So bf got off to a rocky start as LO was jaundiced and sleepy and wouldn't latch on. He was 17 days early and a v quick labour.
He took three weeks to regain his birth weight and during the next few weeks we went through a whirlwind of cluster feeding, evening fussiness, green poo, and massive anxiety on my part about whether I could feed my baby.
At ten weeks I finally caved and started giving him a bottle of formula at night. I thought that meant the end of bf, but in fact it gave me the headspace to continue bf apart from that.
I'd say bf is now going very well, except: his latch is still poor, very shallow. It's a little uncomfortable tho not outright painful. He still takes a long time to feed - sometimes 45 mins.
I have had help from midwives, HV and NCT bf counsellor (who checked for tongue tie). They agree it is frustrating but pointed out milk transfer is happening. My chiropractor says he has a disorganised suck. It has improved since she treated him but she said she was disappointed with the progress made.
He is five months old. We saw the paediatrician today for final discharge related to the jaundice (which is now gone). LO was weighed and has jumped from 9th to 25th centile.
I mentioned the latching issues and asked whether perhaps I could see an LC. The paediatrician said he would be laughed at if he referred a five month old baby who was gaining weight and the LC had to prioritise.
There are no private LCs in my area. I have I think tried everything on the Internet (Flipple etc) and I am going to an LLL meeting next week as final attempt to see if someone can give me a game changing tip!
Other than that, should I just give up trying to "fix" this? Is it a non problem, am I over analysing it?
Ideally I'd like to keep feeding him til 11 months, tho it has occurred to me it is cruel to make him work so hard to feed and maybe I should switch to formula after six months??