How long on each side?

[galwaygirl]

Hi, I'm confused about how long to leave 2 day old DS on each side. The midwives at the hospital were great and reckon his latch is really good, feels like we are making a great start however earlier today he has stayed on each side for 40 mins at different times which seems too much for my nipples to handle as they are a little cracked/bloody and very sore. I am so paranoid about a bad latch and really don't think that's the problem, just that the amount of time on the boob is tough on them??
There seems to be loads of conflicting advice about switching or leaving on one side. I'm thinking it might be easier to try switching him? I feel like tonight might be a long one and I really just about manager the 40 min goes.
I really really really want this to work out as I gave up with DD really quickly after a traumatic birth.

hiya - it gets easier once your milk
comes in and there's more there for lo to have. have you any nipple cream? might be a good idea to help you out for now.

at my 3 day check up the midwife said to me it's important they get the hind milk as well as the creamy top milk - so if lo feeds on left side and wants feeding again within an hour use the same breast. if over an hour has passed then either breast is fine.

my nipples had a really sore day and then they did settle. ask your midwife if younger worried tho, better to tripple check these things and be happy.

hope some of this makes a little sense - brain slightly fried still!!

From my recent experience on bf a newborn what you are describing is normal in terms of length of time.
My DD was constantly on the boob the first few days, I was knackered with bleeding cracked nipples.
If the nipples are bleeding or cracked then baby is not latched on properly.
Also from my experience many midwives do not know enough about how to breastfeed well.
Lansinoh is a great nipple cream, very expensive but worth it and you don't have to wash it off before feeds.
What pink described is what I have been told by my health visitor who is also a BF specialist.
It's true that there is fore milk and hind milk but they are the same milk. Fore milk is the thirst quencher. Hind milk is the real creamy stuff. You know when baby has got to hind milk she stops suckling so hard an you feel a little flicker of the tongue on your nipple.
Basically hind milk sticks to the inside of your ducts and until the fore milk has been taken away, if baby has good latch then the hind milk will be able to be sucked out.
Once my milk came in I BF one side, until DD got that drunk on milk look and stopped feeding. Then I would change her nappy in which she'd wake up. Then offer her the second side which she always takes. All in all this takes about an hour but she's getting quicker.
I don't know how to so the link but kellymom.com is a great website as is the book The Womanly Art Of Breastfeeding.
Both has great advice.
Good luck xxx

glossy has explained it far better than I did!!
good luck and at the end of the day if you are worried ask for help from
someone trained - that's what they are there for and they'll have seen it all before.

pinkbear - yes, glossy has got it right, but this is not the same as putting the baby back on the same breast within an hour.

There should be no 'timing' in this, anyway. It's the baby's behaviour and responses that are the crucial things, not the clock :)

Feed from side one. When the baby indicates he has had what he wants from that side, take it as a natural pause in the feed and watch for him perking up again and then offer side 2.

No need to worry about fore/hindmilk - baby sorts all that out for himself.

OP - you sound as if you've had the bad luck to be somewhere with inconsistent and confusing/conflicting info about bf. I hope thngs work out and when the dust settles, complain that on night 2, you were left needing to ask an internet forum what to do :( :(

Hi on day 2 you will still be making colostrum.
It's easier when the milk has 'come in' as your breasts feel full before feeding, as squishy & soft after.

So you know where you are at, with length of time on each side.

I reckon for day 2 letting LO suck as much as you can take is a good idea, so it stimulates milk production.

Get someone to come to the house today & check it all out. Don't settle for a phone conversation, you need to be observed & get guidance.

Persevere, it's worth it!
Congratulations!

Thanks so much for the replies, they are really helpful.
Initially I was worried as he would only take the right side so was really concentrating on getting him to take the left and also just getting him on myself before I left hospital.
They did say to me it shouldn't be really sore. I think what's happened is I left him on with the latch not great a few times yesterday and did some damage to my poor nipples! I am just feeding him now and I took him off and relatched and it wasn't painful after the initial discomfort. So today I'll focus on that and get DH to help me keep his arm out of the way, DD will just have to have a boring day inside...
I have Lansinoh and have an appointment tomorrow where they'll check how we are feeding - look at us doing it and my nipples etc (I'm in Sweden) so I can get more help then.
I think I was thinking about too many different things, getting him on, keeping him on, how long should he be on etc etc etc so it's really been helpful to have these replies and get refocused. Thanks again x

Congratulations! I had the same problems as you. I fed from only one side at a time (still do and dd is a bouncing 7mo) I went to see a bf counsellor who helped with the latch. I used lots of Lansinoh cream. I also had a cs so was on lots of painkillers which I think helped take the edge off the pain. By day 10 my nipples were healing and I started to enjoy it.

Good luck and just take it 1 feed at a time!

You are doing really well OP, so don't you worry babies are very good at taking what they need.
A breastfed baby can't be over fed but can be underfed so if baby needs the boob for 10 mins or 40 mins, let her.

I must say though, considering breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world I found it so difficult! At 7 weeks we are still ironing out little issues but I persevered and things are much better. I almost gave it up many times but be patient xxx

Congrats galwaygirl

I'm almost 5 weeks in with first baby and still not sure I've got things 100% right with bf as I don't feel the advice is consistent (midwives, bf adviser and HVs all saying different things?!) but just wanted to reassure you that once you get past the sore nipples it is much more manageable so do persevere. Like tomatoplantproject I think it was about 10 days for me and like you I think that although I was told in hospital my latch was good, it wasn't perfect, and baby had a tiny mouth, making it difficult for her! Anyway, I used Lansinoh as advised here, and also found squeezing out a little breast milk to rub in and let dry helps (also helpfully advised in other threads here!)

Good luck!

I think glossy explained it really well imo. I'm bf my 7 week old and things couldn't be so different from those first few days! My dd now feeds from 1 boob for 10-15 mins and she's full. She's gaining weight well and has lots of wet/soiled nappies. Until milk came in, she was feeding 40 mins - over an hour and I was in excruciating pain for about a week with cracked sore nipples. This was a mixture of poor latch be just getting used to bf. What I'm saying is that it does hurt to start with in my experience (also with older dd) and each baby will feed for a different amount of time as they are all completely different. Best advice I was given from wonderful midwife was about biological nurturing and saved my nipples and my sanity! Basically, let baby root for nipple itself and latch on. Amazing but they know what they're doing! Congrats and good luck with feeding. It does get better and enjoyable (smile)