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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

please support...newborn feeding

52 replies

EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 16:35

sister has baby at home.
she has expressed small amounts of colostrum but it is hard to get baby to latch for more than a few gulps. baby born 2am yesterday.

one boob has been latched successfully, other one is expressing ok,

have rented an NCT pump but they can't get anyone out over xmas - please give advice :)
skin to skin currently going on to get supply, which is helping,

baby is big!

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thisisyesterday · 22/12/2011 16:38

oh am glad she managed to get discharged!

if your sis can literally just stay in bed with baby getting skin to skin and letting her latch on and feed as much as possible that will help.

i do remember being told with ds1 that it was fine for him not to feed for the first 24 hours... obviously it's preferable if they do, but some babies are just utterly worn out by the birth and do sleep a lot.

I think someone on the other thread had recommended a BFC? will see if I can find anyone else in the area for you

thisisyesterday · 22/12/2011 16:41

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tiktok · 22/12/2011 16:43

Edless - she can ask the midwife to come and see her.

She does not need a pump. If she needs to express hand expressing is better in these very early days.

But the baby is only 1-2 days.....everything could change for the better in 5 mins :)

Skin to skin and responding to baby's cues is prob all she needs to do :)

Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 17:19

that's really comforting tiktok

she is getting lots of skin to skin, and occasionally briefly latching. sis has large flat nipples so the machine is pulling nipples out which baby isn't feeding well enough to do,
i am helping her hand express with the pump IYSWIM whilst she is holding baby and watching TV.

i am happy to be told my concern is unnecessary though..(what i was hoping for!).MW is coming tomorrow anyway - she is finding it hard to stand and move and baby did have some formula in hospital.

one question: is skin to skin alone sufficient to bring milk in?

in actual fact the BF support i saw this morning was really good, though evidently not constantly so from the beginning - she didn't get much of a first go immediately after birth as DSIS was completely zonked.

the baby is hard to settle and giving feeding cues galore, so she was using dripped bits of colostrum by syringe today to settle when baby wouldn't latch today.

my sister has just gone for some well-deserved sleep now. I'm so proud of her, she's patiently accepting my inept attempts to help.

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Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 17:20

i called the BFC on the other thread and they are up to their eyes in family xmas!

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Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 17:22

the problem that i see is: baby wants to feed non-stop pretty much, and need is not being met by latching (decent latch 3 times in 2 days - 10-20 mins?)

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thisisyesterday · 22/12/2011 17:27

why is she not latching on? is dsis trying to latch her on every time she gives a feeding cue?
what happens?

Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 17:32

baby roots, gets a gulp of boob, maybe gives one jawing, lets go again. tries a few times then gets upset. then dsis pulls her back up to settle,

my sister is very tired and it is a first baby (so i am seeing endless feeding cues, but she just sees weird baby behaviour)

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Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 17:33

i hope that Tiktok is right and tomorrow it is a different story - with milk baby would be getting plenty out of that first suck and hopefully keep going. expressing has been really slow (though i know baby feeding is usually much much more effective)

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thisisyesterday · 22/12/2011 17:52

but it's normal for her to only be producing very small amounts of colostrum still

Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 18:19

good :) at this stage i am very pleased to be told i am worrying too much. she got baby to have a good but brief latch just now. she is doing the right things, it will just take patience

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Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 22/12/2011 18:22

i think really, despite 'knowing' that colostrum only comes in tiny amounts, it really helps to be told again at the point of doubt. reinforcement is great for confidence.

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tiktok · 22/12/2011 18:35

Honestly - she needs to see someone ie the midwife (understandable that volunteer bfcs are difficult to get hold of though all the phone lines will be available).

Hard to tell what is going on here - usually, just calm patience with a bit of hand expressing and plenty of skin to skin resolves these very early-days issues. Baby may be difficult to latch because of the anxiety and pressure and continued attempts - letting the baby set the pace might be just fine.

tiktok · 22/12/2011 18:38

Why did she have formula in hospital? That could have made your sis worried.

Colostrum is only ever available in tiny amounts - using a pump is not a good way to collect it, because you can't usually get more than a few mls at a time (if you get 5 you are lucky!). With such tiny volumes, you don't want it sticking to the flange etc of the pump.

thisisyesterday · 22/12/2011 19:01

tiktok, op's sister was told baby needed formula as she hadn't fed within 12 hours of being born Hmm

tiktok · 22/12/2011 19:04

I see....yes, some intervention is needed if babies go hours without feeding after birth. But formula would normally be a last resort only. The mum should be helped to hand express colostrum. Giving formula makes a difficult situation more difficult, for several reasons :( :(

4madboys · 22/12/2011 19:09

has she tried letting the baby do the baby crawl/wriggle thing to get to the breast?

ds4 was a lot like this and i just went to be and kept him in with me and he just got it, big nipples here as well and despite being a big baby 10lb 13oz he found it hard to latch but i just kept him snuggled and cozy in bed with me, he seemed to prefer to feed lying down, has your sister tried that?

4madboys · 22/12/2011 19:10

interesting reading about the amounts of colostrum, hwe i was preg i leaked more than that regularly and when ds1 was two days old i expressed off 2oz of colostrum/milk! i ALWAYS had oversupply issues tho!funny how it varies so much from woman to woman tho.

TruthSweet · 22/12/2011 20:09

4madboys - my mum was like that went from a B to a F (?) when her milk came in but was expressing bottles of colostrum for the prem babies before that and my brother had test weighs done of him eating 2oz from one side on his first day (I know test weighs aren't done now).

I, on the other hand, made barely enough to cover the bottom of pump bottle (the tiny 50ml sized ones Sad) when DD1 was being stuffed like a Christmas turkey on 2oz every 2 hours for her jaundice (a practice luckily no longer done at my local hospital). Even after my milk came in if I got 20ml combined I was happy (double electric pumping 12 times a day - I think the most I made in the first few weeks was about 100ml a day).

As to the OP's sister can only echo the keeping baby skin to skin and feeding frequently when baby shows any kind of hunger sign. Hope all goes well soon.

4madboys · 22/12/2011 20:12

i have always had big boobs anyway but they were like porn star breasts when my milk came in! by the time ds1 was a week old i easily expressed 4-6oz a time! i had to express to build up a stock as i was meant to go back to uni when he was 3wks old! as it was he always refused bottles and i took a year out so the milk was wasted, grrr.

hope your sis is getting on ok op and great that she has your support :)

TruthSweet · 22/12/2011 20:19

I got my porn star boobs when I went on fenugreek - DD to an F/G in 48 hours I don't think DH knew where to look (he's not a boob man)!

4madboys · 22/12/2011 20:53

ha ha my dp isnt a boob man either but they were very persuasive boobs, not that i would let him touch them!

TruthSweet · 22/12/2011 21:14

I think DH would have just like me to get the fenugreek of the bum world - then he would be a happy man (not that I need much help in that department HmmBlush)

chocolateyclur · 22/12/2011 21:23

I had similar problems with my first - very flat nipples, large breasts and a baby that wasn't very interested at first. Midwife didn't fill me with confidence either because she told me my nipples would cause problems.

The way I finally got around it was to pinch my nipple between my index and middle finger, pull it gently forward and then latch the baby on, holding his neck and back firmly for a few initial sucks. Feeding lying down was always easiest. I eventually fed him for 10 months, so it is possible. I found, when my milk came in (day 3) that my levels of engorgement caused latching problems again - I used to hand express until they felt less "tight".

I'm sure it comes down to individual babies though. I practically had to force ds1 to eat, and blamed the nipples 100%. DS2 latched himself on within 10 minutes of birth...6 days in and he's barely ever released my boobs. He's been far more effective at giving me "proper" nipples than anything else ever has.

Original poster
EdlessAllenPoe · 23/12/2011 14:08

tough day. tougher for Dsis but she is staying positive. MW expected today but still not here...Dsis is very independent minded and doesn't like asking for help but she spoke with a BFC this morning who gave some good pointers (such as putting a drop of colostrum on babies top lip to get it to lip-smack).

no latch since yesterday. she is trying to express every 2-3 hours (mostly by hand, essentially the pump is there as a 'prop') baby is feeding colostrum dribbled over the boob also. i agree that expressing is not the best way, but i don't know what else to advise.

on the positive side: she can feel her milk ducts filling, baby is strong, her nipple is standing prouder. Baby is showing tongue-thrust, has been checked for tongue-tie, makes lip smacking noises. we got more than 5 ml out in one sitting, milk is turning yellow-cream. baby is still rooting, alert and demanding. baby will feed colostrum dribbled on boob with every sign of trying to feed.

concerns: my sister is in pain now from her stitches. feeding/ expressing/baby being close makes her tummy contract and makes it worse (though we have discussed this is a good thing) no latch since yesterday lunch, babies head looks slightly bruised which makes some positions hard. DSIS took some damage from her first feed though not on the nipple

i also had large, flat nipples and got through it all with help (pinching to create nipple as described above) and this we have impressed on DSIS - success is possible.

MW has now arrived. DSIS is being so strong, i feel like a failure as her support though am trying to keep that to myself, don't know how she is keeping going, but she is. :( i'm so proud of my big sister.

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