Restarting Breastfeeding?

[Alamaya]

Hi All,

I hope you dont mind me posting this but dont want to discuss with family until i have tried it.

I have a 2 week old. I tried breastfeeding in hospital for 2 days after her birth (was kept in due to pre eclamsia) but she would not latch and after about 6 midwifes not getting her to latch i caved in to SMA.

A few days after release my normal midwife visited my home and tried again to re breastfeed and again she would not latch. She told me to try and express. I got 4 drops after 30 mins.

Then i got put on antibiotics for a water infection and was not sure if i could breastfeed so didnt try any further.

My daughter is unhappy on SMA not sure what it is. Its not constipation as she is going but the poos are very firm and she struggles for a day.

Last night in the bath i thought i would check to see if i still had milk as my boobs had lost that full feeling. I was able to get a few drops from each breast although one was easier than others.

Heres the questions,

could her latch of changed by 2 weeks?
If not could i be able to express more now that when i tried before?
Would returning to breastfeeding help her digestive system?

I dont want to discuss with family as i feel like i have tried and failed with it so many times i want to see if i can do it before saying anything.

I was so upset i couldnt breastfeed and really would love to do it.

Any help anyone could offer would be very grateful otherwise i am going to have to try her on Aptimel Comfort and would really rather nail this now.

xxxxx

has she been checked for tongue tie?

It can be done, not always but you can try.

Best thing to do is to talk to your local breadtfeeding counsellor, speak to your HV to ask about this as they should be able to contact someone to help you. Failing that, try NCT. LaLecheLeague or the ABM.

there is lots of information here on lactation

You may need a drug called Domperidone which can help boost supply but you can also try fenugreek and eating lots of oats as well.

Your baby is still very tiny so you are still in with a good chance. Can you have a few days when you can just stay in bed (keeping lots of snacks and entertainment to hand) and have lots of skin to skin with your baby? Keep encouraging her to latch on as she will be your best chance to stimulate your supply.

The above link will help you manage the transition from formula to BM, you will still need to give formula until she is feeding regularly and effectively from the breast as she needs this nutrition.

Just wanted to add - she should have been checked for Tongue Tie at the hospital but this isn't always the case. Your BFC will be able to do this for you.
But tongue tied children have a characteristic heart shaped tongue when they open their mouth. If this is the case then you urgently need to contact your HV/BFC for advice on getting it snipped if it is preventing her from latching on.

Have you ever heard of biological nurturing? It's a way of encouraging the feeding reflexes that a baby has to enable them to bf with out much help from mum (just a little bit of supporting of baby's body).

Also, if rather than letting baby latch on herself the midwives were 'pushing' her on the back of her head they could have unwittingly lead to her refusing the breast (there is a birthing reflex at the back of the head that when touched can cause them to throw their head back away from the breast).

Keep it low key and don't force baby to the breast let her come there on her own, make it a warm, huggy, lovely pace for her to be and it should help her feel comfortable to latch on.

Try calling one of the Bfing helplines here for tailored advice to your specific situation and help on increasing supply/relactating. You may even be able to get someone to come to your house or they may know of a local bfing group that can provide you with support.

Good luck and congratulations on the birth of your little girl.

I do know someone who has done it but with the help of an excellent local Bfing Counsellor. Perhaps the first thing to do is to locate one and give them a call. If you call the NCT helpline 0300 330 0771 they should be able to help and may be able to put you in touch with a local counsellor.

Don't know if you seen this already but there is some information on relactation here on Kellymom.

Yes, yes and yes.

Kellymom.com has some articles on relactation as JJJ posted. I'd suggest reading them to see what you think. It will require work and it will be hard to get to ebf, but it can be done.

You really need a good double pump to help stimulate supply, plus putting the baby to the breast as often as possible. Expressing is a learnt art and empty pumping can still help stimulate supply, so don't ever take how much you can pump as an indicator of supply,.

A 2 week old is usually far more awake and aware than a 2 day old. Plus hospital MWs are rarely good at bfing help. So see a good BFC for latch help.

Yes it can be done, I bf for 2 weeks and under pressure gave up because she cried 24 hours a day and was losing weight. I was too exhausted to realise I could do both or that a couple of bottles did not mean the end of bf. I was too upset that it did not work so did some research and relactated at 6 weeks although I never felt I re-established a good supply so was always topping up with formula. I used a supplemental nursign system which is a little tube that you can tape to your nipple and at the other end of it is the bottle of formula. The baby latches, stimulates your supply but at the same time is getting some formula. But do go and see a BFC and as others have said kellymom.com is great. Good luck and congrats on your little one. And I took fenugreek as well.
P.S. Please also remember if it doesn't work out try not to beat yourself up too much and enjoy your bubs no matter how you feed her.

I relactated, it was hard work but very worth it. There is a post on here called can I get my milk back.
I bf until 4 weeks, I had a bad section and got an infection, lo was being sick a lot so assumed it was the antibiotics and put her on the bottle but she struggled with flow of the bottle and kept being sick. It was horrendous to be honest (turned out, out she had a floppy larynx but didn't find this out until recently) she was dx with reflux and was put on meds (ranitidine and domperidone) I researched and found bm was much better for reflux as goes through their system quicker, so at 10 weeks I relactated.

I had lots of porridge with fennel seeds on, drank to thirst, power pumped in the eve (10 mins on 10 mins off) and pumped consistently every two hours, at least 20 mins each side (even dry pumping) and then later domperidone for a week.
I went from being able to express just barely .5/1 oz to bf full time and at six months I have just decided to stop ebf and put lo on bottles.

I found having a supportive partner and family a must, as I have two other kiddies and whilst your pumping you need extra help.
I also found that eventually it was easier to go cold turkey and just bf exclusively, as the pumping was making me more nervous and I panicked about not having enough milk.

I would make contact with hv and ask her to help with latch again, maybe look at nipple shields. I would perhaps just feed her a little to take the edge off and then go on a baby moon with her and just let her try and see what happens, the bath is apparently a good one, dimly lit so they use their senses.
Good luck let me know if I can help anymore.

My baby had TT and wouldn't latch until week 3 (he also was repeatedly pushed onto the breast on day 1 which I think turned him off of the whole thing). My milk also never really came in so we had two lots of problems... but I did lots of play with him skin to skin on the boob so he got used to it and one day I just decided that that would be the day he would breastfeed (at week 3) and it worked.

However even though I hired a hospital grade pump and was expressing 8 times a day to begin with, had a lactation consultant, Domperidone, all the herbs etc. I have never got my supply higher than about 60-70% of what DS needs and he doesn't always want to breastfeed (nipple confusion probably but also I think after the TT he never really managed to suck brilliantly)... but I am happy with this as it is definitely better than nothing and I like being able to feed/comfort him with it when he is feeling out of sorts for instance.

It takes a lot of commitment but if you could get to 100% BF I think it would definitely be worth it.