Baby won’t latch - so much milk! Help!

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I have a week old baby who won’t latch at all. I therefore have milk pouring out of my poor old boobs. We are now exclusively pumping and have been for the past two days. It means I’m pumping and sterilising after every fecking feed.

We are off to breastfeeding clinic later. Has anyone else had this? How did you resolve it? I stink of milk!

I had a similar problem - for me my breasts were just to full when DS tried to latch so I expressed a bit off first. I saw a midwife who showed me different positions but I didn’t find that massively helped. I think eventually my boobs calmed down a bit and my DS worked out how to do it. It’s so hard, hope you get it sorted xxx

Is your baby trying to latch and just not getting a good latch, or faffing and refusing and not really trying? How are they getting on with the expressed milk? Feeding well and in good quantities? How are they otherwise? Sleepy, cranky, "asking" for feeds? I agree, it can definitely take them a while to crack the latch; I hope your clinic can help- I really feel for you with all that pumping!

Thanks both!

He’s not showing much interest in my boobs at all! The night after he was born he was all over me, but then he just stopped. He also had to go to neonatal unit for something unrelated to feeding and they started topping up with formula, as I had no EBM at that point, so I think he got a taste for bottles!

He’s doing brilliantly on breast milk. Regularly asks for feeds and settles immediately afterwards. He has loads of dirty nappies and hasn’t lost much weight.

He's very young to be taking a bottle if you want to breastfeed. I think they get used to the teat very quickly and can't always be persuaded back to the boob. So if you do want to bf you need to get this sorted asap. Can you ring La Leche League or the ABM hotline (association of breastfeeding mothers) and have them give a phone consultation? Also ring your GP surgery and request the local breastfeeding team's number - they will come out to you to watch you feed and offer advice. Did anyone contact you after you had the baby? Health visitors are not usually much use in this area but you definitely need to access some support. The very best help is someone sitting with you while you feed offering direction.

You could also pay for a private visit from a breastfeeding counselor but it would cost you.

Poor you! My youngest had some trouble, also because of bottles in hospital I think. I found it helped to use a pump to take out enough milk to soften on each side, then wait until he was a bit hungry but not too much and just hang around topless 😉 At the suggestion of the bf counsellor we also had a couple of days just hanging around in bed and feeding on and off to help him get the hang of it and take in lots of milk while I watched lots of Netflix, was brill.

Second post ever as longtime lurker as I've been there OP.
DD1 rubbish boober (tongue tie but basically not keen!) pumped for 10 weeks and topped up with formula. Baby thrived and my breastfeeding medal still arrived in the post DD2 latched immediately and we had no breastfeeding problems.
You're doing nothing wrong, great that you're pumping - just get baby fed and if you can get some breast milk down her for a while then that's amazing. I blamed myself at the time that I was ' doing it wrong' but she was just rubbish at it. Good luck with your appointment later but just to say if she never gets it, it doesn't matter. You're a great mum to go to all this trouble for something that, on an individual health level, doesn't make any difference.
Keep on truckin x

Ok full disclosure - the fucking medal never arrives!

I am suré you will get the help you need at the bf clinic but in the mean time can you try nipple Shields? It would be more like a bottle teat and might confuse baby enough to get them back on the breast (if you can detach baby mid feed you might be able to whip it off and get baby on nipple before they realise what's happening ). You should definitely manually express a bit before you feed as the first letdown might be coming out a little bit too fast!

Has he been checked for a tongue tie? Definitely worth checking. There is no reason he can't take to the breast after taking bottles ,or for you to successful combine both (I'm a neonatal nurse,we regularly discharge babies happily combination feeding). Ask for some support and advice helping him to latch on,perhaps try after you have expressed a little bit so you aren't engorged, which will make it harder for him to latch.
Hope you can get back to feeding how you wish with the support you need.

My DS wouldn't latch for 2 weeks after he was born. We got into a schedule of offering him one breast, bottle feeding when he refused then offering him the other. That way he associated the breast with food. I'd pump in between feeds.

I also would express a tiny bit of breast milk onto his lip when he was near my nipple to encourage him.

It was really hard work and when he did eventually grasp that he was supposed to get his food from there he had a terrible latch and it took a while to correct it but now at 6 weeks he's exclusively breast fed.

I found that the teat shape on the bottle is important, you want something long and "old fashioned" shaped like the MAM teats, the new ones with a short teat that are more breast shaped will contribute to a bad latch.

For me it was worth persisting because I hate the whole cycle of prepping bottles, sterilising etc but remember that a happy mum and a formula fed baby are better than an EBF baby and a knackered, miserable mum!

Oh and also,try and do lots of skin to skin. Get back to basics,esp if you missed out on some of that if he was in the neonatal unit. Let him experiment. Babies don't lose the natural rooting process,and having him close to you might just help him to get the basics,learn your smell,and rediscover the natural rooting process again.

La leche league will have good advice for you: 0345 120 2918

Their book is also an incredible source of help (the womanly art of breastfeeding) and has helped me through a lot.

Agree with pp: nipple shields are worth a try, plus express a bit before a feed to soften the breast. Or squeeze a little milk as he's latching to encourage. The thing with bf is that it's worth trying lots of different things til you find what works for you.

I’ve been trying to get a breastfeeding counsellor, but the nearest (qualified) one to us says we are too far to travel to. We can travel to her, but I can’t drive following cs. Dh could drive us, but he’s looking after dc1 today while I’m tied to the pump!

La Leche have a counsellor nearby, but she’s got a cold so can’t see us till she’s better.

We went to one breastfeeding clinic on Monday who thought he may have tongue tie, but we’ve seen midwives since who disagree.

We have an appointment today at an invitation only breastfeeding clinic, so maybe they’ll be able to help there.

At the clinic on Monday they said to focus on supply for now, rather than latch, in case he is tongue tie. Now wondering if that isn’t quite right? I’ll keep going with latch. He did latch at the start, so I think he can do it.

Also, wonder if nipple shields might work to transition to boob? As he’s used to the teet now and my nipples are not that teet-like.

Sounds like tongue tie/lip tie. Get a specialist to check, a posterior tongue tie can be hard to spot.

I exclusively pumped with DD1 for 7 months so can send you some tips to make it easier for you if you need it, but I would definitely try and get the TT checked by an expert first as pumping isn't easy!

Have you tried different latch positions?

My DD could only feed if I used nipple shields, and if your baby is used to a bottle (like my DD was because she couldn't latch either), trying nipple shields might work; I hope it all works out for you xx

My daughter had a tongue tie and could not latch properly at all,at first looked like she was but we ended up pumping and using bottles as she just couldn't maintain the latch to feed properly. She had it shipped and I used a nipple shield for the next few weeks while she transitioned to the breast,which she did and exclusively BF then for nearly 7 months. Try the nipple shield and definitely get some reliable advice for the tongue tie.

Today’s appointment is to check tongue tie and assess latch (or lack of)! They could snip it as soon as Friday if it is TT. The last MW who looked at it said possibly no TT or very posterior one. I weirdly hope it is TT as it would mean there’s a possible solution.

When he was latching (we did manage to get him on while in neonatal), I don’t think it was right, as it hurt, (not unbearable though), and my breasts still felt full after a long feed.

Praying it’s something we can fix. I don’t know how sustainable exclusively pumping is.

@cheeky

Thank you! Some tips would be great, if you don’t mind pming me.

We had this, it was a massive pain in the arse. DD just couldn't be bothered to latch, then would be too tired to latch as she wasn't getting enough food.

We mixed breast with EBM for about 6 weeks until she eventually got the hang of it. We also had a breastfeeding consultation at the hospital which was helpful in determining that we were doing it right and just needed to persevere. No TT thankfully.

I second the PP about hanging around in bed topless for a few days and just persevering with it!

Oh and we didn't hand express before the feed or use nipple shields. Ended up exclusively bf for a year, which I never would have imagined at the time!

Still bitter I didn't get my medal tho

@ner. 🥇

Just so you know, you really don't need to sterilise for breastmilk. Just hot soapy water for bottles and the pump between feeds is enough.
Hope you manage to get the latching sorted, but at least that'll save you some hassle in the meantime

Thank you.

We went to the breastfeeding clinic and ds is a little bit TT, but it’s not much. Very posterior. The MW who looked at him did say though, that he seemed a bit uncoordinated with his tongue when she was rooting around in his mouth. She thinks he’ll get it. Just needs time.

A volunteer was helping me with latch and positioning and we actually managed a good, long feed on one side! I was so, so pleased! He’s sort of latched since we got home too, but not for a proper feed, so I’m still pumping like a demon. Dh has football tonight, so ds and I are going to spend the evening in bed doing lots of skin to skin.

I can keep going along to the Monday breastfeeding clinic and they’ll keep an eye on TT. Fingers crossed, we’ll get there!

Brilliant that you got some help today! You sound like you're doing really well, I hope you're not too exhausted. It's a tiring job!