I have a 15 week old son. He was really awful at breastfeeding and would just fall asleep at the breast. I tried so hard to continue and went to numerous clinics but eventually ended up going to expressing every feed. He was fine with the bottle to start with for the first few weeks but since about 5 weeks feeds have been absolute hell. I now use formula and some expressed milk as his feeds take so long I'm either expressing or feeding.
Basically he cries for food but as soon as I get him in position to feed he starts crying a lot. I then have to calm him down until he's half asleep as he'll then take it but only by me getting his mouth open with the teat and poking his tongue down so I can get the teat in. Then if he's too asleep he doesn't suck and just has his mouth open. Feeds take about an hour now and it's driving me mad. I feel like I've done something wrong. I've tried different bottles, teats, temperatures. The milk type doesn't make a difference. I am gutted I haven't been able to breastfeed but because he would just sleep at the breast I didn't know whether he was getting enough and he was small when he was born, just 5lb 12oz even though he was term.
If anybody has experienced this or has any suggestions I would really appreciate any help. I feel like a prisoner as I can't go out for very long at a time because I can't feed him in public like that.