trying to bf but dd either sleeps or squirms away?

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dd is 2 weeks old but was born at 34 weeks so is in special care at hospital. no major health issues, but she is being fed through a nasal tube and i am trying to switch to bf.

two problems: first, dd often falls asleep after just a few strong sucks, or she will just lick my nipple instead (i have a lot of milk so am usually dripping after few sucks...). this happens especially during morning or middle od the day feeds, she is livelier in the evenings.

second, i am worried about my bf technique even when she is awake - she will often latch on, take good sucks, but then sort of squirm an crunch up her body as if her tummy hurts, and bring herself off the breast in doing so. then obv she has to begin all over again with the latch which must be exhausting for her. i don't know why she does this - maybe the pressure of being held against me hurts her in some way

sorry posted too soon. just wondered if anyone had any advice or similar experience?

got to run now but will check back later. thank you in advance...

How many weeks is she now? It's always a bit harder for ex-prems to establish breast feeding as they get tired more easily, so it's totally normal for her to fall asleep while feeding as its tiring.
Could the curling up on the breast be wind she's taken in whilst feeding?
If your still in hospital the best thing you can do is utilise all the staff there, like the neonatal nurses and breastfeeding support, who will be able to observe your feeding technique, help you out, give you confidence with their experience and will be able to help pinpoint what the problem is.

Oh you already said she was 2 weeks...it's still early days for her and she will probably still act like a young'un. She will get there though.

My ds was born at 33 weeks and I also had these problems. The hospital I was in didn't support breastfeeding and the nicu had no dedicated breastfeeding nurses/midwives so in order to get off the ng tube and discharged I gave him bottles of expressed milk and then established breastfeeding at home ( around 36 weeks)

Prems also suffer with wind pretty badly and it should ease around the time of their due date. I used Infacol for a week or so - maybe you could check with your consultant what they think of that?

He is now ebf with no bottles - though I was very very worried that he would never latch on. I am not advocating using bottles of expressed milk, just trying to encourage you that your daughter will figure things out in her own time. You are doing everything that bliss and other organisations suggest to establish breast feeding with prems. It's a stressful time having a baby in special care, wishing you all the best.

mmm Infacol is an interesting idea, I will suggest it. Also interesting that you managed to do ebf even after using bottles... food for thought.