New Mum - desparate for help...

[TrixieVix]

Joseph is nearly 2 weeks old, and was 9lbs 3oz when born. He now weighs 9lbs 7oz.

I'm finding BF difficult as Joe seems to want feeding several times an hour. Sometimes he feeds well for 20 minutes or so, then drops off to sleep. I try waking him up, winding him, and changing him if necessary, then putting him back on my breast to make sure he's full, but very often he doesn't want any more. Then, if I put him down, he starts screaming, and can only be quietened by feeding him again. I feel like I'm constantly feeding him, and am beginning to crack because of the lack of sleep. I get no longer than an hours sleep at any one time. We had to call my mum at 2am last night to come and deal with Joe as we were at the end of our teathers. He often feeds to much that he makes himself sick, and that coupled with his weight gain makes me sure he's getting enough milk.

Please help - any advice would be greatly appreciated

Rochwen, it's good to know you're happy with your experience with ARI, that's great. I know from a number of others that not everyone has the same experience, unfortunately. I live in one of the areas where the local Midwife-run Units have been under threat (good news on that front today, though!). A recently introduced 'rule' is that that women can no longer transfer back to their local MW unit if they've given birth in ARI and now the breastfeeding rates in those areas are falling.

Trixievix - haven't read all the messages so sorry if repeating, but could you get hold of a BF counsellor (there is one attached to a SureStart group in our area). I go to a group set up for Mums who feed and have found it really supportive. My little one is 4 months - she was really slow to gain - born at 6lbs and at 4 weeks was only 6lbs 2! - she is still little but mostly gaining and HV OK with her progress. I remember she seemed to feed SO much in the early stages but think she wasn't great at taking a lot, she fell asleep quickly - I started taking her off and persevered with the dummy (as she was using me to suck on) and now I can tell when she is properly feeding or messing around. I am SO pleased I've continued feeding as it is so much easier now (although nights are still hard work). I have to admit I really love the BF now and the fact that I've been encouraged means a lot. On those weeks she doesn't gain much the support is invaluable. Hope things improve for you - I'm sure you'll get there x

cmm
Gasp!!!

You obviously have an HV who does indeed no her arse from her elbow.

Wonders will never cease!

Glad the feeding is going well for you.

Rochwen, you commented on my comment that some of the stuff on the thread was confusing and unhelpful, and you said that hurt.

Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but it felt important to me to point it out to Trixie (the OP) - her need for something that acknowledged the confusion and lack of help was more important, I think.

People have different experiences, and some things work for some people and don't for others, as you point out.

But your advice to Trixie (see post Wed 13-Dec-06 21:35:59) was one of several from others that told her what to do - and none of it was likely to help her.

I think it is fine for people to say 'this is my experience - I have no idea if it would work for anyone else' and for others (maybe like me) to come on and say something different, such as 'this is how bf works, lets see how we can apply this knowledge to your situation' .

Hope that helps you see why I said what I did. It's great that mumsnet helps people and people can swap experience, and I am not getting at anyone.

Swift hijack to tell Toktok she is great with words and I sent my letter to Aptamil (FINALLY found the leaflet) about 10 days ago, will let you know what they say. Many thanks.

What letter was that Lio??

Hi moondog. I picked up a leaflet for Aptamil that I felt was misleading - they were saying it was vital to have a good diet when breastfeeding (don't have it in front of me to tell you the exact wording, but vital was certainly in there) and there was a baby on the front 'saying' (like a speech bubble) I am what you eat, with a competition to win organic food. I feel that anything they do to sow doubt in someone's mind that she may be unable to breastfeed is unhelpful and HarpsichordCarrier and TikTok (especially TikTok) helped with the letter I had drafted to complain.