Any suggestions to help me BF 2nd time round, based on issues 1st time?

[Ozziegirly]

So, I am pg with DC2, due in Dec. With DS1 I planned to bf. This was what happened in reality;

He was born by EMCS after I was induced due to gest diabetes. He was in distress but it was a fine c-section, not crash or anything, just unplanned.

His blood sugar was measured and considered low. I had no colostrum initially so the paediatrician insisted on formula being given. I requested syringe feeing and this was done.

We repeatedly tried to feed DS by skin to skin, lots of cuddling, offering the breast pretty much all the time. He would latch on, then just sit there with the nipple in his mouth, no sucking at all. In my (non medical) opinion because he was already used to the syringe.

For 3 days his blood sugar was monitored and kept falling. He was given colostrum and then on day 3 my milk via a syringe.

By day 3 he still wasn't feeding from me, so we switched to bottles and I was expressing (plentiful) milk.

Went home on day 5.

Expressed for 6 weeks, through constant mastitis, but he was EBF for this time. We continued skin to skin, offering the breast but he never fed from me.

Gave up and went onto forumla when expressing was just eating into my time with him.

So, does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do/try differently this time around?

I am having a planned c-section. Other info - my nipples are quite flat, but not inverted.

Would love to breast feed but am not overly concerned if I can't, EXCEPT for the fact that I just won't be able to express at all this time, so DC2 will end up with basically a week's worth of my milk, but I just don't see how on earth I could express, feed and look after a 2 1/2 year old and a baby.

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and lastly, I;m in Australia, so no NCT, but plenty of other avenues of help (which we used last time but with no success, no one could make DS suck)

Did they check for tongue tie? Sounds like you did everything perfectly first time round so I'm wondering if there was a physical issue on the baby's part.?

It does sound like you did everything you could the first time- you can ask for skin to skin in theatre next time around.

You could also consider antental harvesting of colostrum (from 36 wks) so that you have some to hand to start with.

Finally, it's worth remembering that you will of course have a different baby next time and s/he may be a completely different feeder. It's amazing how women can have totally varying experiences with subsequent children.

We did do theatre skin to skin, I think it's standard over here as I hadn't specifically requested it (hadn't occured to me!).

He didn't have tongue tie, we checked that.

How do you do antenatal harvesting? I didn't leak any milk before I had DS, and I had a few experimental squeezes in the weeks before....

I really hope this baby can feed because I feel sorry already that this baby will get such a short amount of breastmilk if s\he won't feed from me.

You might find this useful on antental hand expression.

It's generally promoted for mothers who have diabetes, but there's no reason why you couldn't do it too. It's suggested that you collect the drops of colostrum in a syringe, put a 'bung' on it and then freeze it in the syringe. (unless you start to get reasonable quantities I guess).

Maybe have a chat with your mw and see if they can offer you any other suggestions.

hth

Defo agree with harvesting colostrum, especially if you have GD again this time. I've just done it with DD to ensure I had plenty of colostrum to get in her if her blood sugars were low. The links given will show you how but be patient, the first 4 ties I tried I got nothing ad I was very disheartened, but I think your breasts just need to get used to it, and eventually I was getting several ml at a time. Be prepared for it to be very slow going, and don't expect volumes, it's thick, sticky and worth its weight in gold! Take a handful of frozen syringes with you when you go into labour, and use them to supplement feeding, not instead of as this will compromise your supply and baby won't get the practise they need! Plenty of skin to skin, feed as soon after birth as you can. Good luck!

I had similar issues and am expecting too.

My MW seemed to think that if baby wasn't Tongue tied, that the next biggest cause of not latching was flat nipples. I think I may have this but not sure what to do about it.

My daughter was on formula on advice of A&E so was on bottles from early on. I think the only way to avoid them getting a preference for that is to use cups or tube feeding??? Never tried this or anything and it sounds complicated when you consider BF should be 'easy'.

I've got zero confidence for DC2 but wanted you to know you're not alone. I'm thinking I'll be able to express only when DH is home for the first couple of weeks.

Good luck Betty, it's hard isn't it?

I went to a supremely unhelpful talk when I was pregnant with my first where the breastfeeding woman basically said "all women can breastfeed, you just have to really try and keep going and really want to" which of course made me feel awful when he just wouldn't feed from me.

I guess the only good thing is that my DS is a healthy, robust little fellow with boundless energy, minimal colds, has never had anything worse than a cold anyway and we are truly "bonded" (and indeed were from the moment he was handed to me) - certainly I don't think I could love him any more, however he had fed in the early days!

But still, would be nice, from a practical and money perspective to be able to breastfeed number 2 rather than have to think about bottles etc.