Difficult breastfeeder

Hi All, was wondering if others had some advice my 4.5 month old has never been great at breastfeeding and I am now slowly switching her over to formula. When I try to breast feed her she cries and gets frustrated and I think that I have worked out that it is because she cant get the milk quick enough. I have come to this conclusion because in the morning when she first wakes up she will breastfeed with no problems.

As I am a first time mum, I am wondering if it is possible to keep breastfeeding only in the morning or once I stop expressing will my milk supply dry up?

Thanks heaps for any advice & suggestions

It is hard to say what will happen to your milk supply - some mums can continue to feed just once or twice a day, but their supply will even out, so you probably won't get that fullness that by the sounds of you get at the moment, to keep that going you would have to keep expressing. Does that make sense? Based on the whole supply = demand thing.

Have you tried doing some breast massage, warm washers or nipple stimulation prior to a feed to help encourage a faster let-down and give bub the "reward" straight away?

Another suggestion I have for you is there are these comp feeder things (can't remember what exactly they are called, but there is info on the ABA website) where you put a tube in the bubs mouth at the same time as breastfeeding and drip EBM/formula into her mouth as she suckles at the breast so she is encouraged to continue and once you have a let-down you stop the bottle supply and allow her to keep breastfeeding as normal.

It is normal around this age for babies to start becoming impatient and curious with their surroundings, feeds can be a bit of a pain - all you want them to do is settle down and suckle but they are looking around, on/off the breast and then they look at you like - Mama, where is my milk... I want it now! Some people find success in wearing a necklace or playing with bubs hands etc to encourage them to focus on the task at hand and therefore let-down sooner and help baby have a nice feed.

Up to you what you decide, but if you do start giving formula you will notice a supply drop and if you are aiming for a once a day feed, it might be possible but be prepared that you may lose most of your supply

I'd say, once you stop expressing your milk will probably dry up, especially if your bub has never been a great feeder. She will probably eventually refuse BF because drinking from bottles is easier.
They do get fussy at that age - but it usually only lasts a week or 2.

I had the same problem and when I started feeding more from a bottle DD gave up breastfeeding altogether. Tried doing just the morning feed and my supply stopped once i wasn't expressing as regularly.

Thanks for sharing your experience & advice smile I will certainly checkout out the ABA website

Don't stress! I got thrush in january so bad i literally could not attach bub or pump and had to hand express for three days and i was so worried i was gonna lose my milk and i didn't but what im doing now is breast feeding first and giving her a top up with formula, only about 50 to 80 ml cos thats all she needs so if you want to keep giving bubs the good stuff (breast milk) and making sure she's full after a feed with a top up, give it a go smile