Help. Passionate breastfeeder scared about Milk Supply & Nipple Confusion for 2 week old

[mina1221]

Hello my name is Mina and this is my first ever post (I'm desperate for other peoples' insights). I am a strong supporter of breastfeeding and breastfed my first child, Annabella a gorgeous child with Down syndrome for 2 years, which took a lot of work, starting in the NICU. About to have another baby and the Judge has ruled in a Custody Hearing that the new baby start a weekly overnight with my estranged husband at only 2 weeks of age! This feels so wrong to me on many diff levels. But regarding breastfeeding, I believe the risk of nipple confusion is great under 8 weeks of age and I know I will never be able to build up enough milk supply to sustain an overnight within 2 weeks. How do other mothers feel about this?
Thanks!
Mina

[doubledutch]

that is so wrong! what can you do to fight it?

it wouldn't mean your milk supply / breastfeeding relationship is doomed, if it really comes to it - but this is seriously so wrong. i would fight it with everything i have. i would ask for letters from my doctor, the baby's doctor, LLL, lactation consultants, whomever you can get to say this is extremely detrimental to the breastfeeding relationship.

[HappyMonkey]

So sorry this has happened to you. Quick thoughts.... start pumping the first week to try to have enough to send breast milk for him, and buy special low flow nipples for the bottles that are more like the flow of a natural breast.

Can you get his assurance that he will not supplement with formula? That would be the worst. If you don't have enough the first time maybe mix formula and breast milk.

I really feel for you... someone I know was in a similar situation in Australia, but they didn't allow overnights until the baby was weaned.

[boobs4milk]

i would fight it, too. babies that young need to be with their mother at the breast unless its a medical emergency. can't he see the baby for smaller bits of time so you don't have to give bottles?

my baby is proof that you can go from 100% bottle feeds to 100% breast feeds, but why risk it?

good luck!

[RiverSky]

I wish you the best and hope upon hope that you can change the judges' ruling somehow, or that your ex decides it won't work well for him and will rethink starting this so early.

But

If you need to move forward and do it, I think you CAN do it.

I had a week's worth of breastmilk frozen by the time my DD was two week's old. How do I know? Because I got bad mastitis, and took antibiotics and since I had so much frozen milk, I pumped and dumped. I started pumping 2 or 3 days after my c-section, as soon as my milk started engorging me, and then I pumped after every nursing session for a while (to relieve engorgement), then I pumped a couple-few times a day, after nursing, especially first thing in the morning. The milk just added up, bit by bit.

Make sure you have a double-electric breast pump (I loved my Medela), because it's so much easier and so much quicker.

With both my son and my daughter, I allowed DH to feed a bottle a day (of my breastmilk) just so he would get to feed them (he'd never fed a baby before) and luckily for me, neither of them ever had any nipple confusion. It was much later that I had even heard of nipple confusion, to tell the truth, and obviously, I was very lucky. Hopefully you will be, too!!!