BF newbie questions - 3days old

[PinkApple86]

Sorry if these are silly questions. I had my baby on Tuesday night. He latched on straight away and after some help in hospital we were feeding well. I have been feeding alternate boobs each time and had no pain until today and my boobs have gone big and hard and drippy, I assume this is my milk arriving. I'm finding it hard to get him latched on the right breast but left is fine. He feeds normally for 5-10 mins each feed then falls asleep or does a v dramatic satisfying looking pop off. My right breast now hurts all over and the nipple is sore I don't think I'm latching him correctly on that side. how do I know when my breast is empty? should I just feed from one breast until empty before I change to the other? I really want to succeed. Please help.

I would feed for max 10 mins each side at the moment to allow supply to sort and even itself out as like you say only just coming through. In a weeks time start just doing each Feed on different side, and only offer both if he's fed for ages and still seems hungry

Pinkapple, not silly questions at all :)

At this stage you can ask for support from your midwife - maybe ask her to watch you and your baby get positioned and attached, and explore other options like baby-led attachment/laid back breastfeeding.

Feeding doesn't have to be done until the breast feels empty. Your guide is your baby's behaviour, and you will notice when he slows down and stops sucking and swallowing....then you can swap sides.

Congratulations on your son!!

It sounds like your right side might be engorged which might make it difficult for him to latch on. If its too full it will be quite solid and he won't be able to form your nipple into the shape it needs to be to get into his mouth properly.

Try squeezing just a small amount by hand from the right side which will make it softer around the nipple area and he'll be able to suck more into his mouth.

At this stage I did one feed on one breast, the next on the other and had a hair band around the wrist of the next side due a feed.
Your boobs will soon accustomise (sp?) themselves to his level of hungriness...
In a few days you'll probably hit a growth spurt/ feeding frenzy. Basically he'll want to feed for hours with not alot else.
This is totally normal! It did take me by surprise though!
Just make sure you're comfy, get something good on telly and have lots and lots of drinks on hand.

Your milk has almost certainly come in. It can be a bit of a shock to the system with your chest doubling in size overnight.

If baby is struggling to latch on one side, it may be that the breast is a little too full and is uncomfortable to latch onto. You could try hand expressing a little bit away before latching or sitting in a warm bath or shower and letting the excess trickle away.

Did your baby have a BCG? If so, that can make it uncomfortable to lie on the side where the injection went in. A change in hold position can help.

The best thing is for you to speak to your midwife or to speak to NCT, BfN or La Leche League to get some one to one support with your latch and positioning. You can never have too much help.

Thanks for your quick replies. I'm going to try and express some from the sore side now and see if it eases. Should I keep the milk and use it or just drain it off? Also thanks for the hairband tip! Midwife is coming again Sunday so I'll see how I go tonight and tomorrow.

Congratulations.

You have good advice here. If you feel you need help you can phone the midwife before Sunday you don't have to wait till she comes.

Yes you can keep any milk you express. Store it in a bottle in the fridge in case you want to add to it. you can collect it over a period of time before you freeze it.

I am purposely not giving times as I always make the time kept in the fridge shorter than it needs to be. I would suggest collecting for 24 hours then freeze but you can store it in the fridge for longer. Congratulations again.

This is going to sound a bit bonkers, but I had a similar problem with DS being unable to latch on due to engorgement, and HV advised savoy cabbage leaves. They really helped! My boobs did not feel as engorged or sore.

I didn't have much luck hand-expressing (the engorgement took too long to go down and DS would go mental - he doesn't like to be kept waiting!) but found a machine pump worked really well. Are you able to buy / hire one? I used it for a couple of minutes on the side I wanted DS to feed from and he seemed to be able to latch on fine once I'd taken a bit of milk off.

Good luck and congratulations on your son!

If engorgement is the issue you could also try a technique called 'reverse pressure softening'. Google it for more info but basically you bunch your fingers together and push backwards on the area round the nipple immediately prior to feeding, which makes it easier to latch on.

with the cabbage thing do I literally just stick a cabbage leaf in my bra?

Congrats! I hand express in the shower when breasts too full as heat helps, or just get baby to do an extra feed. I'm not a fan of machine expressing and find you've too much to think about in these early days, like how to store breast milk, sterilise bottles etc. In terms of how you know breast is empty, it is usually softer than a full breast which is hard. I mostly alternate breasts on each feed with dd2 who is 4m. If offering both breasts on each feed you have to be careful the baby doesn't just get the sugary fore milk from each breast. This causes tummy ache = crying, feeding too often and mucous in poo. The fuller hind milk satisfies a baby better / longer. Good luck, breastfeeding is amazing if you can stick at it. Read up on growth spurts so when baby feeds A LOT for 24hrs you (a) know to expect it and (b) know it's temp. Lots of people give up during demanding growth spurts thinking this is the normal increased pace. Xx

thanks dragonfly I must be doing something right. Just had my day 5 mw visit and he's put on 40g!

Sorry not to see this until now! Yes, you do just stick them down your bra

I'd stock up on a few savoy cabbages as I found them most soothing when they were cold from the fridge (although my DS was born during the heat wave, so yours might last longer!)