Starting bf with bottle fed baby

[Madratlady]

Ds has had problems latching on so has been bottle fed. He's 5 weeks old and his a very hungry baby, we're having to alternate expressed milk and formula as I can't express enough to keep up with his appetite.

He had a tongue tie which was cut on Monday. He is now latching on better but won't bf as he gets frustrated at the milk not coming instantly, he cries and won't latch back on.

Can I get him bf somehow? I really want to be able to bf him and not have to express so much.

What teats are you using with the bottles? When in a similar situation we used the Medela Calma bottles/teats which I felt helped my ds get used to the idea of having to work a little for milk.

Then, other than that, it was just persevering with it. Offering breast first always before topping up and so on. He got better at it gradually until I took the leap to stop offering anything other than direct breastfeeding. Got there in the end and fed until 17 months.

We have the tommee tippee closer to nature bottles and teats.

So far he will latch on but only for a few seconds, we haven't managed a feed.

The Medela teats create a vacuum so the baby needs to actively suck to get milk, unlike normal teats where milk flows freely and constantly. I found it helped my ds get used to the idea of breastfeeding. The only issue is that they are not the cheapest unfortunately - £15 ish for 1 bottle.

We do have one that came with the medela swing so I will try it.

You could try using a supplemental nursing system which is basically a tiny tube you run down your boob and to the nipple. When he sucks he gets milk from you and the tube encouraging him to keep sucking. They are often used when women are trying to relactate.

Kellymom has good ideas about speeding up letdown

Second the supplemental nursing

Deep breaths and try again

Yeah I'm looking into maybe using a supplemental nursing system. The milk is there but getting it flowing takes a while and ds is impatient.

Keep offering. One day DD just took it from the boob. I hadn't done anything different.

Good luck!