please help

[Springtime26]

Hello.my baby is 6 days old today.due to baby having an infection and low blogs sugars at certain points I was encouraged to top up bf with formula.
Now I want to get back to exclusive nd but struggling.
Last night I bf for about 3 hours non stop and still was not settleing so resorted to 40ml of formula.
This morning she did bf but with difficulty.
Ihad atraumatic birth reisulted in me having emergency c section..I don't think my milk has fully come in yet.
Have I lost my window to bf?
What can I do?
thankyou

No, you haven't missed anything. Establishing BFing is a marathon not a sprint! When you say your baby BFed with difficulty can you give more detail? Was it hard to get her attached? Are you in pain?

Could you call one if the BF helplines (La Lache League etc, sorry can't link as on phone.) Do you have a BF clinic or group in your area? What does your MW say?

I ended up topping up for weeks and weeks before being able to exclusively breastfeed so don't despair!

Sprintime, no, you have absolutely not lost any window :)

Sometimes, formula is advised on maternity units to deal with a short-term crisis - but it only needs to be temporary.

To get back to full bf, keep your baby close and snuggled in, skin to skin, so you can respond immediately to her feeding cues any time when she is not deeply asleep. Don't expect her to settle anywhere but next to you - if she's been a bit poorly and lethargic, plus a difficult time with the birth, she needs to make up for lost time, and she needs to be close to you. She will object when put down away from you - yay! This is good!

Less than a week ago she was inside you feeding much of the time. A three hour feedathon can be normal in these early days - she will be dosing and snoozing during that time, but only really happy on or near the breast. Normal.

Is there a midwife seeing you (I'm assuming you're at home now) who can support you in not giving formula and working your way back to full bf?
You can also call any of the bf helplines.

Hope today is better for you.

Just to say that we had similar circumstances as in emcs and infection at birth. My DD also used to have 3hr feeding sessions but persevere, just keep feeding her, swapping sides when she comes off, back and forth as many times as necessary. My milk didn't come in until later than I expected, you just have to keep going, you really can do this and so can your beautiful baby. Keep up with the skin to skin, keep hold of baby, don't pass her around too much so you can respond to her feeding cues and, as we were told in our breastfeeding workshop, if in doubt, whip em out! Good luck xxx

Congratulations on your DD. And for doing so well at bfing so far. Agree with the others, just let your baby feed, feed, feed.

Make yourself very comfy in bed/chair/sofa etc. Have the tv remote handy and phone/laptop (for MNing). If possible send your partner out for lots of luxury biscuits and snacks (whatever you love), magazines and refreshing cold drinks and just snuggle with your baby. You need to recover too and to eat and drink lots. Good luck!

Thank you got your responses.
We are still in hospital, I think she will still be on antibiotics till Friday.
She latches really well buyer comes of in 5 or 10 minutes so I re latch her.
The midwives don't know why she is doing it.
She is so unsettled I am having to top up.just can't stop crying.feel like a failure.x

YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE YOU ARE DOING AMAZINGLY!! It is very normal to cry lots after giving birth due to all those lovely hormones whizzing around. Give yourself time, make sure you have people running around after you, and get as much support as you can. Even if your DD does need a bit of a top up with formula it is not the end of the world and does not mean you can't exclusively breast feed in the not too distant future. Just remember you are doing whatever you need to do for your beautiful DD's benefit.

Enjoy your cuddles and make the most of them. My DS is 6 months now and I don't know where the time has gone :) good luck :)

My DS only fed in 5-10 minute bursts when tiny (I know this because I wrote down all of his feeds obsessively). I think little and very often is a typical newborn pattern so as long as you can relatch her on after a little break, that should be ok.

You're doing really well. You've had a tough time and even if you hadn't your hormones would be surging! Try to be kind to yourself. Tiny babies can seem to be bf-ing all the time, but it's the most efficient way to get your milk flowing. You've not missed any window, so don't panic. Just persevere and let your DD suck as much as possible. Things will settle down and get much easier, but it's new to you both and will take a little time. Congratulations!

How are you defining 'settled'? If she is happy enough just staying close to you skin to skin, latching on for 5-10 minute bursts and then fussing a bit before latching on again, then this is normal.

Not sure why you are topping up - can you check with the infant feeding specialist? If the blood sugars are ok now, should be ok to drop the top ups.

Also another one with very similar circumstances to you and I clearly remember the floods of tears and feeling like a complete failure after firstly not having anywhere near the birthing experience I expected and then having problems feeding, which I expected to find easy . I must just tell you I don't know anyone who didn't struggle at first and it is bloomin hard work and a bit of a shock to the (already very weary) system. I just want to echo what people have said above-just feed feed feed then feed some more. It is competely normal to do so and sometimes the midwives can make you feel like it's not (although you may be lucky on that front.) We had to give ds a few top-ups while his sugars were low but by doing the things that tiktok said and literally having him at the breast what felt like all the time, even when some less informed midwives were telling me off and saying things like 'he's just using you as a dummy' -uh,yeah, that's what they're supposed to do to build your supply...- we managed to keep it at that and have built a very healthy supply. Just try and do as little as you can except feed (I.e. have someone else do everything else) and just try to relax. It does get so much easier, but just be prepared for some hard graft at first.