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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

12 day old baby at the.breast for almost 2 hours!

20 replies

Rachog · 27/07/2012 20:46

Is this normal? He is asleep and nibbling more than sucking. If I take him off he gets angry, head bobbing and growling . We have changed sides and are back on the first side but surely there can't be any milk left!

OP posts:
dancingmummy · 27/07/2012 20:51

Definitely normal for that age, I remember my two doing it, think it's a way to send a message to your body to produce more!

JezzaJ9 · 27/07/2012 20:54

Rachog, I am right there with you, my DS is 16 days old and is doing the same, he is gaining weight, weeing lots and pooing lots, MW and HV say its perfectly normal and that the sucking will stimulate more milk and that it does not run out. I have not come up with any solution except to try to embrace it, for me it happens overnight so I am shattered but I have a DS1 who is 3.5 so I know it gets better, i think like Labour I blocked out the first 5 weeks of feeding the first time around.

It will get better and they are so little still. xxx

ErmaGerdOlermpercs · 27/07/2012 20:54

Completely normal. You won't run out of milk, don't worry.
Congratulations :)

CMOTDibbler · 27/07/2012 20:56

Totally normal, and you make milk all the time, so theres always some there. Keep changing sides, as often as you like. Go with the flow, lie down on your side in bed and snooze if you want Smile

Original poster
Rachog · 27/07/2012 21:07

Thanks for the quick responses as always. I don't know how I would get through this without mumsnet. Dp keeps "helpfully" suggesting giving ds a dummy or a bottle of milk, even though the health visitor told him this morning that it wasn't a good idea.

OP posts:
SirBoobAlot · 29/07/2012 10:30

HV is right. DP is probably just trying to "fix" things. DS knows what he is doing, leave him to it, it will ease off soon :)

Original poster
Rachog · 29/07/2012 12:37

Your right, dp thinks he needs to be practical and come up with a solution rather than just say well done, your doing great.

OP posts:
freelancegirl · 29/07/2012 13:36

I could have posted this myself too! DS is 12 days old today and for the last three days or so has spent a good two hours or more at various intervals on the breast - usually at night. When I take him off he always wants to come back for more. Dr Google told me it was probably a growth spurt.

I am topping up with pumped breast milk and also formula on midwife's orders as he lost 10% of birth weight out of hospital and hadn't put it on last check (day 10). But I do worry that he is not getting anything at the breast as he is just stop and start and often falls asleep. Although I have noticed he has a milky mouth when coming off the breast so am hoping he is getting what he needs from there first. He doesn't seem to have any nipple/teat confusion which is good.

I guess we just carry on feeding them!

sheeplikessleep · 29/07/2012 13:56

Normal normal normal. Keep feeding and sod everything else basically!!

Congratulations!

tiktok · 29/07/2012 16:22

freelancegirl - get this checked out properly by which I mean have someone observe a feed from start to finish. Stopping and starting and falling asleep ... that could be normal, but someone who knows what they're talking about needs to investigate, I think. At the moment you are doing the most awkward way of feeding - direct, expressing, topping up with formula and ebm - and you need to find a way back to effective direct bf, and a baby who has lost a lot of weight in the very early days may not yet have got the hang of bf. Amending positioning and attachment may help.

OP - all sounds fine :)

Original poster
Rachog · 29/07/2012 16:52

Thanks for the replies, ds seems to just like being at the breast, he has settled down a bit now and we are having a great day today. Really feel like we have turned a corner last night/today.

Feelancegirl, it is hard to know what to do or what is normal. I have bottle fed two previous children so it was hard to break the 4 hour rule and feed as often as we are. I hope your Ds settles down and gains weight. Ds lost 5oz on by day 6 but had put 6 back on by day 10 but it was such a worry knowing that he had list some.

OP posts:
freelancegirl · 30/07/2012 11:46

Thanks for the advice too tiktok! The midwife is coming round today so I am hoping he has put on some weight. He was reasonably heavy to start with - 8.11 so doesn't feel tiny and now my milk seems to be flowing really well. I would love to go on to just BF and express rather than use formula but will see how it goes. It doesn't feel awkward for me at the moment - but do you mean there could be something wrong...?

tiktok · 30/07/2012 13:31

freelance, observing a feed as well as weighing your baby and asking you stuff will help the midwife assess if your baby is actively transferring milk effectively, and this can be addressed if there is some question about it.

Expressing, topping up with ebm, topping up with formula and direct bf is not sustainable for most women, longer term. It can be helpful short term, but it's hard work to keep up.

freelancegirl · 31/07/2012 12:46

Thanks for your help! The midwife came round yesterday and said he was well latched on so that's one thing. Didn't ask her to observe a feed but I have a friend who is a bf advisor so I will ask her to check it out. He is feeding again from the breast but again I still have to top up so it is a good idea to get checked out.

LAF77 · 31/07/2012 12:58

free did the MW tell you to top up still? Is it with expressed milk or formula?

freelancegirl · 31/07/2012 13:10

Hello LAF, yes - there has been a different mw every time and they still said top up, but breastfeed every time first if possible. Then I can hopefully go from topping up with formula to just topping up with expressed milk. It's all rather a steep learning curve isn't it!

LAF77 · 31/07/2012 13:29

free I am not the expert around here for sure, but if you have to top up with formula, it will affect your ability to produce milk. Perhaps you want to do mixed feeding, but at such an early stage, it may affect your ability to bf in the long run as your body is getting used to making milk as per your DS's "commands". If his hunger signals are being directed to the formula, your body won't make that quantity of milk.

Why did the MW suggest formula top ups, is it due to weight loss? I saw a different MW at each visit too.

freelancegirl · 31/07/2012 13:30

Yes because he had lost 10% of his body weight. But am making a concerted effort to express a lot and use that instead of formula.

tiktok · 31/07/2012 15:08

freelance, it's not good that the midwife has not even offered to observe a feed - she cannot possibly fully assess your bf without it.

Hopefully your friend will help.

Babymay · 02/08/2012 07:44

Hi, I had a different midwife at each visit too who all gave conflicting advice. DS had lost 10% of his birth weight, some midwifes said top up with formula, others said just feed more frequently. I was so confused. The midwife I saw seemed really nice and so I requested for her to come every time after that and she did. It was so much better as we only had one action plan to follow and review. Might be worth asking a specific midwife to return each time. Ask a midwife directly which ever one you feel comfortable with. Helped me sticking to one, rather than lots of differing ideas as to what, if anything needed to be done x

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