Hi all,
DS is nearly 4 weeks and I thought BF was going well this time but for a week or so he's had more green nappies than yellow ones. Am told he needs more of the hind milk so to keep him feeding for longer on one breast or to use same breast for next feed.
He's very much a snacker so takes the same breast a few times in a row before I switch. But sometimes in the middle of a feed if he comes off the nipple is slippery and suddenly he seems incapable of getting his tongue where it needs to be and just will not go back on, but will take the other breast therefore getting more fore milk. (Obv I dry the nipple to try and allow him to latch but still appears impossible for us sometimes and exacerbates the issue.)
A 1:30am he fed for 20 mins which I was chuffed about. At 3:30am only ten minutes despite feet tickling, nappy changing etc. but he seemed satisfied and we both just wanted to get back to sleep! Tried again half an hour later when he stirred but only fed for a minute.
I am going to the local clinic on Friday as they helped a lot last baby. But in the meantime is is ok to feed time after time on one breast (even though it doesn't seem to change colour of nappies) or does anyone have other tips to keep him wanted to feed. Midwife said the hind milk takes more effort to get out so he might be being lazy. He does glug down the early milk.
Weight gain fine, though only 2nd centile. He gets a bottle late evening when I'm shattered... 90 mls formula.
I just want us to be able to roll over and go back to sleep whenever he seems to have had enough. But I can't ignore these nappies can I?
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Infant feeding
How to keep him feeding?
BrieMonster · 07/08/2013 04:46
Brie my 10day old is similarly fussy overnight. What had your HV said about the nappies?
My MW said its number of wet/dirty they worry about and you don't need to worry about green, orange and yellow stools. They are par for the course and are rarely a sign of a digestive problem as long as you're getting lots of them and wet ones too.
It's hard not to worry too much but chat with your HV if you're worried? 
I did expect that answer after reading about so many missed tongue ties. She didn't rule it out 100% but said we'd not be eligible for referral/treatment due to his putting on weight etc. so I guess I'd have to go private.. Not really sure I understand that concept. With the NHS and so many organisations/volunteers encouraging and supporting breast feeding why does this one issue so often need a private diagnosis?
That's rhetorical really, I can see what a battle many people have as it's hard to pick up. Will see if clinic thinks it might be a possibility tomorrow. I know I have said thanks an awful lot, but really am grateful for all the help. 
"With the NHS and so many organisations/volunteers encouraging and supporting breast feeding why does this one issue so often need a private diagnosis?"
this is a very good question - I have been told (I can't remember who by) that tongue tie used to be much more readily diagnosed by midwives etc, several decades ago, but when there was a big shift over to FF during the 50s/60s/70s the knowledge of tongue tie as a common problem was sort of forgotten and they stopped training midwives to spot it. It's only relatively recently with the resurgence of BFing that TT has come back on the radar - but perhaps it's not been long enough yet for the state to actually allocate funds/time to training staff about it.
There's also the fact that the NHS has been very focused on getting women to start BFing and not so focused on whether they continue. So we now have a situation where large numbers of women try to BF, only to give up the first few weeks or even days when they encounter difficulties. But according the the NHS criteria and statistics those are still BFing success stories 
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