Lazy feeding

Hiya,

Jake has been very spoilt with an abundance of breast milk My supply has now settled (yah for sleeping on my tummy again) and he has to work for his food. He has chosen not do this.

He will take the first letdown and as soon as he has to start really sucking to get the milk he gives up and fusses and whinges.

I had only been giving him one side as it was all he needed (200gm weekly weight gains) but was a the family centre yesterday and was giving him both sides letting him play and them giving him both sides again and he was still only taking 110ml and 80ml total at the 2 feeds we were there for.

He will happily take 120-160ml from a bottle and he feeds really well first thing in morning when my supply is good.

I am taking blessed thistle and am going to take fenugreek too (just have to get some) and expressing after every feed during the day and again before I go to bed to try and keep my supply up. It seems to be getting less as Jake isnt taking it all and of course the less milk the harder it is for him to get it and then he wont feed. A vicious cycle.

Any suggestions on how I can get him to keep drinking?? I have ditched bottles (except his dreamfeed as he wakes up if I try and dreamfeed him off the breast and his really hard to settle again).

What else can I do?

He only gained 80gm last week and the previous week he lost 130gm.

Lil miss was always a lazy feeder, and even now she's a snack feeder. My midwife and the mothercraft nurse were always telling me that she wasn't feeding long enough, and that I should be persisting with getting her to feed for longer but her weight gains were OK and she had plenty of wet nappies and slept well so I just let her dictate how long she fed for.

I have plenty of milk too, so I guess she was just getting enough in the 3-4 mins that she was feeding for. And even tho she is a year old now, I still have to wear breastpads 24-7 (I tried going without the other day and let's just say it's a good thing that all the girls in the office are mums too ).

Re: boosting supply, I find oats and almonds make a big difference for me if I feel like the tanks are a bit low. A bowl of muesli/porridge for breakfast and a few scorched almonds does the trick.

Kyle did this with me and still does sometimes, he won't work for the letdown (which only takes like 3 sucks anyway) he sucks pulls off and screams, then sucks pulls off and screams and so on until he gets the letdown rather than just sucking. Then he would have the first bit of milk but couldn't be asked to work for the next lot but would quite happily take the other boob as that one was easier to get stuff out of....little monkey.
It has got better and it was just time and I think his size as well cos now he seems to go on and just drains the whole boob in 5 mins and then takes the whole of the other side as well and same thing 5 mins and I'm totally empty.

If his poos are yellow that is a good sign that he is getting the hindmilk which is the nice fatty part. My little monkey was having green poos cos of only having the foremilk and not working for the hindmilk.

Oh I just thought one thing I did to help him get the hindmilk was to put him back on the first boob at the end of the feed and he would do some comfort sucking but then get the hindmilk and also I would sometimes only swap boobs every other feed. So feeds would go left boob right boob, then next feed also left boob right boob, then next feed right boob left boob and next feed right boob left boob. I stick a hair band on which wrist to start next with

I hear you with the breastpads, I am resigned to the fact that I will wear them the whole time I feed for, I have to wear disposables to as I leak straight through cloth ones

Campbell did exactly the same thing to me when younger, and like Kyle eventually just kind of grew out of it. He also now drains each breast in 5 mins flat, unless he's in an easily distracted mood! And he still snacks a bit at times.

I agree with the others, if he's still having regular yellow poos and wet nappies, he should be okay. There's also great breastfeeding advice on the Kellymom website, www.kellymom.com.

What are the consistency of his poohs Mel?

Not sure if you are night feeding still, but I find Cooper gets super feeds at night, ie I get 2 to 3 let downs in a very short space of time yet only one during the day.

Porridge in the morning helps heaps!

Mel, I had the same issues with Harry when he was first born as he was 3 weeks early and just wouldn't suck. Consequently I had serious issues with supply and have been taking domperidone as well as eating porridge, almonds and complan milkshakes inthe afternoon. At first the two morning feeds would be great and then get worse during the day - once I found the right dose of the domperidone for me his feeding got heaps better, and he now has just one top up a day, after his evening feed.

Might not be so useful for you as your supply is fine, but I did find that boosting it to the point where it was easy for him to get made a huge difference.

Good luck hun, sounds like you've had it a bit rough.