help baby still hungry after two sides

[welshkitten71]

:(My 13 week old dd still seems to be hungry after being on both sides for at least 10Min's tired keeping her on but she pushes off then screams when i try to give her more and then end up giving her formula. shes been having two bottles of formula a day since sunday 11th June but today she seems hungrier

[RachelC]

Sounds like a growth spurt to me!  Just keep feeding on demand for a couple days... she's working on building your milk supply.  Did you introduce the formula because she seemed hungrier, or are you transitioning? 

[Samuel's mum]

Good advice above, ending with a good question. If you are not intentionally trying to wean from breastfeeding then I would be aware that the more formula you offer, the less your breasts will produce. They will only make the milk that is being 'demanded' from them. I would suggest you phone a helpline or contact your local La Leche League if you are not intentionally trying to cut back on breastfeeding or wean from breastfeeding.

It is also possible that if bottles are a fairly recent experience she is finding it frustrating when she returns to breastfeeding which is harder work and the flow of milk slows down towards the end of the feed. Hindmilk is slower to come out. The action of feeding from the breast takes a variety of different muscles and just more plain effort especially nearer the end.

[welshkitten71]

  no i want to carry on breastfeeding, i realise that with every bottle of formula i give my milk supply will decrease but i try to still put her to the breast first until she seems like shes fussing when she does that she doesn't want to go back on either side. really want to continue as i only fed my older dd for three weeks. Could being a diabetic have anything to do with her not getting enough milk

[Mrs. Gravy]

I agree. 

The more your baby demands milk, the more supply you will have.  Each bottle of formula you give is telling your body to produce that much less milk.

During a growth spurt, your baby's demands increase, so they want to nurse all the time.  This is great, because the more demand, the more supply.  When you give formula, your breasts never notice the increased demand, so they don't increase their supply.

The best thing to do is just nurse, nurse, and then nurse some more!  In a couple days, your supply will catch up to where it needs to be and things should settle down (until the next growth spurt!)  Take a few days off, just lie in bed and nurse that baby!

[Samuel's mum]

I'm just looking in the section on diabetes from the LLL Breastfeeding Answer Book. There is 4 pages of info! P.561-565 (it's a big book!!!)
A lot of it focuses on pregnancy and early days e.g baby is more likely to develop jaundice. Also I learnt that insulin can't pass into milk as the molecules are too large. Plus some blood-glucose monitoring methods are affected by milk production. I know none of this is answering your question but I'm finding it interesting!!!

It then goes on to talk about more established breastfeeding. Highlights include:
"Diabetic mothers may need extra calories"
"The hormonal changes of pregnancy and breastfeeding may reduce the amount of insulin required.."
"Some mothers  with diabetes are prone to sore nipples and breast infections" - thrush more likely especially if blood-glucose levels get too high.

Also very important to wean gradually, "reducing by no more than one daily feeding per week"

So after all that it seems as though your issue might only be diabetes related if you are not taking in enough calories.

Here are a couple of articles:

http://www.medela.com/NEWFILES/faq/diabetes_bfdg.html

http://breastfeed.com/resources/articles/diabeticmoms.htm

http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/wp/breastfeeddiabetic.htm - this one does mention some evidence of lower amounts of prolactin hormone so it's important to feed regularly especially in the early days.

[Petunia]

no i want to carry on breastfeeding, i realise that with every bottle of formula i give my milk supply will decrease but i try to still put her to the breast first until she seems like shes fussing when she does that she doesn't want to go back on either side.

You need to keep putting her on until she fusses and won't take any more.  She's done then.  If she wants to be fed again in another hour (which would be common during a growth spurt) repeat the process again.  She may not be taking the formula because she's hungry, but just because it's different.  Even if she does take the formula because she is hungry, continuing to give her the formula will not help your breast milk supply.  Although she will be fussy for several days, and it may be agony, the only way to get your body to produce enough milk to meet her needs is to have her demand it from you, so you need to have her do so.  This means no more formula at all.  If you are getting enough calories and water, your body should be easily meeting your daughters demand for this new amount of food by the end of a week.  She will be fussy and cranky until your supply catches up, but then it will be smooth sailing.  If you are up to it and would like to try to increase your supply even faster you can pump after every feed as well.  You won't get much, if anything at all, but the pumping sends even more signals to your body that milk demand is up.  5-10 minutes on each side after every feed should help your body to kick it into high gear and get with the program faster than just her suckling alone.

Oh, and get lots of rest while your body is adjusting!