Please help--5 day old latch issues and length between feeds question

[evelynevening]

Hello! Please could you help as I have no time to go through previous messages and need to get some sleep, been up for most of the night and baby gets most of his sleep in the morning.

He was born on Sunday and latched and fed well for the first couple of days. Yesterday my milk started coming in and he started feeding off my nipple only and playing with it in his mouth instead of the previous good strong sucking feelings. He was also spitting out the nipple and didnt seem to like the new milk. I tried really hard to get him to latch back on properly but was only semi successful during the day and not successful at all in the night which is when he cries a lot more and doesnt rest. He has been getting to sleep around 3am for a couple of hours and then back to slep around 6am for a good 4 to 5 hours--am hoping this happens again today so I can get some sleep in a moment.

I just tried to feed him then and he wouldnt latch on at all and wouldnt feed at all so I have let him go back to sleep. I am now worried that he will be left too long between feeds, as I dont want to feed him if he is using the wrong latch! I am hoping to get to a breast support group at midday/early afternoon for some help so is it alright to wait till then or should I be trying now. The last good feed was yesterday around 6pm with 3-4 shorter badly latched feeds since then. Is he ok in terms of lack of feeding as long as he is happy and not screaming???

Also my milk has come in properly now and I am massgaing the hard parts of my breast and using heat packs to do this---is this the right thing to do???

So sorry for the long message. Am hoping someone can help soon!

Sorry I meant should I guess when he is halfway through a feed and swap to the other breast then?

When he comes off the 1st side himself, offer the other. Let him feed for as long as he wants each side before swapping. If he falls asleep after the first side you can either offer the 2nd side when he wakes up himself, or change his nappy to wake him up.

I would wake him to feed 2 hourly in the day ad 4 hourly at night personally, at least until he has regained his birth weight.

Echo the above advice from Rita.

Frequent, frequent feeding is required at this stage.

If engorgement is causing latching problems try expressing a small amount to soften the breast.

I would offer one side per feed at this (early) stage.

Is there a reason for only offering one side? Normally advice is to offer both.

Deliberately offering only one side per feed is what is advised when mothers who have problems with too much milk need to reduce their supply - it is not a good policy for anyone else, unless the baby clearly signals he only wants one breast.

With a young baby - and this baby is day 6-7 - the baby may well need frequent feeding (2.5- 3 hrly or 8-9 feeds in 24 hours is at the end of the spectrum - most babies will need more than this) and this is best responded to by offering the second side when he appears to have had what he wants from the first, and very often, babies will take the second side after a short break. If they are wanting to feed after this, offer the first side again, and so on :)

Hi there, it sounds as though your breasts are quite hard and this will make it more difficult to latch him on. Try hand expressing a very small amount before the feed (not pumping as this will increase supply and make things worse). Hand expressing a little will soften your breast and make it easier to latch on. On the time between feeds issue ... if baby is having plenty of wet and dirty nappies then he is getting enough milk so don't worry. x

As tiktok said though he should feed at least 3 hourly at this age.

captain - I didn't say he should feed 'at least 3 hrly' :)

This is unlikely to be enough...babies at this stage can come to the breast anything like 8 - 15 or more times in 24 hours.

Just updating again: Have been offfering one side mostly for each feed and then topping up from the other side when he has a little break and then going back to the first side after he has his next little break. Then swapping to the other breast for the next feed.

He has been wanting to feed lots more now though, last night nearly every 1.5- 2 hours for half and hour from 7pm till 2pm. Today he has also been feeding every 2-3 hours for about 30 mins and latching on has become much easier. My breasts have also stopped feeling so huge so this is helping with his latching on.

Had a midwife appointment today and he hasnt had the typical weightloss that newborns have so am feeling less guilty about starving him early on by not feeding him frequently enough.

Thank you so much for your help have no one in real life to ask about this and have had no time to research stuff myself about it in the past few days. Went to breastfeeing course during pregnancy and read up about it but have forgotten everything since his birth!! Was feeling like a complete idiot but am feeling much better now about it all.

Hi tiktok, I know that wasn't exactly what you said verbatum but you did say ''With a young baby - and this baby is day 6-7 - the baby may well need frequent feeding (2.5- 3 hrly '' which is the context in which I agreed with you. I know that babies of 6-7 days require at least 10 feeds in 24 hrs .

captain, sorry, you are only quoting a bit of my sentence, leaving out the bit when I said this pattern was at the end of the spectrum and most babies would need more...just to be sure we're clear :)

Well done evelynevening, sounds like things are improving for you now - so glad :)