Anxious its going too well

[cazinge]

Baby is 5 days old. After spending 2 nights in NICU she came back to me and we came home on Day 3. She was only feeding from one side o I expresssd the other side. Today she has fed ,every 2.5-3 hours including twice from the "refused" side. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies. I'm now feeling really anxious that it is going too well, she knows what she is doing it is almost like it is supposed to be.

What do I need to prepare for that might get harder/ go wrong?

For context, I couldn't breastfeed DC1 so exclusively expressed for 10 months (fed for 14) which may be feeding my anxiety.

[Elmo311]

I bottle fed my two so hopefully some mums with breastfeeding experience will be along to help soon! I just thought I'd give your post a bump and also say that it sounds like you're doing so great and congrats on your little one :)

It's great that she's feeding so well and all (I think m) you can do is follow her cues and bf whenever needed, and trust her that she knows what she's doing. You say that she's got the hang of it now and that's amazing. My two never did and I beat myself up about it for ages xx

[Elmo311]

P.s you're also amazing for exclusively pumping as well! X

[AriettyHomily]

This is your anxiety manifesting. You can't do it too well!!

How are you feeling in yourself?

[cazinge]

I'm properly teary, mainly about my son not being the baby anymore. However, I can see that it is hormones and that crying over the fact he takes a backpack to nursery is not rational.

The MW is coming to do the home visit later today, so will mention to her. Am v aware of my MH and the fact I have issues around feeding. I'm talking lots to DP so she is keeping an eye on me too.

I just don't want to pat myself on the back for having cracked it then it all fall apart.

[Fudgewhizz]

It sounds like you're doing brilliantly - well done. Just keep an eye out for the usual things - if it hurts then check the latch and relatch if necessary, watch out for blocked ducts, etc. And relax!

[cazinge]

Thank-you. She had lost 10.5% of birth weight on Day 5 but today she had put on 100g in the last 48h sonis now only 7.5% under birth weight and her jaundice is reducing. I'm starting to relax a little now.

[userabcname]

Sounds like you're doing a fab job! Congratulations! Fwiw I breastfed both my boys and I've never struggled with it - certainly not in terms of the latch/supply/general mechanics of it (the exhaustion of cluster feeding nearly finished me off at points though!). My "pinch points" with both were around 3 weeks when cluster feeding hits fever pitch and around 8 weeks which was peak fussy feeding with both of them. These phases pass and after 12 weeks everything tends to get easier. Good luck.

[ComfyCosyGood]

Sometimes breastfeeding just clicks from the off! I'd heard all the horror stories of painful and awful breastfeeding, bad latches, baby refusing. Then I had DS and from the first feed it just clicked. I don't know what I did right, but 17 months later he's still boob mad. I did get very sore nipples around 3 weeks but multi-mam compresses worked wonders. I tried to introduce a bottle at least once a month from 8 weeks (still do) and DS has refused to even suck one. He's fussy. But honestly you're doing amazingly and I wish you all the best!

[cazinge]

Thanks. I'm prepared for cluster feeding / growth spurts so I know its not all going to be plain sailing but after having such a rough time with DS I honestly can't believe it has clicked so easily, especially as I had all the potential hurdles (GD + CS + baby in NICU)