bf'ing a newborn....constantly.

[SarahJinx]

Hi

DD is two days old. I bf'd my three year old with once daily top ups and was keen to try ebf this time around.

DD is on the breast constantly, DS was too, i 'topped up' because i was getting no sleep and neither was he. She fed all day today with two half an hour naps, last night she fed from 8pm to three am. I understand about establishing supply through cluster feeding and wanted to check with some experts that this is normal...? And, is she actually feeding or just suckling? How can i tell?

congratulations on your new baby :)

it's very normal for a newborn to feed like that. esp (ime) before your milk comes in. hopefully once that happens you'll get a bit more gap between feeds

Thank you, i just want to understand the 'norm' really. I think I'll be up again all night tonight, how do people do it?! I have a three year old too, its tough going!

Is bed sharing an option for you? I think it's a big part of what helps people cope ...

It absolutely is an option, I'll try it. Days are the worst though, shes fed since five am pretty much constantly ...

It absolutely is an option, I'll try it. Days are the worst though, shes fed since five am pretty much constantly ...

It's normal.. we only produce a small amount at first.. baby has to feed feed feed to get supply up.

There is a better picture to show what I mean.. but this sort of explains how tiny their tummys are and how much milk they should be getting at various points. When your milk comes in it should get better but you'll probably have to feed more or less around the clock for a few weeks yet. Topping up won't tell your boobs to make more milk but i'm sure an odd bottle doesn't hurt.

Ime, yes normal. I wish someone had told me, though!
Once I realised that all baby wanted to do was feed, I accepted it and camped out on sofa/in bed and now look back at that time fondly!
If anyone ever asks me bf advice, it will be 'Do Nothing For The First XX Weeks But Feed (and get people to bring you food!)'
Congratulations OP.

www.kellymom.com is a good source of well-researched info

Have you got a stretchy fabric sling? You can feed in those, leaving you hands-free to deal with your toddler. Have a look on youtube for tutorials

Congratulations :)

My 8 week old is still feeding hourly round the clock but he's tracking his weight percentile perfectly so I guess that's just what he needs. I'm utterly frazzled but I'm just going with it. Use your support network as much as you can. It will pass!

It does pass. We were on hour and a half to two hourly feeds at the point you were at. Suddenly I blinked and we were on 4 a day at regular times with proper sleep over night. Thinking of it numbers, I spent less than 2% of my entire life at the stage you're at now (based on 6 months of it, which is longer than it actually lasts iirc the really toufh bit was the first 4 months but I'm rubbish at maths, and a 30yo person)

Thanks all, great advice, particularly the sling, a godsend once DP goes back to work!

staying in bed all day really isn't an option with a three year old already wondering what has happened to the perfect world where he is the king!

we had a bit if an easier afternoon, fed all morning the slept for ages, me and my poor nips got a break!

Congratulations!

Yes it's normal as others have said, but it won't last tooooo long. Hang in there. I remember my DD feeding for the entire day on day 2. Just would.not.stop. After a few days things settled down slightly

Fun times

Aw, congratulations. All that feeding is totally about establishing and encouraging supply - think of it as the baby putting in an order for more milk, so sometimes there might just be suckling, but that's doing a job. I think you'll have odd days like this over the next few weeks - growth spurts a gogo, but it's all part of the process.

We did a lot of clusterfeedings in the evenings. Once your dd gets a better idea of nighttime, you might find this happening too - at least this might be after toddler bedtime. Sending you !

Thanks again all. Like I said we seem to have turned a small corner this afternoon, she's fed/slept/fed/slept, in fact I had to wake her earlier. I know this will change but progress is progress after the feeding marathon of the last couple of days!

She's soundo now too so we're off to bed and will see what the night brings!

My nipples are in shreds but its all good for now....I'll probably be back later!!

If your nipples are hurting, then the latch could be better. If you improve the latch, your baby will get more milk for less effort, which means she will feed for less time or less often, or both. Which would be a win.

Now. The latch.

What position are you using to feed in? If you're feeding on the left breast, talk me through the position, which hand etc etc. and when you look down, where is your baby's nose, relative to the breast? (Clear, touching, smushed in?)

Or - can you call a helpline?

Was the same with my ds. Sleeping together at night and slings in the day were a necessity. Do get the latch checked out though just in case. My supply wasn't very good and afraid to say I never managed to ebf after the first few days because it's so exhausting- started introducing formula then fairly successfully mix fed till about 7 months. If you want to ebf though all the advice was you have to stick at it and it WILL get better. Congratulations.

Ok notquite right now left breast. Dd is laying in my left arm in a cushion parallel to my body, facing my breast. Nose is squashed, cant see chin, mouth is wide top lip squished back. How does that sound?

how much pain is 'normal' in the first few days?

IME, it is possible to have a great latch and it can still shred you nipples. Especially at the beginning before uour milk comes in. Lansinoh is your friends, best nipple balm hands down.

Sounds pretty normal apart from the soreness. If you possibly can, go to a bf group and have someone look at latch. It's impossible to check without seeing it, and small changes can make a big difference.

Congratulations!

Ok. For newborns, you have better control if you hold them in the opposite arm. The cushion can be more harm than help. So hold your baby's neck and shoulders with the opposite arm. Do not hold his head.

If his nose is touching the breast, shift the baby in the direction of his feet. His head should tip back a bit, and his latch improve.

Actually, generally, sore nipples means bad latch. Which may be down to tongue tie, may be down to many things. It often gets better with time, as baby gets bigger, and gets the hang of it.

Sore nipples later on can be down to other things, I should have said. But sore nipples in the early days are nearly always down to latch.

Thank you, its mega painful on latching on but fine after first razor blade in nipples ten seconds and of course I'm already really sore. I've made the adjustments you gave thanks notquite and will look for an expert to check latch after the weekend. Shes fed less in the last two days though which has given my nips a break!

*fed less constantly (three to four hour naps after feeding all morning)