Post by rosalie12 on Feb 22, 2015 2:57:34 GMT -5
Hi guys! I posted an intro about a month ago or so but I'll refresh since I have only been lurking since because I'm too new at this to offer advice to anyone. DD is 4.5 months old (O14) and I have been back to work since 12w pp, so almost 2 months.
TL;DR DD won't nurse in the evening hours and I have concerns about getting her to nurse and maintaining my supply to keep up with her demand when she is on strike.
For the last 3 weeks or so, DD has been on a nursing strike in the evening especially. I work shift work, 4 10-hour days, so she doesn't nurse at similar times from day to day. Caregivers (my mom, FIL, & DH) use paced bottle feeding and she eats an appropriate amountthrough the day. When I try to breastfeed her in the evening, she has been flailing around and screaming hysterically. She will latch for a few seconds, but is too impatient to stimulate a let down, and then tries over and over to latch and gets increasingly frustrated. I switch sides after a few failed latch attempts, but it hasn't worked. Occasionally, she will latch and nurse for a few minutes through letdown, but then loses her patience when the milk flow slows, and she again starts popping off and on the breast and gets extremely frustrated and upset. After trying for several minutes, I can't bear it any longer and usually have DH feed her a bottle of expressed milk. I don't feed her a bottle so that she doesn't associate me with a bottle in any way.
This has been really hard for me because I really want to nurse her when I'm home, but also because I can't keep up with the amount she eats in the evening. I have to stay up late at night to add an extra pumping session just to try to get enough milk to cover the bottle from the evenings when she refuses to nurse. I have read info on kelly mom and haven't had any luck fighting the strike. This is becoming an increasing concern and I am getting so sad about it. I really want to continue to breastfeed my daughter for several more months, but I don't know how I can if she keeps refusing to nurse in the evenings. I am going to call an LC on Monday, but I would love any tips or stories of women getting through a similar situation.
Edit to add TL;dr.
TL;DR DD won't nurse in the evening hours and I have concerns about getting her to nurse and maintaining my supply to keep up with her demand when she is on strike.
For the last 3 weeks or so, DD has been on a nursing strike in the evening especially. I work shift work, 4 10-hour days, so she doesn't nurse at similar times from day to day. Caregivers (my mom, FIL, & DH) use paced bottle feeding and she eats an appropriate amountthrough the day. When I try to breastfeed her in the evening, she has been flailing around and screaming hysterically. She will latch for a few seconds, but is too impatient to stimulate a let down, and then tries over and over to latch and gets increasingly frustrated. I switch sides after a few failed latch attempts, but it hasn't worked. Occasionally, she will latch and nurse for a few minutes through letdown, but then loses her patience when the milk flow slows, and she again starts popping off and on the breast and gets extremely frustrated and upset. After trying for several minutes, I can't bear it any longer and usually have DH feed her a bottle of expressed milk. I don't feed her a bottle so that she doesn't associate me with a bottle in any way.
This has been really hard for me because I really want to nurse her when I'm home, but also because I can't keep up with the amount she eats in the evening. I have to stay up late at night to add an extra pumping session just to try to get enough milk to cover the bottle from the evenings when she refuses to nurse. I have read info on kelly mom and haven't had any luck fighting the strike. This is becoming an increasing concern and I am getting so sad about it. I really want to continue to breastfeed my daughter for several more months, but I don't know how I can if she keeps refusing to nurse in the evenings. I am going to call an LC on Monday, but I would love any tips or stories of women getting through a similar situation.
Edit to add TL;dr.
give a bit of milk in a spoon cup eye dropper syringe or finger feeder so she doesn't get that bottle when mom is around.