Please can experienced breast feeding moms help me, I'm desperate.

Have you ever just thought about just simply breast pumping if she’s not wanting to stay on the boob?

I’ve been breastfeeding my baby for 9 months. .. I’m unclear about some of your questions… does your baby just not feed at all in the evening? It’s natural for her to fall asleep after a feeding so don’t beat yourself up about that. Many babies adjust to your let down. Mine takes mini breaks between gulps. I would just advise you not to give up and to follow your baby’s cues. As long as she continues to gain weight… you’re fine. 🤎

I would personally ask this in the below group. Ran by a HV alongside a lactation expert team. You don’t need to transition to pumping or bottle feeding if you don’t want to. There are other things to look at, such as feeding position, latching depth, baby’s weight, etc. From my personal experience and the knowledge I have on breastfeeding (going on 7 months), it’s biologically normal for babies to fall asleep at the breast. Your milk acts not only as a source of food, but also a sense of comfort, pain-relief, and a sleeping aid - especially at night when the composition changes to help both u and baby sleep better. As for supply, this will naturally regulate over time. You can pump at night, if you’re worried about it dropping, it’s usually advised between 4 and 6 am as that’s when you produce the most milk, but you don’t have to. I skipped night pumps and my body produces milk on demand. Unless baby is losing weight, no reason to wake her. Enjoy the sleep. ☺️

For the initial letdown, you could use a haakaa or breast pump to catch some of it right before she eats and make it less aggressive for baby. As others have said, as long as she's gaining weight and having good output, it's ok to let her feed wherever she wants and skip whenever she doesn't want. I drove myself crazy with my first one trying to follow all the recommendations, and this time, I'm just following baby's lead. Your body should produce what baby needs. If she needs more, she will suck harder and more often, and it will cause your body to produce more. If she's skipping some of the feedings, her tummy has probably gotten bigger, and she ate more at the feeding before. There is no need to pump missed feedings unless you are trying to build up a freezer supply, but you don't have to if you don't need it for work or whatever. And we are all just winging it. Just follow baby's lead.

@Rochelle she refuses the bottle

@Aggs thank you for the link I'll check it out x

@Aggs trying to just go with baby, tomorrow will tell when she's weighed. I feel I haven't gotten my confidence yet, it makes me so happy to you skipped night pumps and your milk was fine x

@Deeana honestly today from 5:30 it was a struggle, she just wanted to sleep as She refused to nap most of the day. I'll try harder to get her to nap more. I've had to wake her all evening to try and get a bit of a feed in

Good luck - let us know how it goes 🤗 it may take a while for you to stop leaking during the night btw but don’t be alarmed once you do. Once supply is regulated, it’s very normal for your breast to appear “empty”. I also forgot to say before, but as your baby gets bigger, they will probably feed for shorter amounts of time but it doesn’t mean they’re getting less food. Breastmilk adapts in calorific value over time, and babies become more efficient at extracting it too. Hope it’s just a little bit more reassurance. 🤍

As long as her nappy output is fine and baby is gaining weight then your bodies doing what it needs to do and she’ll tel you when she wants to feed. My boy has days where he’s super snoozy so won’t feed much, he’s had a couple of nights where he’s slept through. I’ve never pumped at night and occasionally pump in the day to store some milk for dad to feed. I’ve always followed babies lead, and if your let down is strong and your supply is fine right now I wouldn’t try solve a problem that doesn’t exist by pumping overnight as this will create oversupply and exacerbate the fast let down. Also don’t forget babies learn to feed quicker as they develop so they may just be done feeding quicker than when they were younger as they’re getting more efficient at feeding. And if she won’t take a bottle try a different brand sometimes it’s the teat. I’ve found it a godsend so my partner can feed a bottle and I can get an extra few hours zzz!

My only advice is to relax… when I started breastfeeding I was worried my daughter wasn’t getting enough milk (she was born very big then dropped but no one in my family is large so that was just genetics as opposed to being underfed!). Babies will feed when they’re hungry and if you offer a feed often enough there’s no need to worry. I feel like there is a lot of artificial worry around breastfeeding but it is the most natural thing! Also if you have such a fast let down (I did) I would be surprised if you have low milk supply. I know it’s easily said but try and enjoy it, I look back and really wish I just followed the baby’s cues as opposed to trying to analyse every feed ❤️

I would highly recommend ringing the NCT feeding line- they are brilliant and very knowledgeable. You don't have to be part if nct to ring- anyone can. The number is 0300 330 0700. They will really help and give you an opportunity to actually talk things through.

Contact your HV and have them arrange the breastfeeding support team to come out to you (if you are in the UK?)

I’ve been breastfeeding for 8 months now and have a fast let down, I’ve noticed reclining back slightly while feeding helps my baby. Also have you tried the side-lying position? That sometimes also helps. Falling asleep at the breast is natural for babies…If baby has enough wet nappies/gaining weight and is already back to birth weight (if they dropped) you don’t have to worry about waking them to feed. You can also ring the breastfeeding support line or contact the HV (if you’re in the UK) Good luck!

I had a fast let down too. I cant really remember what i did tbh but i remember my local health visitor drop in clinic was really helpful with tips so id recommmend going there. They will watch you feed her and give you advice x