Hi!

Hi everyone! I've been breastfeeding my LO for 3 and a half months now. It started out great, but at 6 wks we got thrush. This caused cracking and serious pain! After some meds, it cleared up, but then we got it again several weeks later! DS is fine now, but I'm still recovering and can't seem to get the cracks to heal. I'm getting frustrated because just when everything seems to be going well, the pain starts up again.

DS was eating every 3-4 hours day and night until we started an eat, play, sleep routine a month ago. He's been sleeping 8-10 hours at night since then! Now he's only eating five times a day and eats from 20-45 minutes each time. I'm worried that he's not getting enough to eat and that my milk supply has dropped because of the extended period of sleep at night. Pumping has not gone well for me... is there anything I can do to make sure he's getting enough???

first of all HI! well done for battling through!
it certainly sounds like hes getting enough by feeding the times you say - im sure if he was hungry in the night he would wake up and let you know. the best way to tell though is if hes got plenty of wet and dirty nappies, is bright and alert and happy!
your milk supply will adjust to the times that you actually feed him im not fully up on the technicalities but basically your body does a supply/demand pattern, im not the best at explaining so will find you a link to another post that explains it better
have you tried some of the nipple creams on the market for your sore nipples? some of them ive heard are fantasic (once again dont know the details but will find out for you)
hope that helps? xx
oh and dont worry about pumping ive never managed that either!

https://breastbuddies.forumotion.com/breastfeeding-0-12-months-f30/is-my-newborn-getting-enough-t567.htm

this is a good link that explains what i was trying to say in the last post!

Welcome to the forum!

I agree with Ang, just remember the pump flow has no real bearing on how much milk you produce.

Your body once stimulated, makes milk, everytime your baby is on the breast and are far more efficient at it than a pump.

You will not run out of milk, but what can happen is when the breast hasn't been stimulated at certain times (like they used ot be) your body will think that it is no longer needed then. But will continue to make milk ready when baby usually feeds or in a new feeding pattern ie sleeping through the night. This happens when your supply is setteled and established.

Then when you hit a growth spurt and baby is back to feeding all hours and gets frustrated because your body is used to a different feeding pattern, your breasts will then become stimulated again at those times and within a week your body will adjust again to a new feeding pattern.

This happens the whole way through breastfeeding, it even happens now feeding a toddler!

The best thing to do during the times where you feel you 'haven't got enough' is breast compression during feeds (like milking yourself ) , upping your fluid and food intake, espeicaly things like oats etc as they are good at helping to increase supply.

IT does take a little longer to get a let down when your body isn't 'ready' but it will make it there and then and with perservence will be back up.

The mistake a lot of women make (due to poor advice) is to top up with artificial milk or start early weaning with food. This then of course stops your breasts being able to catch up and start a new routine as the baby wont be on the breast as much as it should to increase supply.

The sure thing to know that your baby is getting enough is in the nappies, in their smile and how contented they are.

If you can tick all of these then I would say your not to worry at all about how much LO is getting.
Plus it wont be long before LO is waking all hours and feeding like theres no tomorrow.

Enjoy it!

As for your nips, let them get lots of air. rub your breast milk on them to aid healing. If you have some lanolin like lansinoh, this will really help in the healing too.

Hi, congratulations for making it this far and big hugs, I too had a painful start which wasn't helped by thrush so I know how hard it's been for you!

Personally I found that Lansinoh just made matters worse - it 'glued' my nipples to my breastpads/bra and then ripped open the cracks whenever I went to feed Eventually I found a chamomile-based lotion called Kamillosan, which worked wonders for me!

(Not trying to contradict what Natasha said, everyone else I know swears by Lansinoh, it's just me that didn't get on with it! )

I agree too hun.

Also I found certain types of pads stuck with lanolin, but my reusables never did.

Ah, my reusables stuck too!