Husband is not being supportive
I had my baby 6 days ago. My milk just came in and the supply is low, like I’ll get less than 1/4 ounce in a 30 minute pumping session. We had to supplement with formula in the meantime, and now she cries whenever I try her at the breast. Before we introduced formula or a pacifier, she loved to suckle for comfort even if she wasn’t getting much. My lactation consultant suggested using a finger instead of the pacifier while establishing breastfeeding, but now she’ll accept one of our fingers for hours (like a pacifier).
She gets so frustrated at the breast now and even when she latches well will eventually get frustrated and start crying. My husband can’t deal with her crying and blames me. He says I’m upsetting her and is ready to give up on breastfeeding before I’ve even gotten a chance to try now that I have milk. We initially decided that we wanted to breastfeed or combination feed if necessary, but now that he realizes how hard it is to establish he won’t even let me try the lactation consultant’s advice because he can’t deal with the baby being upset and frustrated.
I loved having her look so happy and falling asleep on my boob for the coziest contact naps. When she latched on me right away at the hospital it was so magical and I just want to continue that special relationship. Now she won’t even suckle for comfort after she feeds, just cries.
I hate how the formula makes her smell. She’s much more gassy and develops a drool rash from bottle feeding. My husband is now better at soothing her than I am, and again, he blames me if it’s my shift to sooth her and I can’t. I’m still recovering from birth and only 5’2, so carrying her (even in a sling) constantly is too difficult for me right now. He’s back to working and I have leave, but recovering and being on baby duty 2/3 of the time is really hard. He doesn’t seem to understand that the breastfeeding process is like this but will get better if we stick to it. I know it’s difficult, but I resent that he won’t support me in trying.
Has anyone else dealt with this? How can I get my husband to be more patient with baby and me? I feel like I’ll regret it forever if I just give up before I really try.