Falling asleep on the boob?

[r3dh3d]

Had a bit of a nightmare with bf - long story, but had to express for a bit to give the nips a rest. Now they're back in (sort of) working order - DD will latch on quite happily but sucks very slowly and eventually falls asleep. Don't get any such problems with ebm.

I've tried stroking her cheek, tickling her feet etc. Nothing works. If you take her off, she wakes up and roots frantically.

I think she's decided that bottles are for food, boobies are for comfort.

Any ideas? I don't think I'll be able to just stick her on the boob constantly which is the obvious solution: I seem to have got some scar tissue on the right side now which is making feeding from that side v diff and I don't want to risk further damage that will make it worse. So I'm having to put her back on the boob very gradually. Is there any way of actually keeping her awake to feed?

Have you tried blowing on her cheek as well as tickling and stroking? Helped with ds. Other than that you seem to be doing everything right so I don't have any bright ideas, sorry.

Need more info, r3 - age of baby, growth, what bottles she has had/is having.....

Sorry Tik - wasn't sure what was relevant.

Baby 10 days old.

Feeding:
2 days' boob. Nipples trashed. (Not unexpected, as happened with my last one.) Alternated between being asleep on the boob and chewing frantically as milk not in yet (planned section & it took a while). Since known as "The Rage Monkey".
6 days' formula & ebm. about 6 feeds formula, 2 ebm. Till scabs, skin etc. fell off.
2 days' formula, ebm, boob. 5 feeds formula, 2 ebm, 1 boob.
Planning to increase the boob one feed at a time depending on how the nips are coping.

Growth - too early to tell. Though born at 38 1/2 weeks so not carrying a lot of fat to start with. Mild jaundice but clearing nicely. Seems alert when can be bothered to wake up.

You've had a difficult start ....first thing is to protect your milk supply. You need to be expressing at least 8 times in 24 hours, and it doesn't sound as if that's happening.

In addition, lots of skin to skin contact will help her re-orientate towards the breast, and you need someone who knows what they are looking for to help you get her back on in a way which doesn't damage the nipples.

But the essential thing at the moment is to get your milk supply up and running with frequent, effective expressing.

Good luck with this.

bumping this as I am wondering how you're getting on, r3....