Re-introducing breastfeeding, desperate for advice!

[SarahM82]

On Saturday morning I made the decision, my nipples had totally had it and I could not endure the pain any longer. Have been giving my 13 day old boy Aptimal Formula for last 36 hours and he is miserable. Constipated, lots of reflux (posetting), grizzly and generally awake more being unhapppy, poor luv. My nipples are looking lots better and I think by the morning (48 hours since last breastfeed) I might be able to express or trying feeding again....will the milk still be there? (breast are currnently engorged!)will it satisfy my baby? is expressing best for now until I can get to a clinic for latching advice? I am desperate to breastfeed and have my content little one back....desperate for advice, feeling very alone....thank you in advance x

You can certainly get back to it.

You can espress a little bit to relieve some of the discomfort and soften the breast - it will make it easier for you DS to latch.

You need a breastfeeding counsellor to visit you in your home and watch you latch, more than one feed ideally so that you don't end up back where you were.

Enjoy as much skin to skin to promote his interest back on the breast.

Keep offering the breast and try to follow his cues and feed feed feed, this will signal your body to produce just what he needs.

Yes, you can definitely re-establish breastfeeding - please call one of the support lines for help.

It really helps to get the latch right, and I would encourage you to see a bf counsellor for help with that, but for now I would just try to feed him directly and hold him skin-to-skin as much as possible.

My one tip is to make sure the lower lip is everted (I.e. not tucked in) when he latches on. That has always made the biggest difference for mine.

I really sympathise, I had a similar situation with ds1 - he wasn't gaining weight so I was told to put him on formula and it made him sooo miserable. But despite supply problems initially we got to reestablish bf very successfully and went on to feed for a long time!

Good luck.

Have you got lansinoh for your breasts?

I would not wait until the morning to feed him tbh, the sooner you start again the better.

Yes, definitely get started tonight if you can. The next feed even.

Try to 'go with it'- the next 24-48 hours may be physically/emotionally challenging as your DS feeds to establish your (re)supply.

Ask midwife to check for tongue tie!

Don't wait. At the very least, you need to be expressing 8-10 times a day to keep your supply up at this critical time. You can get it back even if your milk goes, but that will take a lot more effort than just keeping it flowing. IME expressing shouldn't be sore like a baby with a bad latch as the pump shouldn't touch your nipples.

Nipple shields can help - ideally as a very temporary measure - if you can't stand the pain of latching LO on without them.

The only way to get your supply back up to what your LO needs is to get the milk out as much as possible - you need to get feeding.

I'd say go for it straight away if you can, and ring the HV first thing to see what support there is to get your latch checked - I imagine that is why your boobs are so sore. For tonight, or until you can get some help in person, here is the La Leche League FAQs page - there is a positioning and latch section that might help. It doesn't have to be that way. Good luck :)

PS when I was v engorged when milk came in, DD couldn't latch on (imagine a jelly tot stuck to a football!!!) and pumping until my boobs were a bit softer helped her a lot.

Nothing helpful to add but I am absolutely pissing myself laughing at the jelly tot/football mental image

glad I brightened up your evening!