Hello,

I am new to the forum. I have a 12 week old daughter. In my early 20s, I had breast reduction surgery to reduce back and shoulder pain. Because no one in my family was into breastfeeding, I didn't worry about it when the doctor explained the risks. However, when I became pregnant, I realized how much I wanted to BF my baby.

I am fortunate that I am able to produce a small amount of milk, but am frustrated that I can't exclusively BF. Lately, my daughter has been rejecting my breasts as she knows if she fusses enough, I will give her a bottle of formula. (I think the lack of quantity and flow frustrate her.) My husband doesn't understand why I get so upset when she rejects me.

I look forward to connecting with others about BFAR as I don't know anyone in my situation.

Thank you,
EMCMOM

Hello,

Welcome to the Forum - have you found your way around the site, to the resources section, mom to mom support,etc? There is loads of info in there, and a thread about supplementing with the bottle before offering the breast, so the baby ends the feed relaxed and happy at the breast. Another thing that a lot of us do (me included) is use an at breast supplementer like the Lact Aid (LA) or SNS to offer supp and breast at the same time. It gets around the problem of flow and volume issues, at least it did for me. My DS wouldn't BF from me at all when we used bottles in the beginning, but he is still BFing now at almost 5 months, using the SNS. There are also galactagogues - a lot of us use herbal or medicine supplements to increase our milk supply as much as we can. There is a whole section in the members area on this.

Well done for getting so far with your LO, you will find the other moms on here understand the issues far more, after all we are all in the same boat, and trying to drop any guilt or regrets is part of the journey for some of us.

HTH!

Welcome and congrats on your baby. I would second the suggestion of trying some galactagogues as well as using an at-breast supplementor. You definitely CAN breast feed no matter how much milk you make.