So, I’m unsure if I’m looking for advice or just need to say this. Sorry if this is a long read.
My DD is 10 days old, from her first feed, her latch was excruciatingly painful and she shredded my nipples within the evening she was born.
We tried to persevere with breastfeeding but her latch was poor and I was super sore to the point she was vomiting blood from my nipples.
During her first night, on the advice of a midwife, we started formula feeding along with expressed colostrum.
Up until 48 hours ago she was having formula and expressed breastmilk, now it is exclusively breastmilk.
Yesterday afternoon, I was in my local unit for breast feeding support as I feel I should give it a good go, so we started breast feeding with a nipple shield, she feeds for about 15-20 minutes sometimes on both sides and needs a top up of expressed milk afterwards usually 30-40mls. She appears to want to feed all the time, but falls asleep at the breast and then gets frustrated when she wakes.
When we were exclusively bottle feeding, she fed every 2-3 hours and only once over night and was very settled and content in between feeds, now she is unsettled, howls and cries. I feel like in the space of a day, I’ve gone from a happy baby to a super unsettled baby.
I don’t know at this point if I want to persevere with breast feeding, I know it’s only been 24 hours but I’ve spent all day crying, anxious and regretting what I am doing.
I know that a fed baby is a happy baby. I’m just not sure what I should be doing.
I would love the convenience of just breastfeeding but not enough that I’m willing to sacrifice my babies happiness and mine