newborn not latching well/latching then pulling off

[InvaderZim]

Hello everyone,

I'm so sorry that I never spent much time here pre-birth because now I haven't got the time to search through threads! I have a 3.5 day old baby girl, and she is lovely, really. I got home from hospital today and thought we had feeding licked, but since this morning she's been doing a lot of:

1. pulling off an initial latch, or
2. latching what I think is well, but then quickly moving head/ fussing, so that the latch becomes painful or falls off entirely.

She then gets herself into a state and screams.

She's been cluster feeding since last night; my milk has not quite come in yet.

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Maybe if the milk isn't coming down fast enough, she's getting frustrated. Maybe try pumping a bit to help the milk come down before putting her on the breast.

Unfortunately, she's doing this even when the milk is right there and I'm expressing it so she has the taste. :(

My milk has come in over the night. I get random good feeds followed (or preceded) by an hour of this on-off malarkey. Argh!

Congratulations!

The first few days are tricky while you are both learning. You probably need some RL help, to check the latch and position. Either your midwife, or a bfc. Can you call a bf helpline?

Nct is 0300 330 0771

Hello! Are you in Oxford, is your name Ellen, and can I claim my fiver? It's Jenni here, at least I'm guessing you're who I think you are!

Assuming I'm right or at least that you're in Oxford: the advice I got from the very good bf clinic at the JR was that if the baby moves and loses the catch, then even if it seemed ok at first it actually wasn't right, so you should get your latch checked. Ring the La Leche League and see if someone can come round to you today if possible, so it starts to improve as soon as possible. I'd also recommend going to the JR bf clinic on Monday but you'll want some help before then.

We also expressed and fed Aphra from a syringe in the early days so as to be sure she was getting something: if she's less hungry then you'll be better placed to work on the latch without her being furious and frantic. Using a syringe is pretty longwinded though.

The number for the maternity clothes library given here is for the lady who lives just up the road from me - she came round the day I needed help, and looked at my setup at home.

Hello you! I called and left a message, thanks for that. Midwife should be along in the next couple of hours and will hopefully be the helpful sort.

She is sleeping now. Small blessings!

Great! I could come round and say hi to the new LO sometime when it suits you, maybe?

Sure! I will let you know when we are ready to start receiving visitors. :)