PLEASE PLEASE!!!! ATTN: ALL NURSING MOTHERS!!!!! I need help!!! I breastfed my daughter for two weeks, which?

Question

was extremely difficult since I have flat inverted nipples. My daughter would fall asleep at the breast and it was so hard to wake her up, and she would cry way to much and was always hungry. Finally when I got my supply in at two weeks and she got the hang of it and liked the breast, I got a really bad infection and was put on antibiodics,metronidizole and ciprofloxicin. My obgyn and her pediatrician said to bottle feed her formula for one week while on the medicine. My mom said that it seemed odd to her to do this because most antibiotics are still breastfed friendly. I even triple checked with la leche league and a leader said it to be odd as well and to get a second opinion and gave me two different doctors numbers which only one got back to me late after 5days. She told me that those two medications are now accepted and ok to breastfeed approved by the Board of the Academy of Pediactirics.My supply- low,1oz,15min abreast,slow,I handexpressed for 5days and we have to restart.HELP!

Answer 1

I had the same problem breastfeeding my daughter a few years ago..... my mother told me to eat as much soup and drinks as much liquid as I can and to continue massaging my breast to work the mammary glands.... it works for me.... I don't know if this will work for you, but why don't you give it a try, you'll lost nothing for trying it anyway, it might work for you too...... cheers!!!! Hope you'll have someone who will be ale to give you more advise that will help with your problem.

Answer 2

First of all, pumping is not a good indication of the amount of milk you are producing:
http://www.kellymom.com/newman/11some_bf_myths.html#8

Second of all, it's time to find a new pediatrician, and possibly even a new ob-gyn. Your doctors are clearly not supportive of breastfeeding. I have had repeated cases of mastitis which required antibiotics, and I have NEVER had to stop nursing. Your doctors should be up-to-date on what is and isn't safe while breastfeeding, and if they feel they need to give you something that isn't safe, then they need to find an alternative. There are almost always alternatives to medicines that aren't safe while nursing (good example: some birth control pills affect your supply, but others are perfectly safe while nursing). Take it from someone who has just had to switch pediatricians for the same reason (unsupportive of breastfeeding) -- you want to have a doctor you can trust and count on to be educated about breastfeeding so that you don't have the kind of problem that you're having right now! This could have been avoided, and I'm sure you wish you had known earlier so that you could have avoided this problem altogether. Don't let it happen again! Find new doctors NOW! Here are some ways to tell if your doctor is NOT supportive of breastfeeding:
http://www.parentingweb.com/lounge/newman/nm_supportive.htm

And now to deal with the problem at hand: getting your supply back up (because although a pump is not a good indicater of low supply, chances are that your supply is actually low because you have been supplementing) and getting your baby back to the breast. I put several links below about getting your baby back to the breast. I highly recommend working with La Leche League on this (I see you already have been in contact with them, so I assume you already know how to find them!) LLL has helped me on numerous occassions and I don't know where I'd be without their help!

The short overview is that you will be nursing on demand and offering the breast as much as possible. Since breastfeeding works on supply and demand, the greater the demand, the greater the supply. You will have to be extremely careful with the formula and the bottles. The more formula you give, the less "demand" there will be. Also, your baby is prone to nipple confusion or bottle preference since she is so young. You may want to consider using an alternative feeding method (cup or syringe -- see link below) to help avoid the problems that may develop if you continue to bottlefeed. Be prepared to work hard to get your baby back to the breast -- but I guarantee you, you will never regret it and it will be well worth it! You should be very proud of yourself for persevering this long in spite of the difficulties you've had thus far. Many women would have given up by now and just resorted to the easier (though much less healthy) method of feeding their baby. Congratulations! Give yourself a pat on the back, and don't give up. Feel free to contact me if you need more help or support, I'd love to be able to help you if I can. Good luck!!

Answer 3

I had to re-start my supply as well..feed her for as long as she will go at every feeding..the suckling will help to stimulate the breasts to produce more milk. if she seems hungry or is losing weight afterwards i would top her off with some formula. If she only goes on one side pump the other with a high quality pump..

I also supplemented a brewers yeast (powder in my orange juice) its nasty but supposed to help with milk production. (same stuff in beer minus the alcohol)..i had mone back in a few weeks. Also drink LOTS of water.

good luck and all you can do is try...if it doesn't work formula is not te worst thing that could happen.

Answer 4

Do you have a pump?

I would recommend breastfeeding your daughter at feeds, then topping her up is she needs it. After breast-feeding, pump each breast for ten minutes, or two minutes after the last drop (whichever is longer). After about a week, things should be going smoothly again.

Good luck! You sound like you have had a rough go the last few weeks!

Answer 5

I say to breast feed, even if it is through bottle. Stay away from Formula because formula is not as good as what you can give your child.