To Quit or Not to Quit!

breastfeeding was always part of the plan. Unfortunately, like many other women, my newborn son and I have not had a great go at it. He just turned one month 3 days ago. He latched in the hospital, but the pain was awful. After seeing a LC specialist for about 5 minutes, while still in the hospital, she showed me more positions to help with pain, but also realized that he had a tongue tie. They were able to fix that almost immediately. Unfortunately, his latch has been getting worse and worse. My supply keeps going down (not that it was high to begin with). I’ve even experienced cracked, bleeding and aches nipples. The pain eventually went away. So, I thought we were in the clear. Until, every pediatrician appt. we find out that he isn’t gaining weight.

Since those first few days, I’ve given nursing my all. My son has a lot of wet diapers, but hardly any dirty ones. He has not gone back up to birth weight, and when he goes on the breast he immediately falls asleep for 90% of our feedings. I’ve tried tickling, gently shaking, nudging, the wet washcloth trick, switching breasts, etc. I was encouraged to pump, take Fenugreek pills, and to even try Mother’s Milk tea. My supply is still all over the place. My right nipple, had a slightly botched nipple piercing a few years back, and I barely get a few drops out of it. I do mean drops. I tried to power pump, and had awful clogged duct pain, but no more milk. Not even the next day. In fact, I didn’t have any milk production. My left breast varies. Some sessions, I can get a full 2.5 ounces, most days however, it’s more like 1 ounce. Or just under. I try to pump a lot, but since he sleeps/ feeds on the breast for an hour, Its damn near impossible to position myself, baby, boppy pillow, and my flanges. With the nonproductive feedings, the poor supply, and stress... I’m just done. More emotionally than anything. I started supplementing bottles for when he’s just lying there, and those are the only times we get dirty diapers. At one point I praised myself that I had 7 frozen bottles of breastmilk. Those days have come and gone. I’m just so frustrated. I desperately wanted to have a positive direct nursing experience. I’m not too keen on exclusively pumping at this point either. I’m almost ready to throw in the towel.

Any advice or words of encouragement?