Mixed feeding at 5 days old, help me get my baby to nurse!

[Fishpond]

My beautiful DS is 5 days old. He was a c-section baby (planned so no labor) and 3 weeks early so very sleepy. I tried EBF and he was latching well for the first 2 days but then got very frustrated at the breast and could only feed with nipple shields.

At day 3 he developed jaundice so had to top up with formula, I was secretly relieved as at least he seemed contented and I knew he had a full tummy at least part of the time. Day 4 my milk finally came in but he had been on formula only for day 3. For the last 2 days I have only put him to the breast twice, he latched but wouldn't suck and got v frustrated.

I am managing to express and really hate the pumping, very sore but I do like knowing how much he is getting. The bottles are such a faff, I'd really like to breastfeed exclusively. Any tips for helping him now that he's very used to the fast and immediate flow of the bottle? I hold him almost 24/7 and do skin to skin most of the night.

(he also was getting frustrated at breast in early days due to tongue tie but that has now been clipped)

Sorry for massive post!

Bah sorry to drip feed, also - he only takes 1-1.5 ounces at every feed and feeds about every 2 hours. Should I try and stretch him longer and take more? Or does it not matter as it's essentially the same amount? He has tons of wet and dirty nappies and sleeps 90% of the day. He never cries (wait til he's 6 months and I'm on here not believing I ever said that!!!), very contented.

I would just keep offering the breast the more the better. Have you tried expressing a little straight into his mouth so he knows its there? Also hask mw/hv for help if hes frustrated maybe his latch isnt quite right.
Congrats!

Thanks for your reply, yes I always manage to get a few drops in his mouth but that doesn't seem to affect him. I'm in the US, no midwives or Hv's here and one lactation consultant at the hospital where I delivered but I really didn't get on with her at all, felt v pressured.

Have you had a look at biological nurturing? It might help with positioning.

Also lots and lots of skin to skin time might help.

Newborn feeding really is little and often. At this stage he wants/needs to suckle to promote breast milk production. The more he feeds now the more milk there will be.
kellymom has a list of phone numbers in US that you can call for help. might one of those be useful too you.

Yes to biological nurturing and also perhaps try bathing together. The water does something to reawaken the instincts and babies often latch in the bath.

Are you doing stretching and massaging of the incision after the tongue tie? This prevents it reattaching.

Does he have a lip tie? That can also prevent a proper latch,

There is a tongue tie support group on face book. Come and join us.

I second the bathing together thing...I've been having loads of trouble with BF, but LO always latches well when we're both in a warm bath.

Bottle fed babies get lazy because they dont have to suck

Breast fed babies have to work for it

So if u combine the two babies sometimes struggle with breast as they get it easy with a bottle

I would say limit the ff feeds to as little as possible my DS had top ups after every feed he was fully ff by 8 weeks as refused breast. If u can only give ff a couple times a day whilst still offering breast to encourage this method of feeding u may have more luck than I did