DD is about 10 hours old. Help me to BF her please

[McKayz]

DD was born at 1:08am. She was born at home in a birth pool. No interventions or drugs. She weighed 9lb 6.5oz

She had a really good feed on both sides about an hour after birth. We eventually went to bed at 4ish where she fed for another 45 minutes. Since then she has been sleeping. I've just changed her nappy which she wasn't impressed with but has gone back to sleep on my chest.

Do I just leave her and let her sleep for a bit or try and wake her for a feed?

Thank you.

I would leave her remember she's been through a traumatic experience and needs to recover. You've both done so well do just relax and rest, she will feed when she wakes.

Congratulations on your new arrival.

Aww! Congratulations :)

I'd be tempted to let her sleep, DS and I both slept for 8 straight hours after birth and he was fine, although I may have remembered that wrong.

However, 7 hours does seem like a long time. Could you snuggle in bed with her and try to feed her lying on your side? She might be more inclined to do it half asleep, then.

Hi! Congratulations! I woke mine every couple of hours to make them suckle to bring the milk on. They do sleep a lot for the first few days, but you need the milk to come through, so suckle as much as possible!

She has a good long sleep by now, and suckling should be little and often at this stage, both for their energy levels and your milk supply. I'd have her in beside me skin to skin if poss and nudge her towards suckling.

Congratulations on your lovely new snuggly baby!

congratulations!

id agree with the skin to skin - my DS1 wouldnt feed and he was a big lad, ended up jaundiced. Midwife advised us to strip him down to a nappy so he would be chilly, and then feed as he would snuggle in for warmth and food.

He never stops eating now, 12 years on.

Congratulations! Just keep offering whenever she wakes. I think every 3-4 hrs is advised. If she doesnt feed and youre worried ask for help and persevere. Dd slept pretty much all the time for the first 2 days but woke with a vengence on night 2! Ds took 6 days to feed properly.
Please dont give up. It really is worth it in the end. Also If people say you are doing it wrong if it hurts thats not always right. My 3 dcs have all bf well past a yr with a good latch on but its always been sore at the start.

Good luck and enjoy the rest while you can! :)

I agree with the skin to skin and gentle encouragement. I didnt do this enough with DS1 when he was born and he was another big baby who ended up jaundiced.

Congratulations and good luck!

Hey mckayz - congratulations!

I'll second lots of skin to skin, biological nurturing positions got us off to a good start with the bfing too. He doesn't feed like that so much now bu his first 24 hours it was very helpful to let his instincts kick in.

Personally I let mine sleep and didn't worry about the first day (second baby, natural birth, around 9lb). She did seem to go a very long time after the initial feeds shortly after the birth but my milk came in on day 2, no problems at all.

:o McKayz! Leave her sleeping. She will wake up when she's hungry. You obviously fed her well enough earlier and she's nice and content now. Congratulations again! :o

She's having a feed now.

Congratulations McKayz!

MW has just gone. Apparently the latch is great but it hurts. MW SARS it should stop after 30 seconds.

Is it something that will stop after a while?

Should do. :) Both ds and dd hurt at first but it gets easier quickly.

SARS? I've joined the one hand typing club

It hurts like a bitch for a week but only on initial latch/suck then nipple toughens up and it should be pain free.

I used to hold my breath, wriggle my toes and stamp my feet for the first few sucks fo the first few wks. Use lots of lansinoh. I didnt with dc1 and ended up using silicone shields cos they got so sore. It really does get easier though. Dd feeds at night and i can sleep through it now x

Ow. It hurts for the whole feed.

Shouldn't really hurt severely for whole feed. Is there a BF person at the hospital who you could ask for advice from?

She is still tiny though, I wouldn't get overly worried :)

It hurt at first with both mine and it certainly didn't stop after just 30 seconds. I used to take a deep breath and sometimes sing to get through it. I agree with Soft and McKayz - it will get better. Once you get into breastfeeding, it's actually relaxing (all that oxytocin).

Enjoy your lovely newborn.

It hurt like mental for me too for the first week plus but now at 12 weeks I don't notice her latching on. Keep with the bf, totally worth it and so convenient. My LO was 10lb at birth and had a very powerful suction! Lansinoh is a god send! Sending you hugs and congratulations and supportive hugs x

If it's hurting through the whole feed then I would get more advice - maybe the latch is nearly there, but just needs a little tweak to be just right?

Congratulations! Lucky you, I loved the newborn phase.

The first few feeds didn't hurt for me but then I started to get really sore. Definately get some lansinoh it really helps and be careful what breastpads you use when your milk comes in - I had some that stuck to me and it felt like I was peeling off skin! Ow!

I was in hospital for several days and when I complained about mentionned being sore I was told to give my little finger to the baby as I obviously had a sucky baby I now realise that it wasn't the best advice (babies need to suck a lot to get the milk going) but I will admit that for the first 2 weeks DH looked after DS from 9pm-midnight, with his little finger in his mouth whilst I got some unbroken sleep. It meant I could tackle the night wakings a lot easier and DH had some proper cuddles with a teeny tiny baby . It didn't affect my supply - in fact I had oversupply.

Also, when your milk does come in be prepared for a lot of pain but it won't last forever. I was still in hospital and I remember going to find the duty midwife in tears because it hurt so much and I thought it would be like that forever. Stopped in 24 hours I think.

Good luck and enjoy those cuddles!

It hurt me a lot at first, but I later found out that it really shouldn't. If it hurts there might be something wrong with the latch.

Midwifes - although they do of course have a lot of practical experience, are not actually BFing experts.

There is a lovely group called the La Leche League

They have a helpline 0845 120 2918, you can ring them and get support on the phone, they're great, give them a call!

on their helpline here www.laleche.org.uk/pages/about/helpline.htm

i was absolutely convinced i was doing it wrong when it hurt all the way through, but my latch was checked.
it stopped hurting all the way through after a couple of days iirc.

congratulations