Feeding taking hours

[NotAgain77]

Hi - feeding my 10 day old is taking hours. He has been sleepy since he was a baby and has needed constant waking throughout every feed. I expected this to improve now he is 10 days old. At last weigh he had gained no weight. I am exhausted as in 2 hour windows I am spending up to 90 mins getting him a feed and then it can start all over again. I am using breast compressions. I believe I have good supply. We are struggling with latch - he doesn't open widely and I have been told he has a posterior tongue tie but good mobility so it shouldnt effect feeding (assessed by infant feeding team in hospital at 2 days old).
Ideally need some help as I don't want to give up but this is totally unsustainable.

You need some face to face support as it sounds like although your supply is good there are some issues with milk transfer. It may be the tongue tie, it may be something which can be changed P&A wise. Have your midwives observed a feed? Ask for a referral to the infant feeding coordinator. There may be a breastfeeding peer support service locally, ours is starting face to face support now.

There's also phone helplines such as La Leche League and the National Breastfeeding Helpline.

Keep doing breast compressions and maybe try varying positions after a while so that baby is draining different ducts. Hand expressing initially to get a let down and then attaching baby so they get a big hit of milk ( and therefore energy) to help maintain a feed.

It will be the tongue tie

Is there a minimum amount of time they have to be actively feeding for?

Please seek the help of a lactation consultant who specialises in tongue tie.
My son had posterior tie, fed round the clock, struggled to gain and had all sorts of problems with wind. NHS cut tie at 8 weeks and then wouldn't recut when it reattached. Got it cut privately at 15 weeks and was finally able to feed my baby pain free and more quickly!

The thing with a TT is, even if it "mild" or the baby has "good mobility" it still means that it is harder work getting milk. And that is tiring. Baby conserves energy by sleeping.
Get professional lactation support on-board, I will eat my hat (Panama, stylish in a rakish Murder On The Orient Express fashion) if it isn't helped by TT division.

Best of luck and congrats on the birth of your baby. Sniff his head for us MN Aunties, please.

You defo need a full feeding assessment by a lactation consultant or similar. If you just continue like this it is likely you will end up with more problems. It could be the tongue tie or it could be something else but either way - something isn't right so I would push for more support.

There isn't a minimum amount of time as such but there are other things they can look for to assess whether milk is transferring effectively.

I do have a lactation consultant and when she visited a week ago on day 5 things were going okay. Since then I struggle to get him to latch deeply. When I think I have got a deep latch, he pulls off. I will look at tongue tie evaluation privately. They've already said they wont cut it in the NHS as posterior TT doesn't impact feeding.

Also I was basing my view on supply on the fact that my breasts have felt very full, when I hand express it sprays and I leak a lot.
But if I monitor how much baby swallows big liquidy mouthfuls, this is the case for the first 5 mins of the feed, assisted by breast compressions and then I can only hear little amounts going into his belly.

@FlibbertyGiblets thank you. First time I've smiled all day.

(Gentle hand pat)

Posterior tongue tie does affect feeding. The difference made to our dd when hers was snipped was huge.