I am 34 weeks tomorrow and will be having a section a few days before due date. This is my second DC and I really want BFing to work this time as it didn't go brilliantly well with DD. So, if I give you the history of what happened with DD can anyone give me some advice as to what to do this time, pretty please?
DD was born by elective section at 38 weeks, due to several problems including severe SPD and GD. She latched perfectly, according to HCPs, from the get-go but after one or two sucks would fall fast asleep. Everyone in the hospital (including the cleaners :)) had a go at waking DD to feed but nothing worked - stripping down, tickling feet, etc etc.
Nothing worked and after 48 hours of this the nursery nurse from special care said, "We'll get this baby to feed one way or another - lets starve her into submission". So no drip feeding or cup feeding of my tiny amounts of colostrum from a finger, just offering the breast. This went on for 15 hours until I said enough is enough, give her a bottle. :( I feel so guilty for this now, but being a first time nervous mum I didn't stand up to them. Poor DD must have been starving and was probably too tired to feed.
From that point on I expressed every four hours and DD fed on the last feed I'd expressed, mixed with formula as she was jaundiced and on phototherapy and they said she had to have 90ml at every feed.
My milk didn't fully come in until DD was eight days old, at which point I dropped the formula totally and exclusively fed DD expressed breast milk - at each feed offering her the opportunity to feed from the breast first. The same thing happened everytime - DD would latch on and fall fast asleep.
I managed to keep this up for three months, by which time I was exhausted and I gave up and formula fed her. :(
Thank you if you have got through my mammoth post and if you can offer any advice for how best to feed DC2 I'd be really grateful.
Thank you.