Help! I'm struggling to BF my baby..

8 replies

Jorior · 05/12/2013 02:56

My DC3 is proving very difficult to BF. She is 3wo. During the day I have to wake her to feed her and when I do, I have to stop her drifting off to sleep within 2 mins of latching on.

By night she's very restless and wants breast constantly but wants to comfort suck rather than feed. Again she falls asleep within 2 minutes and I spend about an hour tickling her, stripping her off, blowing on her face etc to encourage her to feed. Both night and day it takes about an hour of active persuasion by me to get a feed into her and sometimes it's impossible so I have to give up. This results in her waking 30-60 mins later for a top up. I'm exhausted and getting increasingly frustrated. She's not gaining weight. We have thrush which is being treated but my nipples and breasts are very sore. This situation doesn't seem to be working for us but I BF my other 2 DC and I don't want to give up.

I've been expressing when I can which works because it only takes 5 mins to get a feed into her from a bottle but she still looks for breast for comfort and between the time spent trying to BF her, pumping, steralising, doing school runs and all the other household jobs that need doing after a very broken night's sleep, I'm fast running out of patience and energy.

Anyone had a similar situation and found a solution? Any advice would be great because I feel this isn't sustainable. Thanks...

OP posts:

justmuddlingalong · 05/12/2013 03:15

I know it's not much help tonight, but could you express and give her bottled breast milk at night, as it's quicker and less intrusive on your sleep? It's been many a year since I last breast fed my babies so I'm a bit out of practice. Sorry to not have any other advice, but am sure someone will be along soon with more hints and tips.

Persuasion · 05/12/2013 03:23

Might be worth asking for this to be moved to the breast and bottle feeding board? I'm not an expert at all but have you had the latch checked? Could baby have tongue tie?

I how someone else comes along to give you some more answers.

Cluelessat30 · 05/12/2013 03:33

Not helpful but I had a v similar situation with DD1 and I have up BF at 3 weeks as I felt i was putting so much energy into it and she just wouldn't take a bloody feed. Things improved with formula. That's not to say I couldn't have made it work eventually, but I was all out of patience and ideas at that point. Try going to a la leche or breast feeding support group through sure start. Or is there a drop in session at your local hospital that you can attend? Hugs x

Cluelessat30 · 05/12/2013 04:09

Forgot to mention I had mastitis too which didn't help matters but even after that cleared up it was so hard going due to DD falling asleep so quickly. Looking back I wonder whether she really needed so many night feeds and whether co sleeping would've helped. Try to take cues from your baby ( hard I know).

suntodayplease · 05/12/2013 04:32

I have had a similar experience with DC2 after successfully feeding DC1. After a very long and painful 8 weeks a posterior tongue tie was found and snipped. This was initially missed by 3 different professionals at first so even if you've had this checked push for a check again (and actually get someone to have a feel inside rather than just looking)
I gave the odd bottle of ebm but this didn't actually give me a break, DS just wanted the breast after as well plus it was extra work with all the pumping etc.
hope things improve, by the sounds of it you are an experienced feeder so you'll get there I'm sure. Push for a second opinion on the tongue .

Original poster

Jorior · 05/12/2013 08:00

Thanks for your replies ladies. It's interesting that a few of you mentioned tongue tie because she has slight tie but the paed said not to worry about it. I didn't realise it could affect feeding so much so I'll follow that up again.

I didn't realise there was a breast and bottle feeding board. I'll try there. Thanks again.

OP posts:

minipie · 05/12/2013 21:32

I had same with DD. I put it down to her prematurity but it lasted ages, till beyond her due date. She turned out to have tongue tie. I would definitely get it cut in your position - it won't do any harm and it might make things a lot easier.

mummymog · 05/12/2013 22:01

My DD was the same- and we saw so many people about her including an infant feeding advisor. In the end, I read on mumsnet about posterior tongue tie and it clicked as the reason she was like this.

I insisted she had a posterior tongue tie and self refered to have it fixed- and lo and behold, she did indeed have a posterior tongue tie.

I totally agree with suntodayplease- get a second opinion

Flip