Breastfeeding advice

[S2b16]

Baby number 3, currently 27 hours old and is showing no interest in feeding often.
Midwife said I need to feed him no more than 3 hours apart to get my milk flow going, feeding now after trying 40 mins to get him to latch on, making it nearly 5 hours,
I had problems feeding other two dc and wondering if this is because I fed on demand.
Should I keep forcing him or use breast pump in between? He's still so new but has been settled since about 9 hours old. He's 10lb 5 so I assumed he'd let me know if he wasn't happy x

Not an expert , im sure someone will be along soon. Is he very sleepy? Warm? Could try stripping him off a bit, lots of skin to skin if you can, leave bra off so he has easy access.tickle his feet to wake him. Are there problems with his latxh or is it just that he's sleepy? How is it when he is actually feeding? Wouldn't fuss with breast pump this early and unless he's not feeding at all. Association of bf mothers has a helpline number, kellymom website has some great advice/info too. Good luck.

I'm not an expert but am a couple of days further along in the same situation. DS 5 days old now. Days 0 and 1 really difficult to latch in hospital, midwife could usually force it but they also showed me to hand express and collect collustrum and feed using a syringe. Day 3 we turned a corner and got a great latch several times so were discharged. Last 2 days have been a nightmare again as he wont latch and screams for ages. He's lost weight so I'm also on a 3 hour feeding cycle expressing milk (luckily mine came in early and I have loads) if he won't latch. I'm cup feeding as I don't want him to get used to a bottle and he has to work harder with the cup. This is not sustainable though as each feed takes around 2hours and he screams through some cup feeds too. We're off to the breastfeeding clinic today and hoping they can help. Does your local hospital you can go to a clinic at this morning?

You are doing great I went through exactly the same.
Ask your midwife to get you in touch with local breastfeeding support. It probably varies by area but mine came to my house every day for a week and helped. I also did cup/syringe feeding as baby got jaundice, midwife had told me to try feeding at breast every 2-3 hours and if not then syringe/cup x amount of formula (as my milk hadn't come in yet).

You need advice specific to your situation but my point is that you can get through it, if you want to bf keep trying, do whatever you need to to get through and take any support you can get. It will get much better! It was day 5/7 that things finally started improving for me.

Thank you all for all your replies. Baby has fed for an hour this morning, 30 mins each breast then after 15 mins had another 20 minute feed. Different midwife said it's perfectly normal and to just preserve at baby's rate. If he's not feeding but is content, to just hand squeeze breast to encourage flow to continue. She said I look a pro at it so I'm chuffed to bits lol.
The skin to skin contact worked well last night, I'm feeling a lot more positive now, thank you xx

Stb, this all sounds great :)

Ceejay, do discuss feeding options with the bf clinic. Not everyone agrees that cup feeding is necessary to stop a baby getting used to the bottle - there is no real evidence on this. Using a bottle is fine (IMO) , as long as you continue to practise at the breast (with no forcing or struggles). Babies should enjoy feeding, and two hours to get a cup feed in is stressful and as you say, not sustainable. It is not necessarily a good thing to 'work harder' at feeding.

Hope you get good help soon.

Thanks tiktok. Going tomorrow to see them now so will get all the options. Good to know the different opinions about bottles, the first person we spoke to made it sound like such a no-no! He's managed 4 breast feeds so far this morning so feeling pretty proud of him!