my daughter is 7 weeks old. at first i pumped and i gave her the bottle because i wasn't to crazy about breast feeding. she was up to 4 ounces every 2-4 hours. then it became crazy to pump and then feed her, so i stopped pumping and just breast fed her but i feel like that is all i do like every hour or so. she never feeds for more then 10 to 15 min w/o falling asleep or she just pushes away i try to offer her more because i am sure that she is not getting enough but she dosen't want it. so i go about doing what ever and then she is fussy and wants to eat 15-45 min later. today i started pumping again because i would like to see how much she is getting and i was hoping she would be less hungrey and go back to that 2-4 hour time period. now for some reason i only pumped 3 to 31/2 ounces for both breast and she only drinks 3 ounces and wants to eat every hour and a half..how come she is drinking only 3 not 4 oh and how the hell can you pump and store i only can pump enough for 1 feeding?

At 7 weeks, you're still in the early stages, for sure. I remember at that point I was totally in your shoes; I could have given up at the drop of a hat. It was so hard for me in the beginning. But here I am, at 17 months, still going strong. You CAN do this, all it takes is a little knowledge, patience and humor.

It sounds like your little one is going through a growth spurt. They happen at *around* 7-10 days, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months (more or less). Babies don't read calendars, however, so your baby may do things differently. (this is quoted from the site listed below)

When baby goes through a growth spurt, they nurse like mad. Mine would sometimes nurse twice an hour, sometimes for 20 or 30 minutes. I thought I was going to die of nursing crazies. But I didn't. And after 2 days baby went back to normal and everything was good. (by the way, sometimes the spurt nursing can last up to a week, but it's usually just a couple of days)

Pumping is also not a good indicator of how much you're making. Baby is much more efficient at extracting milk than a pump.

Building a stash will have to wait until baby is back to a 2+ hour schedule. You also don't need a big stash until you're going back to work. And even then, you may only need 1 or 2 day's worth at a time.

I am a SAHM, so I never had more than 2 bottle's worth in the freezer.

An EXCELLENT site that I've referred to countless times is http://www.kellymom.com Check it out for answers on anything bf'ing. Seriously, ANYTHING. (in regards to your other question, there's a section about alcohol, smoking, etc.)

HTH, and keep at it! You can do it!

Take a deep breath, Your baby is nipple confused. Do this pump every 2-3 hours, if you have to feed her first feed her then pump out what you can, date and freeze it. Also if she pushes away then she is done, Take your time. Most breast feed babies nurse every 1 and half to two hours. Things fall back in place.
Good luck
If u have any more questions IM me

many babies don't feed for more than 15minutes and usually breast fed babies feed more often. Pumping and feeding is a bit much so I can see why thats a problem and since she may be use to the bottle if you really want to breast feed take bottles away till she gets the hang of it. With breastfeeding its a on demand type thing don't overly worry about how much she gets now if she appears hungry then you will need to supplement formula.

I had these same kind of troubles breastfeeding my first, with my second, there was less stress, and it seemed to come so much more naturally. Also with my second, it was the same time the new research came out that said pacifiers were good for preventing sids.

That said, have you tried a pacifier? If not, Id say try it. Babies sometimes just want to suckle. We had no problem weaning my son of it around age 2.

Mine are also only a year apart - and my 1 year old, got a terrible flu bout, febrile seizures, reoccuring ear infections, right after my second was born. So I tried to supplemental pump for him. Id literally sit in front of the tv pumping forever.

Having to pump at work also, I found there was a big tie to stress level and milk letdown, also just being completely worn out because of lack of sleep.

One thing to try, if you're still at home and your husband works, (this worked for us) is Id try to get in an extra pumping at night, and he'd get up early with the kids and do a feeding before work, and give me a little extra time to sleep. If pump right away again when I got up, then was ready for the next feeding.

Good luck, and congrats for sticking it out this long.

aw. Shes prob just used to the bottle now? I mean its hard to get used to the breast to begin with and if you started her with a bottle thats much easier that might be why shes eating more often.