please help!

Jennifer - posted on 01/10/2011

at his age, you absolutely can still teach him to latch and that is your best bet to keep from drying up. here is a really inspiring article that i wish i had read when my son was still brand new, and i gave up on trying to get him to latch...

http://mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com/2010...



as much as it sucks, it is really important to pump every time baby eats...even at night. i learned this lesson the hard way. your body is still regulating how much milk it needs to make, and your body will settle in to how much it thinks it needs to make. if you are not pumping every time he eats, your body will start to fall short. its not necessary to pump every 3 hours, but you never want to go more than 6 hours without pumping. most importantly, you never want to be uncomfortably full, or engorged. if you are so full that it is uncomfortable or your breasts are hard then that means your body is telling itself to stop producing milk which you do NOT want it to do.



i would really, really recommend that you see a lactation consultant to try and get him to latch. perhaps look into getting an SNS (supplemental nursing system) so that baby can start to associate your breasts with food. my son is 14 months old...i am still pumping for him and every single day i wish i had worked harder to get him to take the boob. when i gave up on getting him to latch, i wasn't looking at the whole picture...now after all these months of researching breastfeeding, my biggest regret is that because i am not actually nursing, that i cannot nurse my son until he is age 2 (the world health organization recommendation). i really love the idea of allowing a child to self wean, but i can't give that to my son because when i decided to exclusively pump my goal was to make it until he was 6 months so i had no idea that i would ever be willing to nurse a toddler. i have to stop pumping very, very soon because my school schedule is about to get really hectic and my son is a picky eater (he would prefer to drink breastmilk more than anything else) so i'm scared to switch from perfect breastmilk to cow's milk. i'm not saying that you will encounter any of these issues, just saying that we don't know what the future brings, and how our decisions will really affect our lives down the line.



good luck :)

Jennifer - posted on 01/10/2011

Thanks Julie, I am starting to realize...from reading others post on here..that I am just going to have to buckle down and pump at LEAST every 4 hrs. I just have to do what I have to do for my little guy.

Julie - posted on 01/08/2011

I'm in the same boat! I've been pumping for 3 months now and generally pump 2 to 4 times a day. We're reaching the point where I'm not quite keeping up and have to thaw about 1 bottle a day. I have a huge supply in the freezer, and hope to keep this up through cold and flu season at least. It doesn't seem like my supply is drying up, but it's not increasing either. This whole experience hasn't been what I expected, but I feel like it's worth it. She was 11 weeks premature, and we just never got the hang of actual breastfeeding. I'm just trying to hang in there for 3 more months! Not really advice, but I just wanted you to know you're not in the boat alone!