New to breastfeeding help!!

[Ilikemashpotatoe]

Not sure if I've posted in the right group.
My baby is 3 weeks old and at first everything was going well she latched on great and seemed to fall into a pattern of feeding every 3/4 hours. Now the last week she has had trouble latching on. Like she can't find the nipple even though it's in her mouth and gets really irritated. At first I thought it was because I had too much milk and it was causing her to gag and have trouble burping and also sometimes being sick. Now sometimes I feel my breasts are full are get the "let down" feeling a hour or half hour before she's due a feed and then when she feeds I feel she hasn't got enough as sometimes she feeds then burps then feeds from other side and keeps going at short intervals that gives me the impression there's not enough milk in them?? I don't know what to do. One midwife told me to wake her and feed her when I feel like I need to and another told me to let her sleep and just feed on demand. But if I'm feeding on demand and there's nothing in there then she isn't getting enough surely because she keeps coming back for more and getting frustrated at the breast. Yet other times she feeds perfectly and I can literally see the milk and her guzzling it. The times she seems frustrated i can't see milk and try to hand express a little bit after she's come off to see if anything in there but there isn't!
God I must sound so flappy but I just don't know what the right thing to do is. Am I even doing things right?? I think I will go to a local breast feeding support group but until then has anyone got any advice!??

If she's gaining weight, producing plenty of wet and dirty nappies then try not to worry about how much and how often she is feeding. She may seem content one feed and unsettled at the next, but it isn't necessarily significant.

In terms of timings, I would feed on demand but not go longer than 3 hrs in the day and 4 at night without offering a feed.

Also, you may not be able to hand express milk - some women can never express but feed their babies with no problems. It's not a good indicator of supply.

If you haven't already, have a look at the website Kellymom - there's lots of advise and info about what to expect when feeding.

Also another different midwife told me to express if they feel too full which I did once after she fed two evenings in a row. I managed to get nearly 3oz out and them two nights she didn't sleep well I presune because I pumped at the wrong time and there wasn't enough milk! Stupid move.

Hi there OP we've moved this to our infant feeding topic.
Congrats on the new arrival and hope you can sort the latch soon - do seek RL help as well if you need it
Kindest to you

Thanks for your reply. With my first I gave up trying to breast feed as he didn't latch on at all and I really really want it to work this time. I don't understand why it was going so well to her not latching on properly. She gets so frustrated and it's upsetting. So many people have given me advice and I just don't know what to do I feel like I'm doing something wrong all of a sudden. I try to hold her so she can come off when she is ready and sometimes feel that maybe because I try to make her latch on I hold her wrong and then I try to get comfortable and IT disrupts the feed and it's my fault because I moved. Ugh I don't know

You know that milk is produced on demand, like a constant stream of milk? When you start a feed, the baby takes what is present in your boob and then the let down sensation is the start of your body making more milk as long as your baby carries on sucking and stimulating milk production.

Frequent feeds stimulate your supply so that next time more milk is made when it is demanded. If you've just expressed, then your baby won't get much milk that is already in your boob, it will have to wait till a let down and milk production is stimulated. But milk will continue to be made and so they can still feed and get what they want. It's just they may be a bit unsettled that they had to work a little bit harder.

I would only bother expressing if you want to have milk to bottle feed. Otherwise it's much simpler just to put baby to breast. If you are uncomfortably engorged in between feeds then just express enough to relieve the feeling, otherwise you are going to over stimulate your supply.

Have a Google of "biological nurturing" which is a position for feeding in which might help. Also there are other holds for feeding like the rugby hold which can help. I used something called an exaggerated latch to help my DS latch - again you can find explanations online for how to do this.

Sounds very normal. They go through a growth spurt at 3 weeks and will want to feed more regularly or a greater volume.

Feeding every 3-4 hours is very unusual for a newborn breastfed baby they usually want to feed more often. You may need to feed more often to build and increase you supply. Feeding a minimum of 8-12 times a day.

How is weight gain? and wet and dirty nappies?

You may also have some issues with the latch, your darling baby is still very new and tiny. Is there a La Leche League group locally you could meet with?

My LO did this a lot! In the end after a long chat with breast feeding support group leader she suggested it might be wind. That I was trying to feed her on top of wind- more burping and gradually its has got better. Found it really challenging as it seemed like her feeding cues got harder to read as we went on and I confused them with 'I need to burp cues'! Really recommend you go to a breast feeding support group or ring the national helpline who have trained counsellors to give advice. It is so worth the effort of continuing and you will crack it :) also second opinions of gaining weight and doing plenty of nappies then whatever you are doing is working!

• also I second the opinion!