Newborn breastfeeding struggling

[MaltedMilk88]

Hi everyone

Pearls of wisdom here greatly appreciated!

DD born on Sunday and struggling to breastfeed. She has tongue tie which we are waiting for a referral on so won’t latch, for the past couple of days I keep trying to latch her and giving her plenty of skin on skin but have had to resort to formula top ups so she is feeding!
Today a specialist recommended we try nipple shields which worked perfectly in terms of latching on, I’m comfortable, she’s comfortable and there’s plenty of colostrum coming out but just now after 2 hours of 10-20 mins constant on/off the breast she still wasn’t satisfied and I had to top her up with 50ml of formula!
I’m worried she’s becoming too used to the formula, Will this be better when my milk comes in?

Any advice welcomed!

Don’t worry.

Breast feeding is hard for most people. Tongue tie makes it harder.

The formula wont make any difference in the long run once you get the tongue tie snipped.

My youngest was in ICU and i was in theatre he had formula to start with but moved onto exclusive breast feeding when we were both able.

The small bit of formula will not hinder you breast feeding in the long run!

Best of luck with it all.

If you can afford it, pay for a private TT division. We did and it saved our breastfeeding experience.

Try a koala hold for feeding. It saved me with my nipple shield dependent baby and got him latching properly without it! Congratulations on your baby

Don't think she's not satisfied. Newborns feed A LOT! Google 'cluster feeding' and see if that makes sense. This stage is her telling your body to make lots of milk. The more she feeds, the more milk you will make!

I echo @whoami24601 and just say keep feeding instead of top ups. Cluster feeding is totally normal (if exhausting!) and baby's way of upping your supply.

Awww it is so hard the first few weeks but it does get better. Persevere if you can and don’t beat yourself up about the formula top ups - the most important thing is that your baby is fed and you remain sane! I would strongly encourage you to visit your local breastfeeding clinics and if you have the money to get a bf consultant in to help. Good luck mama xxx

Hi everyone thank you so much for all your advice! Just to update, we are still giving the odd formula top up more it’s more like 50ml per day now rather than per feed!
Sometimes she just gets so agitated she won’t take the breast, 10ml of formula seems to settle her enough to latch on! My milks in now which has made a huge difference and I feel like we are making progress. Hopefully I’ll be able to start expressing more than 10ml at a time and we can then drop the formula altogether 😁

Aww great news!

Well done! Establishing breastfeeding is hard work you’ve done amazingly.