Breastfeeding/Lactation Consultant

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry you did not get the help you needed to get you off to a good start.  You have absolutely no reason to feel like a failure. There is no such thing as breastfeeding failure, only health care systemm failure. You will be an awesome caring mommy no matter how you feed your baby, it's obvious you care deeply for your baby and are doing your very best for her. She's a lucky little girl to have you for her mom.

The first thing to do if you want to try relactation is to find a really experienced LC to help you in person. Here's how to find one:

http://www.ilca.org/find/index.php

It may be possible to relactate still at this point though it's impossible to predict your exact results.

After you locate an LC she can help you get a rental breast pump with double kit. The rentals are defintely the best in this situation. Begin pumping at least 6-8 times or more per 24 hours. The more you pump the faster your milk supply will become established. Pump with your double kit for 10 to 15 minutes per pumping session. More frequent pumpings rather than longer will produce better results. Pump even if you see no results in the beginning or very small results. Once the baby gets on the breast that will help the supply to continue to increase.

You may also be able to get your doctor to prescribe medication to help start your milk supply. The LC can help with that but the most common ones used are Reglan and Domperidone. The latter seems to have less side effects and may be safer but is not as commonly available in the US. Again this is something for your LC and doctor to discuss. (btw, I have known of moms who relactated without the help of medication so it's not a necessity)

You can also try using the herb Fenugreek. There is no scientific evidence just yet on this one.......though it is being studied at a major hospital in PA. It seems to work for many moms. You can find it in health food stores. You need to take 3 capsules 3 times per day ( a total of 9 per day). If you are taking enough it will make your urine smell like maple syrup.  It may take 3-5 days to see results.

While you are continuing to use the bottle as you will in the beginning it's important to try to simulate some of the key components of breastfeeding with the bottle. The most important is to cue the baby with the bottle nipple to open wide by stroking the baby with the bottle nipple from nose to chin and allowing the baby to open wide and "accept" the bottle into the mouth rather than poking the bottle in (which won't work with bf). This starts one of the most key components of a good latch which is teaching the baby to open really wide to get fed.

You may want to try to latch the baby when she is not very hungry. At those times she may be more cooperative and less frantic. Offer her the bottle at your breast, skin to skin so she begins to associate pleasant feelings with being near the breast. When you offer the bottle stroke the baby's lips from nose to chin with the bottle nipple to get the baby to open wide for the feeding, a beginning step to getting back to the breast.

Also, many times moms struggle with latch over and over again so both mom and baby get bf aversion. I feel it is best to use a gentle approach. Only try the breast if the baby is receptive. Often I find this means mom needs to let the baby have about 1/2 of the bottle before even trying at the breast so he is settled and not frantic. Only try latching as long as the baby is tolerating it ok, and even then don't attempt for longer than about 10 minutes. Long, drawn out latch attempts only make you and the baby dread bf and eventually you will both be totally turned off and give it up.

Try to hold the baby in bf positions when bottle feeding, against your bare chest. (sometimes you can pull a switheroo to the breast this way) Also hold the baby other times against your bare chest so the baby begins to associate pleasant experiences with being near your breasts, and not the struggle to latch.

If your baby latches and it hurts take her of asap and try to relatch. Don't let her linger on the breast if it is hurting. All you are doing when you do that is teaching her to get on the breast incorrectly and in a way that probably won't allow her to get an adequate amount of milk so she too will soon become frustated even if you think you can take the pain.

Here's a post that describes a good latch and how to do that but of course working with the LC in person will help a lot more with latch than I can online (read the post inside the post too):

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ppbreastfeed&msg=67103.3&ctx=0

Another option to help the baby transition to the breast is the use of a nipple shield. A nipple shield is like a bottle nipple, made of very thin silicone, that you wear over your nipple to 'trick' the baby into taking the breast since it makes the breast feel more like the familiar bottle. This helps the baby feel the nipple in the roof of the mouth and stimulates a suck. You can even fill the tip of the shield with your expressed milk to help the baby get an 'automatic' little gush of milk as soon as she gets her mouth on the shield. This will encourage her to keep sucking and then she will get your milk from the breast. It's best to work with an LC when using a shield b/c you still need to get the baby on the breast correctly in order for this to work. If you use a shield and it feels 'pinchy' the baby is not on the breast deeply enough and may not get enough milk.

The nipple shield is something that generally is only used temporarily until the baby learns to 'trust' the breast and gets more comfortable taking the breast for feedings. Your LC should be able to assess if the shield is a good option for you.

If the baby takes the breast with the nipple shield allow the baby to get comfortable with bf with the shield and then as the baby gets better at taking the breast you can begin to wean from the shield. The easiest way to do this IMO, is to allow the baby to latch with the shield and then take it off when you switch sides or mid feeding.

Another possibility your LC may want to try is to provide the formula and/or expressed milk at the breast via a supplemental nutrition device. That is a device that has a bottle for the milk and tubing from the bottle that is taped to the breast. The baby takes the breast and the tubing into the mouth and then can get supplement at the breast so the baby learns to get on the breast and also stimulates milk supply by being directly on the breast as you work to increase supply.

As the baby gets better and better at taking the breast you can gradually wean down off the bottles or supplementer of formula or expressed breast milk. Here's how I usually teach moms to reduce the supplement/bottles:

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ppbreastfeed&msg=63103.3

Don't forget the most important part of this process is probably finding an experienced LC to help you in person. Ask her if she has lots of success getting babies transitioned from the bottle to breast.

Keep us posted on your progress.