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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

I'm new to this - problems with bf a 5 day old

33 replies

Gatorade · 17/02/2012 12:10

Help!

After a somewhat traumatic emergency c-section I had thought I was getting on ok with bf my new (and first) little one, however things have started to go downhill and I am worried about what I am doing wrong.

A bit of background:

  • I came home from hospital yesterday
  • The midwives in the hospital were happy with her latch (as was/am I with the look of the latch on the left but the right is very ropey). We seem to be getting on with quite a few different feeding holds
  • For the first 2 days she seemed to suck well and I woke up on morning 3 with considerably larger hard breasts and therefore assumed my milk was coming in

And now everything seems to have gone wrong (cue lots of tears)

  • My breasts are massive and my nipples are larger than my 6lb babies mouth, she is really really struggling to get the breast into her mouth
  • When latching on she wedges her tongue against the top of her mouth and I can't get my nipple between her tongue and the roof of her mouth anymore
  • She screams when I try to feed her, but will sometimes gently suck on the end of the boob for comfort for hours at a time (I guess I shouldn't let her do this)
  • If I do manage to get her latched on she doesn't seem to be sucking as hard any more and I don't think she is swallowing any milk (I can't hear her swallowing)
  • She has only had one wet nappy in the past 24 hours (only a little bit wet, I had put cotton wool inside to assess wetness) and she is passing quite a lot of urate crystals
  • Her mouth and lips seem really dry

My poor little baby is completely dehydrated and it is all my fault and I can't work out how to fix it, I know crying isn't going to help but not sure what to do...please help if you can

OP posts:
Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 12:11

She has also gone very yellow - jaundice I guess (eye whites are yellow and so is her skin) - please say I haven't harmed her?

OP posts:
worldgonecrazy · 17/02/2012 12:16

Phone la leche, find a local support group too.

There are things you can do to help her - express and use a sippy cup if necessary, or feed with a tea spoon.

You can squish your booby like a hamburger, this can help them latch.

Babies get their emotional cues from their mother, so I know it's difficult but try and remain calm and not get stressed as this will affect let down.

Can you express some milk for her? She will only need around (from memory) 20 mls per feed at this stage, that's feeding every couple of hours.

And yes, if she wants to comfort suckle, let her. It's nature's way of getting your supply going and comforting baby in a big scary world.

worldgonecrazy · 17/02/2012 12:17

La Leche League helpline: 0845 120 2918

silversmith · 17/02/2012 12:34

If she's dehydrated, do what you'd do if it were an adult - get medical help. Call your midwife or get her back into your maternity hospital.

I had a similar problem - everything looked right, but no wet nappies, jaundice, dry mouth. Luckily my midwife visited & immediately syringed fluids into my baby & sent us off to hospital.

We narrowly avoided a spell in SCBU.

Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 12:35

Thank you so much for the help worldgonecrazy, I'll give the teaspoon idea a go as at least I'll then know she has had something.

Thanks for the number too, I'll phone the helpline

OP posts:
Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 12:37

Oh goodness silversmith that must have been a horrible experience. I left a message for the community midwife this morning, I'll try and call her again, failing that I think I was given an 'urgent' number too

OP posts:
silversmith · 17/02/2012 12:39

Go with the urgent number. They won't mind - you & your baby are both new to this and lots of people (me particularly) found the feeding thing a steep learning curve.

CrystalQueen · 17/02/2012 12:42

You need to get medical advice. Jaundice is very treatable but might require a trip back to the hospital.
One thing to be careful of is if your baby is sleepy because of jaundice, you need to wake her up to feed. My DD was a little jaundiced, and because I didn't know to wake her up to feed she ended up losing weight and we had to go back to hospital.

ZhenThereWereTwo · 17/02/2012 12:48

If she is showing signs of dehydration and jaundice I would take her in immediately. Express what you can before you go and either teaspoon or syringe some breastmilk in on the way/whilst in A&E. Do they have paediatric A&E near you?

worldgonecrazy · 17/02/2012 12:50

Sorry - should have said "get medical advice too".

Have you spoken to your MW yet?

silversmith · 17/02/2012 12:55

Oh and the crying (yours) is normal! No one will blame you or be cross with you. We were sent to hospital just as my baby blues hit. The midwife looking after us overnight assured me that she was quite used to doing the morning rounds saying Good Morning to women who just burst into tears on her!

Your experience is not unusual.

ZhenThereWereTwo · 17/02/2012 15:17

Hope everything is ok and you have got the support you needed Gatorade, thinking of you and your DD.

Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 16:57

Sorry it's taken me a little while to reply, I took your great advice and we are currently at A&E waiting to see the doctor. The nurse we have seen thankfully doesn't think the dehydration is too severe but is concerned about the jaundice. I'll let you know how we get on later but I really appreciate you taking the time to reply, I'm feeling much calmer now. Thanks again

OP posts:
ZhenThereWereTwo · 17/02/2012 17:57

Glad that you went in and that the doctors will be seeing her soon. I was worried, they can go downhill so quickly when they are so little. I would still contact la leche league or the breastfeeding network as others suggested as they can do a home visit to give you some latching support once you are home.

Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 18:32

Update...they need to get a urine sample from her, I have had her on my breasts for the last hour at the hospital but although suckling nicely she isn't actually getting much (any?) milk, the doctor would like me to give her some formula. I don't really want to give her a teat so he said I can use a cup or syringe....any experiences? Which would be least likely to affect future breast feeding, or am I over thinking this?

OP posts:
OovoofWelcome · 17/02/2012 18:44

A cup should be fine, my DS drank from a cup a couple of times in his first week, and from a syringe too actually - and his latch was fine after a short period of adjustment.

Formula would be absolutely fine for your LO, but expressing some breast milk is surely the first call?

Booboostoo · 17/02/2012 18:45

Sorry you've been having such a tough time of it!

I was about to say the same thing: I can see why you would need to use a cup/syringe to get some fluids into the baby but why not do it with expressed milk? I would imagine this would help her much more than formula so I don't quite see why the doc suggested formula as such.

ZhenThereWereTwo · 17/02/2012 18:59

They should have pumps in the SCBU, post-natal wards etc.. that they can get for you. I do not see why they cannot get you one so that you can pump and feed baby, if you start with formula your supply will start to drop. You can try hand expressing, not sure if you can view this link on your phone, but if you hand express you could then syringe up the milk and give to your DD. All you need as you can see is a bowl/container to express into.

Formula is easier for docs as they can see exactly how much fluid intake she is getting, but if you express and feed by syringe this can be logged in the same way as syringes have measurement on the side.

ZhenThereWereTwo · 17/02/2012 19:01

Also if you hand express a bit first so that the breast is softer and the let down less forceful you may have more success getting her latched on.

Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 19:41

You guys came to the rescue again! I managed to hand express, only
25mls but enough to keep the docs happy, thankyou.

OP posts:
ZhenThereWereTwo · 17/02/2012 19:44

Well done, have you asked them if they can get hold of a pump for you. If you are going to be in there longer it will be invaluable.

silversmith · 17/02/2012 19:50

I expect they suggested formula for speed and because often this problem occurs when the mother's milk is late coming through, as in my case. I'm sure they'll help you breastfeed though. When I stayed in with my baby, we had a routine of attempted breastfeed, followed by a midwife cupfeeding him expressed milk and formula to the necessary volume whilst I got attached to the heavy duty pump to express what I could for the next feed.

Original poster
Gatorade · 17/02/2012 21:15

They have found me a pump, I feel rather like a cow but if it helps my DD it's worth it. A lovely women from the maternity unit came down for a chat about how to get things flowing. She has suggested a similar approach to yours Silver, thanks for sharing your experience with me. Did you successfully manage to breastfeed in the end?

My DD seems to be settling, we are going to spend the night here for observations (her sodium levels weren't great and they also want to keep an eye on her jaundice levels, which apparently should improve as she feeds).

Zhen- thank you is much for all your words of wisdom! And to everyone else too, your gave me the kick I needed to get some proper medical help when my little DD needed it.

OP posts:
crikeybadger · 17/02/2012 21:40

Glad you've got some help Gatorade. Smile

If you are able to get DD latched on well, you could try breast compressions to get more milk in. There are some good videos on Dr Jack Newman's site see here.

It might be worth asking someone who is specialised in breastfeeding to have a look for tongue tie too as this can cause problems with latching.

Hope you have a good night and things are better tomorrow.

RedKites · 17/02/2012 21:40

Hi,

I'm glad you've got the help you need. 25mls is an impressive amount to have expressed first time in what must have been a stressful situation! I had a similar experience when my DS was born - he didn't latch on right after my milk came in and I ended up pumping and cupfeeding him for a couple of days.

Quite possibly you know this already, but here are Kellymom tips on maintaining supply by pumping .

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