4 day old baby - need experienced mum advice!

[Drmum83]

TIA for any help you can offer!
I'm trying to breast feed my 4 day old daughter. She's sleepy as expected at this age (bilirubin normal yesterday and 7% weight loss only so not worried re jaundice ) and we're doing the stripping/tickling feet etc to try to keep her awake.
My milk has come in in last 24 hours. I have been expressing to try to build up supply and today I'm getting 20mls off total every 3 hours. We are cup feeding this and topping up with formula.
She will latch but this is a bit of a game and she gets upset very quickly and pulls off. I'm not even sure her efforts are giving her much milk at all.
I'm worried we're gonna be stuck in expressed/cup/poor latch cycle forever...
Also, she hasn't pooed for 24 hours, lots of farting though and wetting nappies.
She has been checked for tongue tie.
Are my concerns normal, is this a case of just needing to persevere?
Please help!! Thank you!

It's a good question! It was something shared with me at an ante-natal class. I think it's a perceived effort scale 0-10 (time in the title is probably misleading in interpreting the graph). I would say that it mirrors my experience of BF, would be interesting to hear from people who have FF. For me, at 6 months breastfeeding is so enjoyable & easy, whereas at 4 days I was tempted to walk out of the house & never look back.

I was really lucky and managed to bf all 3 of mine but those early days were a real haze as all 3 were 'grazers.'They would feed/suckle/use me as a dummy for what seemed like hours.It was tough but as others have said I got everything to hand (remote,phone,snacks,water etc) and just went with it.Gradually they went longer between feeds and we could settle in to a vague routine,but really,it's such early days,relax and don't worry.This thread has made me feel nostalgic but it is a really tiring phase-it will get easier,be kind to yourself.I very rarely expressed btw, I was always advised baby is able to set the pace and establish supply/demand specifically for her requirements

Sorry Alice but the graph indicating only very,very minimal effort by 8 weeks and moderate by 4.5 weeks doesn't mirror anything experienced by most of the women I know who ebf. Whilst it might give a little reassurance that it gets easier it also sets out unrealistic expectations and over simplifies ebf.

Op the first few weeks are hard but it does get easier. I really think that you need some real life support. Do you think that your baby is feeding at the breast at all? It's good that she will latch on but I think that it's that which needs addressing first so that you can ditch the expressing and f. In our area we saw the mw on day 5 for a heel prick test, will you see yours today?

My mum still often squeezed my hand at 12 weeks and said "hang on in there till 6 months, then it's easy" Nicky ... While definitely easier than bottles there are growth spurts and being unable to tell the hv the exact ml you feed baby (a different kind of stress).

That chart is extremely oversimplistic and of course one person's opinion! Though it is true that BF is very difficult for the first while and gets much easier.

Drmum83 - hope things are better today.

Can't understand why you would be expressing and cup feeding and giving formula and breastfeeding direct at four days....who is looking after you, who has suggested this punishing regime, with a baby whose weight is fine, who is not jaundiced, whose health sounds perfectly ok?

It's not meant to be complicated like this.

Please see a midwife who knows about bf and/or give the breastfeeding helpline(s) a call.