My daughter was quite small at birth, and had difficulty latching onto my breasts from the start.
I felt inadequate (particularly when we were re-admitted to hospital at 5 days because she had lost 12% of her birth weight). Bottles and some formula were introduced at this point, which was a bit of a relief.
I continued to express, and my daughter was almost exclusively fed EBM until week 18. (I did periodically try BF with a nipple shield, but she would feed, then take the usual amount from the bottle, so this seemed pointless).
Anyway, at week 18 my pump stopped working, I ordered another, but would have to wait 2 days.
When baby woke in the morning, I fed her the small amount of EBM I'd been able to express the night before. This was insufficient, and my breasts were aching so I tried BF with a nipple shield. This was successful, and we haven't looked back! After 2 days we discarded the nipple shields.
The only downside is that she won't take a bottle at all now!
Key points to remember:
Full breasts
Nipple shields are not evil!
I was encouraged to write this, by my husband, and the health visitor. When my pump broke, I couldn't find any info on starting BF late, so I hope that this may help someone. x