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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

24 hours old, 9lb 11, reassurance please!

17 replies

haddock1976 · 13/01/2012 04:06

Morning, DD born 7pm on the 11th after a bit of a struggle due to her size.

One breast producing colostrum well but the other is only just starting to. I'd had only 2 hours sleep since Sunday and had a slight melt down last night after DD had been trying to feed for 7 hours and clearly wasn't getting enough (the crying broke my heart). The maternity staff took her away at midnight to top her up (with my blessing) so that I could get some sleep. Just about to go and get her but wanted any advice so that this doesn't happen again.

I am constantly putting her to the second breast to try and bring the supply in which very slowly seems to be working. We are having lots of skin to skin, there has been one very wet nappy, 3 meconium nappies and is there anything else I can do?

Many thanks.

OP posts:

Rowbot · 13/01/2012 04:20

Congratulations on the arrival of your DD! Well done you. Im afraid I don't have much advice but hopefully someone will be along shortly who does. I do know how knackering these first days in hospital are though, try and get some rest when your partner visits while he cuddles baby. You're doing really well to keep persevering, ask the midwives to check your latch too if they haven't already. Also do they have a breastfeeding specialist you can speak to? Mine was really helpful in hospital.

Hope your next feed goes well

Original poster

haddock1976 · 13/01/2012 04:22

Just spoken to the nurses, they've been giving her just 35 somethings when she wakes (roughly every two hours) as they are pro breast feeding here. They did say that she was clearly very hungry last night and that I did the right thing (not that they would say I was in the wrong to get her fed any way I could)

OP posts:

Hecubasdaughter · 13/01/2012 04:24

Poor you it is really difficult to get through the first few days if its like this, I've been there.

I second getting someone to check the latch, that's partly what caused my supply problems. I ended up having to express a lot for a few days to help increase my supply (that is as well as offering lo your nipple at each feed, it may be worth asking for support with that.

Get sleep when you can ( I know it's difficult), drink lots and eat when you can too.

EmsieRo · 13/01/2012 04:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

haddock1976 · 13/01/2012 04:26

I've been wondering about the latch as it's obviously painful when she starts sucking like a dyson on the nipple but still pretty uncomfortable when I think she's latched properly. I'll keep asking them to check.

OP posts:

Jnice · 13/01/2012 04:31

Hello. My lo is 12 weeks and ebf now. At birth he was a very hungry 9lb6oz and mucousy so couldn't latch well. I supplemented too. My LC said I had to pump every time lo got a top up for 10 mins each side. This meant my supply issues weren't too severe. I managed to slowly wean lo off supplements by 2 weeks.

You can get through this but I recommend you borrow a hospital grade pump ASAP and get a good LC.

Regarding nappies, I believe there should be one wet one for each day of baby's life until you reach 5 days. Hope that helps.

cq · 13/01/2012 04:32

Stay calm Haddock - easier said than done, I know. I had huge babies too and felt like I was constantly drained dry by their appetites.

Main thing for you is to rest well and eat well so that your body can recover from labour and start the milk production in earnest. First couple of days will only be colostrum and then when your milk comes in you'll feel like your tits are about to explode!! Cabbage leaves in the bra were my saviour then, weirdly. Lovely and cool and for some reason aided the let- down, I leaked copiously and then DS got stuck in like he'd been starved!

If you feel like you've been drained dry, and you're happy to top up with formula, then go ahead and don't let the BF mafia make you feel guilty. I found by about 6 at night I was knackered and empty, so would give a small bottle while I recovered then did th last feed myself which is lovely for both of you. Using the occasional bottle also gives your poor sore nipples a rest.

After a couple of weeks when BF is well established and your nipples have toughened up, you can drop the boyle feed if you prefer. Personally I always kept one feed a day as a bottle feed so that someone else could do it and I could get a break. It's actually quite handy to have a baby who will take breast or bottle.

Good luck and congratulations - such a special and wonderful time!

cq · 13/01/2012 04:33

Bottle not boyle. Flippin autocorrect!

Jnice · 13/01/2012 04:34

Sorry, LC means lactation consultant but I think it should be breastfeeding counselor there? I'm in Canada - different terms. At least I didn't say diaper

TanteRose · 13/01/2012 04:36

OK, first of all, she doesn't actually NEED the top ups - babies are born a bit overweight to help them get through the first few days before your milk comes in.

You should put her to the breast 15 to 20 times a day to ensure that she is getting the colostrum and to signal to your body that it should start producing milk. Obviously her crying is upsetting, but being close to you and suckling as much as possible will comfort her. Get some Lansinoh cream for your nipples if they start to get a bit raw.

Even with a proper latch, breastfeeding hurts for a few weeks - at least, when the baby first latches on (it was toe-curlingly painful for me!) but should not remain painful for the whole feed.

You are doing great - when your milk comes in, it will be easier. Hang in there

spiderslegs · 13/01/2012 04:41

Try & make sure the nipple is at the roof of the mouth, shove it in & up so her tongue cups it, she needs to have a lot of the breast in the mouth, it shouldn't be uncomfortable if she does.

Congratulations & keep it up.

& get some rest.

mrsred · 13/01/2012 05:04

Hi,
I'm sorry I haven't read all the other posts, just wanted to share my experience...
My baby born 6 months ago, I had a little colostrum but on day 2 had nothing coming out ( had tried hand expressing to no joy) so for day 2 & 3 DS has a little formula through naso gastric tube. he was in special care for other problems. I used hospital expressing machine every three hours, both sides, which was totally fruitless (no milk) but did seem to help get my milk to come in which happened on day 4. But on day 3 in afternoon baby was managing to latch on, and seemed to be getting the idea, so we were able to stop the formula top ups!
I'm not sure how they are giving 'top ups' but if with bottle and you have trouble with baby getting onto breast after this, might be worth trying some nipple shields to start the feed, you'll probably be able to get baby to not need them either part way through a feed or after a little while, but may help you get started.
Other great piece of advice I was given was to try to be with your baby when you express, mine was a floor up in special care, so had to make do with photos of him and his blanket, I only realised when he was allowed back down to my room how much better my 'let down' was when he was there.

Hope all goes well, you really can do this, it's just a bit emotional to start with, do get help from nct or la leche league, and use experience of midwives, I was really keen to breast feed and as soon as they knew I was certain of my choice they were 100% supportive!

Jnice · 13/01/2012 05:28

I forgot to say, you can ask the midwives/nurses to give the topup with a cup or finger feed. Try to avoid a bottle. Tell them that WHO recommends cup feeding. We fed DS1 with a cup and this LO (our 3rd) with syringe onto finger. We avoided a bottle until bf established.

danceswithfools · 13/01/2012 06:05

Hi, your experience sounds just like mine with my first baby, who was also very big and hungry! Ask for top ups from a cup if you think she needs them and stick at it. I found the first couple of weeks hard work but after that breastfeeding was lovely and so much easier than making up bottles all the time.
Congratulations and good luckx

lizzywig · 13/01/2012 07:39

I had this problem at the hospital and the midwife showed me how to hand express and collect it in a little medicine tube. It was hard and even harder when we came home. By day 3 she was so hungry she screamed non stop all night and didn't stop until I put her on but then she couldn't get enough out. Next day we went and got some formula gave her a bottle and she inhaled it, stopped crying and was just quietly looking aound. I can't tell you how bad that made me feel, like I was depriving her of food. My midwife suggested I start expressing immediately which helped hugely and she started to feed better. That said we had alllllll sorts of issues and spent a long time topping her up with formula. We've stopped this now and she only has one bottle at night.

Breastfeeding is hard for some women, probably most women and I must have thought about giving up a hundred times (in fact I still do now sometimes because at 9wks I still find it hard sometimes). My advice is to not look too far into the future about how it's going to be and take it one day at a time. Just try to get through each day and if you don't make any progress that day then you don't but look back in a weeks time and see how much you've learned. I also tried fennel tea and that worked wonders for me!! The expressing all the time was knackering but it certainly brought my milk in/increased my supply!!

Original poster

haddock1976 · 13/01/2012 14:39

Amazing what a few hours sleep will do for logic and common sense

Thank you very much for all the advice and stories. She's back with me and feeding very strongly so the few hours away haven't done lasting harm.

We will get this feeding cracked as I'm sure it'll be worth it.

OP posts:

tiktok · 13/01/2012 15:49

haddock, glad things seem better in the warmth of a new day :)

Clearly, you needed good help and support and a bit of TLC late last night/earlier this morning.

Your dd does not need formula and you can continue bf happily and cosily, with dd snuggled next to you, and your milk will find its own way 'in' without you doing anything :)

(cq - not acceptable to use 'breastfeeding mafia' )

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