Do I have enough breastmilk?

[firsttimemom]

i'm on my 3rd week, almost gave up on the first week, now it's getting a little better, i slept 4 hrs straight last night, hopefully in one month, all will be well. This is the best gift i can give to my baby. BF is determination.

 

[FutureHKmom]

The breastfeeding has taken a turn for the worse today unfortunately and I had to give him a bit of formula to supplement. For the 10pm feed last night and the noon feed today, my baby sucked and sucked and sucked for half and hour on one breast, fell asleep and then woke up shortly afterwards screaming and so I gave him my other breast for 1/2 hour. Shortly after giving him my second breast he started screaming and screaming again. As I didn't really know what to do, I just topped him up with a little bit of formula and he seems to have calmed down now and gone to sleep.

I've called a lactation consultant to come in tomorrow to help out but it is quite frustrating that I have had enough milk for 3 weeks and all of a sudden things seem to be falling apart!

 

[firsttimemom]

hi futuremom,

pls let me know the advice of the consultant, it happens to me as i've said on other thread, my baby cluster feeds from 6-10 pm which is so frustrating and tiring. he nurse for 1/2 hr, sleep for 5-10 mins then cries again. It ends around 10pm and he sleeps well.

Are you taking supplements for milk supply? i take fenugreek seed which helps a lot.

 

[Shenzhennifer]

FutureHKmom - are you achieving letdown of your milk? I had the same difficulty, i think, in my first few weeks. My baby would suck and suck and it hurt so badly. I nearly gave up. Then I noticed I started to get all tingly in my breasts, and milk started to flow more easily. Now it sprays, but that`s a whole different issue

 

[Suv]

FutureHKmom, does your baby suck well? I had a hard time in the beginning because my son was pretty inefficient for a while, looking for milk every which way but the breast or not being able to have a good latch etc. Also, do you think it just may be gases stuck or something which is why he is getting up crying so soon after a feed?

 

[sherwes]

Thundacatchergo, pumping is often not a reliable way of testing how much milk you are producing as many women find it difficult to acheive let down when pumping. This is particularly the case in the early days of breast feeding.

 

[FutureHKmom]

Suv and Shenzhennifer - Thanks for your advice. A lactation consultant came to help me this afternoon and she fixed my latch. She said that I had plenty of milk, but that I had some blocked ducts because my baby's latch wasn't quite right. She helped me unblock the ducts (and boy did that hurt) and taught me the right way to have my baby latch on. So hopefully, things will go better now. She also told me that my baby may be extra fussy because he has some gas in his stomach.

crystal88 - I told the lactation consultant that sometimes my baby sleeps for 4 hours during the night and she said that is ok. But during the day, he should feed every 2-3 hours. She told me, which I have already mentioned on this thread before, that signs that the baby is getting enough milk are that he is gaining weight, having 6-8 wet diapers a day and at least 2 poos a day.