Am I starving my ebf 4 day old baby?

[WutheringTights]

I?m a first time mum and I?m worried that my 4 day old EBF baby isn?t getting enough to eat. Apologies that this is so long, I wanted to make sure that I gave all the relevant information.

He was born on Saturday after a 40 hour labour and it was an instrumental delivery as his heart rate was dipping on each contraction. We were given IV antibiotics because my waters broke early. I had a local anaesthetic for the delivery but no other pain relief (I had diamorphine earlier on but it had worn off by then as given more than 12 hours before delivery).

On day 1 he wouldn?t feed so I ended up giving him hand-expressed colostrum from a syringe.

On day 2 I struggled to get him to take anything. He wouldn?t open his mouth and if I did manage to get a nipple in he didn?t seem to realise that he had to suck. He ended up feeding every 5-6 hours for about 20 minutes each time.

Day 3 (yesterday) I woke him 3 hours after each feed and he seemed to get the hang of it, feeding each time and each feed got easier. He even asked for a couple of feeds after only 2.5 hours (and he had an extra one after about an hour which I don?t count as it was only for about 5 mins). My milk came in but as the day went on he went from feeding for about 20 mins to feeding for only about 10 mins each feed. I offered him more each time but he wasn?t interested or only took a couple of sucks before falling asleep.

Day 4 (today) he?s had one good 20 minute feed and one for only 10 mins. At the end of the 20 min feed I could see that he had managed to get the thicker milk that comes later (is this the let down?) but I couldn?t see any after the 10 minute feed. I offered him more each time but he wouldn?t take it.

It doesn?t feel like he could possibly be getting enough milk but I don?t know what else to do. I have some formula in the cupboard and I?m tempted to give him a bottle just so I know that he?s getting something but my instinct is that once I do this he won?t take the breast again as it?s been such a battle so far.

We only get 2-3 wet nappies a day but plenty of dirty ones ? poo is greeny yellow in the nappy but bright yellow on the cotton wool when I wipe him iyswim so he is getting something.

Any suggestions/ advice? He was a small baby so I don?t want him losing too much weight when he?s weighed at his 5 day check tomorrow. He's due another feed in an hour.

Thanks

He may not need to feed longer than 10min if you have a lot of milk - he may get all he needs. The best judge are his nappy's - that they are wet? When you get him up for a feed? Is he pooing? If this is the case heis getting enough milk and he will take more and more as he becomes more alert.
If he is falling asleep on the job as others have said strip him off, rub his ears ( stimulates the Chinese acupressure points) and I even have been know to use a cool flannel around the face and neck - felt properly mean, but was suggested to get them well.

Well a different midwife came today. When the first one came and I told her that we had some formula in just in case she was very keen for me to give him a bottle, so perhaps she's just not keen on breastfeeding. A different midwife came today for the five day check. She was much better and it turns out that he's lost less than 1% of his birth weight, so I'm obviously doing something right. I'm just so glad I didn't crack and give him a bottle of formula after that first midwife visit.

Woooooooop! That's amazing! Well done!

ram booby in open mouth
but that is exactly what is needed.

expect extremely sore boobs. lansinoh is your friend but I found Vaseline (rub off before feed! ) also works.

give the soreness about 10 days to reduce to some initial toe curling. and after a few weeks, you won't know what all the fuss was about

as others have said, enjoy this phase. it is extremely short! painful but short.

Less than 1% is amazing! Well done OP!

My experience was much like what geekette said. After a few weeks any discomfort just disappeared. If however, you are still getting pain, then do get your latch checked out by someone. I found upon latching on, counting slowly to ten was a good judgement. If by ten, it was still painful, I would unlatch by putting my little finger in the corner of DD's mouth and then re-latch until it felt ok.

feeding 8-12 times a day, having plenty of wet and dirty nappies! feed for around 20 mins and your perfect! if you are worried express and give a small amount from a small cup not bottle so he laps it, and do plenty skin to skin and keep him with you constant

haven read entire thread as it's late and I'm off to bed, but thought I would quickly share.

My DS was 8lb 14oz born and put on 5lb by 5 day check. He only ever fed for 12 minutes every 3 hours. If I 'forced' him to have more, he just puked it up! He is now 12 weeks nearly as has slept 11pm-10am since 6 weeks and now only feeds for about 7/8 minutes.

He was born on the 75th and is now on the 91st HTH

Wow 1% is amazing, well done you and your boobs!

I haven't read whole thread either but please don't stress. We struggled with bf at first for a variety of reasons and I was topping up with formula until my milk came in. I then had thrush which meant I was in pain and had to feed baby with expressed milk from a bottle. It was 7 weeks before I was feeding exclusively breastmilk and a further 3 weeks before the thrush was sorted and she was totally on the breast. I worried that my baby wouldn't be able to latch or would become too accustomed to formula or my milk supply would be all over the place. In actual fact both my body and baby adapted fine to everything. They're bright little things and soon learn the difference between bottles and breast. I carried on expressing so my husband could share feeding and it's never caused either of us a problem

Hahaha less than 1% is amazing!!!! Just shows how wrong the first midwife was to want you to give him formula!

Great news but a shame you had to come on mumsnet for encouragement and reassurance rather than get it from your midwife.