No let down - Please help, URGENT:(

[*Ali*]

I'd just follow the LC's above and just relax and feed x
Glad things have improved.

[cath~]

sounds like you got some good advice from the LC Marta  

How are you?

[eva026]

have you tried pumping a bit till the milk flows then latching him on if he is stressing? or taking some fenugreek - made a massive diffrerence for me?

[Martini~]

It's still not working properly. I have good days even couple in a row and than once again problems. There is no tendency that something is going better or worse. It's just everything is fine than not fine and than ok again. I can have let down within a minute even in the evening and than no let down at next feed. Usually 11am feed is problematic. I try to offer breast whenever he is fussy but it's not working well and he is furious and I don't know if he is hungry tired or whatsoever.

I am totally fine with weaning now. He accepts bottle without problem if he is hungry but only with MY milk. He refuses formula but being honest I haven't yet gone 100% with it and we started from nutramigen. I only offered formula after fail feeds and usually during day as in the evenings I am offering my thawed milk from freezer. But it's not optimal solution. We are all tired with this situation - the whole family suffers.

So... I would like to go with formula right now. Do you think he will finally ACCEPT it? Nutramigen or any other milk? We were prescribed nutramigen because of his reddish cheeks and some skin rash but I am not quite sure he is allergic. Doctor said to offer normal formula if we have such a problem. Is it possible he will starve to dehydration without my breast when I wean drastically and start to offer only formula? As I said he drinks from the bottle very well however doesn't like the taste of formula I guess or maybe wasn't hungry enough.

Please help and tell me he will be fine...?

[*Ali*]

Yes it's possible he will get dehydrated if you suddenly wean and he won't drink the formula.  It would also be very hard on his immature tummy to go from breastmilk to 100% formula as formula is so hard to digest in comparison.  I'd definitely wean gradually to avoid these problems and the issues you will get with blocked ducts etc if you wean suddenly.

Some mothers have success with mixing an ounce of formula with the rest of the bottle pumped milk and then gradually increasing the percentage of formula until they will accept it straight. Might this be an option?

[becj86]

Remind me how long its been? Just wondering if you're in a monster growth spurt? Even I with my crazy oversupply had times like this with GS.

[Martini~]

He took a bottle of formula yesterday instead of breast when I pumped. This is an angel baby... it wasn't nutramigen however but normal formula based on cow's milk. No significant change vs yesterday in terms of his skin so maybe we will be released of nutramigen.

Bec, he seems to be in some growth spurt now as is much more hungry than he was 4-5 days ago. But still this let down problem is already present for 2 weeks. Don't know where it is coming from but yesterday he took formula for an afternoon feed so I guess we will be able to feed him with it when breastfeeding is problematic what takes off much pressure from me. I am more than happy with giving him breast as much as he wants but if there is no let down and he is genuinely hungry he doesn't even what to suck long enough as is getting impatient. Yesterday he took 170ml of formula around 2:30pm and than was dying of hunger at 5pm when 3/4 days ago he was not hungry until 6/6:30.

I am just accepting what's happening here and making peace with the fact that something is wrong but I don't don't what it is or how to fix it. It happens randomly, no matter how much he ate before, how stressed I am, what is the time of the day. Seems some hormonal block in my opinion or some kind of underlying illness or maybe tiredness but what else can I do except from accepting that? Even if it's tiredness or stress or whatever similar i am doing what I can to relax and rest and if it's not working I have to accept it.

This case with bottle and formula was stressing me -  the fact that he won't drink formula or from the bottle if not starving but it seems to be working better now so I know we have an option. I am also much more motivated to breastfeed as I know it's and option not an obligation and only option. It was really huge pressure to know that I so much want to continue, he seemed to prefer it and we still weren't successful. Made me interpret his every moan or cry as a hunger cry which is not true.

Still your support is so welcomed. Contacted LC and doctor yesterday but none of them were much of a help:(.

[*Ali*]

Glad for you that he took the formula and it's taken some of the pressure off.

That is a lot of milk to take in one go. Are doing paced feeding? If you stretch his tummy by letting him have large quantities of formula in one go it could negatively affect the breat feeding relationship. Paced feeding let's LO stop and realise he is full before guzzling too much milk before his brain gets the signal. Just something to think about if you want to continue the BFing.