My baby won't latch properly

[mum1991]

My baby is 1 week old, I breastfed her until day 2, she latched on really well to my left breast to the point it was bleeding because she would only feed from the breast she refused my right nipple, the midwifes in the hospital even struggled to get her to latch on there, she's a hungry baby and wasn't ever satisfied after feeding for ages on the left breast. She got so agitated and screamed until she went blue so they told me to substitute feed with formula. Now I'm just expressing at home and she will NOT latch on to any nipple, has she forgot because she's been having bottles? Help I really want to breastfeed.

Hungry baby.. All babies are hungry! It's what they do. They cluster feed and I think this is sometimes misten for not being satisfied.

However! You need to find a breastfeeding support group if you do want to bf. Ask your health visitor or local children's centre? You can try phoning the breastfeeding network too.

Congratulations on your baby! It sounds like you're having a rough time. It is possible that she has got used to the faster flow of the bottle, it's a completely different set of muscles than for breast feeding and they don't have to work as hard.

Here's some things you can try - expressing a little to start the flow so she gets something immediately when she goes on. Nipple shields can help to get her in the right place. Just keep offering, before a bottle feed after a bottle feed, when shes sleepy, when shes wide awake. Try different positions.

Have you got any breastfeeding support in your area that can help you face to face?

Get some nipple shields from boots today then go to your local bf support group asap. The shields will ease your pain and she will probably latch well with them then you can work on getting rid of them with proper help.