Breastfeeding advice - posting for traffic

[desperateforhelpfff]

Sorry to post here, but responses are usually fast...

My DS2 is almost 1 week old.

I had him latched on in hospital from the moment he was born basically. It was all fine but then my nipples started hurting so much, I could barely continue.

I managed to struggle on, screaming in pain each feed. The midwives checked the latch and said it was fine. Then both nipples started bleeding. Anyway, I gave my breasts a break for 24 hours and gave him formula when I got home. I braved putting him on again today and it didn't hurt as much.

My issue now is that the breast alone isn't enough for him to get full. He was feeding for a good hour each side and was still starving and extremely frustrated. So I topped him up with formula after. I don't want this to affect my supply. But he really was just so angry and actually getting frustrated at the breast by the end, because he was hungry and nothing settled him.

My first son got so frustrated at the breast by the end, that he refused to latch on at all. This is bringing back horrible memories.

How can I prevent this from happening again ? He just doesn't seem full, even after 2 hours of feeding. Something must be wrong ! Any tips ? Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. I'm really tired.

Boobs are ok. I can bare it. I'm just worried that if I am constantly feeding him like this, I'll just be back where I was a few days ago. Where I was completely unable to feed him, as the pain was too much.

He gets sleepy for maybe ten minutes after a feed and then gets angry again and wants to go back..

I'm also recovering from a section, which is really painful, so I'm on a lot of painkillers still. Not sure if that impacts this !

Are you feeding lying down so he's just popping in and off? That was much easier for me post section, but after a few weeks I realised he was sometimes confusing being windy for hunger; whizzing him up for firm back rubs helped him get back to sleep. The cluster feed days really don't last long, but if you need an hour off for boob rest then he'll be fine. When I'd had enough I just forced mine to be rocked to sleep a couple of times to get a break, and he did actually go along with it after a bit of whining. Can anyone else rock him for you for an hour so he can't smell you and can fuss elsewhere?
(I'd be very happy to if I knew you, baby snuggles are awesome!)

Aw thank you. I am thankfully able to move around now and can feed him sitting up. My mum is also here thankfully and able to hold him and rock him. Although she keeps shouting at me to give him formula ! She thinks I am being cruel !

Aw thank you. I am thankfully able to move around now and can feed him sitting up. My mum is also here thankfully and able to hold him and rock him. Although she keeps shouting at me to give him formula ! She thinks I am being cruel !

If he's doing good nappies and his skin is not yellow then he's fine for now. Midwives will weigh.him to give you an idea, breastfed are often smaller in early weeks then overtake. My mum was quite anti breastfeeding, so she just didn't come early days, you'll have to just nod and smile if your mum is otherwise useful. Still worth checking the tongue tie, but most important is how you feel about it all.

Big hug to you! You are exhausted, recovering from a section, have a toddler and a newborn. Maybe a bottle top up isn't so bad? You can still keep breast feeding as well. Have you tried squeezing milk out of your nipples before you put the baby on? A very wise old health visitor gave me this advice many years ago. He will be in the right place then. Also try some breast shells. They go on the other breast whilst you are feeding and catch any leaking milk which can be saved and put in a bottle. As you progress and things settle down limit the bottle to a certain time of day eg teatime or lunchtime etc. Give yourself a break. Settled baby = settled mum and vice versa. 🥰

Aw thank you. I always squeeze a bit of milk out before putting him on actually. It's just natural to me to also check if anything is coming out.

I've given in again this morning. He's been on my breasts since before 8 am and just would not settle. So he's had some formula.

I'm not against giving him formula at all. But I know it's a very slippery slope with that. As I had the same with my other son and he then completely refused to be fed on the breast anymore and I ended up completely stopping breastfeeding him at 3 weeks. As I also didn't get any further by pumping. And I pumped like a woman on a mission, but it did not improve it and just made things worse.

With this baby I'm a bit further that he actually still latches on for now.

OP a couple of things re supply and pumping. With my first baby I was drenched in milk and could pump 10 oz from each breast in as many minutes. If anything I had an oversupply.

With exclusively BF twins I couldn’t pump an ounce from both sides, never leaked and only had spray from one side.

With current baby I cannot pump a drop and only feel a let down on one breast.

The common factor was that they all grew. That’s really the only test of supply. Is your baby gaining weight? At a week old it’s too early to be sure because you have topped up but soon you will have a better indication. Even a week of BF alone will answer that question.

If you can get past the first 6 weeks you will very likely make it to 3 months and then 6 etc. You are right that formula is fine but it will definitely negatively impact BF at this stage.

I also want to say that my current baby, my fourth, was my most difficult experience. Had I not have successfully fed before & had the confidence to know it would work out I would likely have stopped. I fed around the clock from the time they were born. It was absolutely relentless. At exactly 4 wks we turned a corner and things just improvers there on.

You’re doing an amazing job and yes you are right that this time you have managed more than last. Credit to you.

Ladies. I don't understand it. For the last two days, I've fed my baby for around 4 hours each day. He's now getting so frustrated he struggles to even latch on...

I'm just sitting down to do a pump..as the breast feeding helping asked how much I get when I pump. I've literally got drops ! Why am I not producing more milk ????

I've got a lactation consultant coming tomorrow. But I don't understand. I thought I was doing better than with my first baby. But I'm not sure now. Maybe I don't make enough milk. No matter how hard I try.

They do feed for ages so that might not be a problem (other than the time it takes you!) I fed DD until 21 months and generally got very little when pumping, it's not a good indication of supply because babies are much more efficient than pumps. So glad you've got an LC coming, just keep going until then. How much are you topping up now, and what are his nappies like? Regularly wet and dirty? Nappy output and baby's weight gain are the best indicators of supply.

@KatieKat88 thanks for encouraging me.

For example this morning he stayed on for an hour and was still upset and hungry. So I topped him up with 40 ml.

I am topping him up at every feed at the moment..

Feed him when he's hungry on the breast until he comes off naturally. If he's still hungry give him a tiny formula top up 20-50ml maybe?

This way your milk quantity will increase, he's getting full but your also not constantly feeding.

💐

Best thing for sore nippers that I found was rubbing sone breast milk on them after each feed. Don't feel guilty about your toddler, feed the baby and either snuggle and share a book with them or stick their favourite telly programme on. Newborn babies do feed a lot and bf babies do lose and then gain weight ( but slower than ff babies) if baby has plenty of dirty nappies they are getting nourishment.

I never got much from a pump in the early days, but DS grew nicely regardless, I think it's because he took it all. I never felt the same love for a pump as for him either, could only ever produce by watching him while the pump was on (and when he was even a few months old he'd get angry with the pump, bit possessive over his boobs). So, ignore the pump volume.

Are you drinking loads of water and eating enough? If he has tongue tie then he'll feed slower, but equally he may just be trying to build up your supply. Just keep going until tomorrow when you get some in-person help. x

He is likely cluster feeding to increase your supply. Mine pretty much lived on my breasts for the first few weeks. Is he just fussing because he wants to stay snuggled up with you?

Why are you pumping though? If you’re giving formula top ups then surely no need to pump, it’s just going to add more stress.

Lasinoh cream is great for nipples, I used to put some on after every feed in the early weeks even if they weren’t sore, that seemed to stop them getting painful.

Good luck.

Honestly you're doing a great job, it'll take you both a while to find your feet! And if you can crack it it will be much easier in the end. Let us know what the LC says tomorrow, hopefully they can rule out any potential issues and find you a plan to move forward. If it helps my DD was a C section baby too, took us a good few weeks to get into the swing of things with feeding, it wasn't easy at the beginning but got much better. I had lots of help from my local infant feeding team and don't think I'd have been able to continue without them.

Verdict - it was definitely the latch. It's just not deep enough. Which is why it hurts me and also why he's not getting enough milk and also why I'm not producing enough milk from it probably.

I've worked out how to do a deeper latch. It takes a while to do and doesn't work every single time. But it's so much more comfortable.

I can also highly recommend the video a PP shared about breastfeeding. The latches there are a great example of what to aim for. The babies mouth has to be super super open. Anyway. I don't know how far I'll get with it, but I'll keep trying. Baby still not satisfied even after feeding with new latch for an hour. So will need to wait a few days for supply to increase hopefully it will.

Thanks everyone !!

Good luck, sounds positive and hopefully will be all sorted soon.

That sounds really positive! I found the flipple technique really helpful for getting a deep latch, worth having a look if you're struggling

That's what they showed me !! It's still not easy to do every time! But when it works, it really doesn't hurt anymore.

Wow that video is amazing. If only it was that easy to do. But her baby is also a bit bigger I guess. But this video helps a lot. It's what I tried today basically with the LC. Interestingly the people from the free breastfeeding network never showed me that last time.

Good advice here. Sounds like my first born.

He had a tongue tie. Request a check from HV or midwife asap and then if it's found your local hospital may be able to do the snip in the antenatal unit.

It could also be cluster feeding.

You're right to keep topping up with formula so little one doesn't lose strength and keeps gaining weight. Don't worry about your supply, it will regain full capacity later on once tongue tie / latch is corrected.

You're doing brilliantly. I know how exhausting and worrying it can be but there are people out there who can help with tongue tie whether NHS or private.

I heard to expose the nipples to weak sunlight for short periods of time (careful no burning and maybe not if you're super fair-skinned). Also, you might buy a good pump...it would probably be useful anyway. Lubricate the flanges with a bit of soothing breast goo. Drink a ton of water during and after nursing.

I was just coming on to the champion the flipple method - but I see you’ve already found your way to it. It was honestly a game changer for me. After feeding 2 kids without any real issues I was completely stumped by my DD and we really really struggled. It was excruciating, she was unsettled etc and I thought I knew what I was doing!

Someone on here recommended the flipple method and it worked! And she fed til she was 2.5 years old, which was much longer than I’d planned 😁. I realise in her case, it was probably caused by the fact she has an underbite. But whatever the reason, sorting the latch really made a difference. Hope in a few days you’re in a much better place with it.

and don’t worry about the toddler, he’ll be fine! Someone recommended to me, making a “breastfeeding box” for the toddler - a shoebox with little surprises in (a couple of new books, some stickers, little figures etc) that only game out when I was feeding. That really helped too!

Good luck, one way or another you and both your DC will be fine! Even if ultimately that means you need to switch to formula xx