child did not want to lach on.
It is very commen to have some trouble brastfeeding in the beginning.
5 replies so far...
Flag as inappropriate Posted by CarisCastle on 15th September 2008
I decided that was it and we went with the bottle and I quit trying, but I felt SO guilty about it. However, my son has had 3 surgeries for a birth defect and he`s recovered super fast after each one and he`s almost never sick. He`s a super healthy, smart little boy, he didn`t suffer a bit from having formula.
With my second, I was really stressed out about whether or not I would be able to feed. My milk took four days to come in, so he got started on a bottle. He was happy to have the breast, too, but I found that I didn`t like breastfeeding, plus I never had enough milk for my hungry little guy, so I breastfed, supplementing with a bottle for 3 months and then we switched to the bottle.
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Genesis on 12th September 2008
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Kit on 9th September 2008
It felt really traumatic at the time, but I did what was best for us and I do feel successful in the end.
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Stacey S on 9th September 2008
It is very commen to have some trouble brastfeeding in the beginning.
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Debra on 9th September 2008