Struggling with newborn after hospital stay

[lovelylight]

My almost 3 week old DS was exclusively breastfed for the first few days of his life. Unfortunately I was readmitted to hospital for a week when he was 4 days old, so he could only be breastfed for a few hours every day. Since I was discharged his feeding has gone massively downhill. He'll fight, cry and fuss at the breast and can't seem to latch on properly. If he does finally latch he only manages to feed for about 10 minutes from each side, and he's really hard to rouse if I try to switch sides. He'll immediately guzzle a full bottle of formula immediately after a feed. I'm worried that he's getting into a viscious cycle of poor breastfeeding requiring huge formula top-ups leading to even worse breastfeeding. His nappies are good but his weight gain has been sluggish.

I only manage to get dribbles from pumping although I do try to pump regularly through the day. I'm seeing a lactation consultant next week and I'm awaiting a Domperidone prescription from my GP hopefully later this week. Is there anything more I could be doing?

I'm so sorry that you've both had a difficult start.

I think that it's a good idea to see a Lactation Consultant and if I were you, I'd ring one of the BFing Helplines this morning and ask for some advice.

Have you got the numbers?

I hadn't heard of the breastfeeding helplines but I'll Google them this morning! Thank you for the suggestion.

How are you getting on lovely? Did you manage to get any support?

Don’t panic bf isn’t all or nothing and you can gradually build it back up. Keep pumping as regularly as you can, every three hours or so during the day and at night if your partner can give him a bottle and you pump. If he’s fussing at the breast don’t force it, let him have a bottle and pump instead. Try breast feeding him when he’s sleepy but just rousing for a feed and/or when he’s just dropping off to sleep and relaxed. Even if he only takes a little bit. When you’re bottle feeding make sure you are doing “paced feeding” which is essentially making them work a little bit for the milk to mimic breast feeding but you can Google it for the technique. Try lots of skin to skin on your chest and baths together. Let his hands be uncovered so no scratch mits when you are feeding him so he can feel for the breast too.
My lo developed a bottle preference at about 4 weeks and I rang La Leche Legue who gave me the above advice (it’s all on their website too) and I was able to very very gradually get back to exclusively breast feeding. It took me till he was about 4 months but we got there in the end. I found it very stressful at the time but as looking back as many people will tell you….. A fed baby is a happy and healthy baby whether that’s breast or formula. Ultimately if you move fully to formula your baby will thrive and be happy and do not feel guilty about it or drive yourself mad trying to breast feed if it’s just not happening.
Good luck.

I managed to call the NCT helpline yesterday and got some helpful tips, thank you!

Thank you so much for all this advice. It's so reassuring to hear from someone who managed to get back to exclusive breastfeeding!

Hi @lovelylight jumping on to give some suggestions that were given to me by a lactation consultant when I was struggling (and were an absolute godsend!). Several already echoed by the lovely folks who have already commented.
Above ensuring baby is fed, make sure you protect your supply!!! Pump regularly - every 3 hours. Make sure you pump at least once during the night (12 - 4) as this is when milk making hormone (prolactin) is at its highest. Try and mimic baby feeding so start off with a bit of massage function (small but rapid suction) then move to pump. Even 10 mins pumping each side will be beneficial so don't be thinking you have to do an hour to see results. Do not be disheartened if little comes out via pump - this does not reflect your output as baby is far better at removing milk than any machine! I've always pumped very little and from monitoring wee and poo output, baby is clearly getting enough.
As baby is so young your supply shouldn't have regulated just yet which means it's relatively easy to get that supply up. However, it can take a couple of days before milk production builds up so don't be worried. Your body will catch up.
Feed baby early - as in don't wait for strong hunger ques feed early doors, as they'll be far more relaxed and it makes feeding easier. Do as you have been in offering both sides - there's always a preferred side so start off with the least favourite. Soon as you stop seeing any active feeding (nice long sucks and an obvious swallow) switch to the other side.
Try different positions - for me I always found mixing up cradle, cross cradle and rugby helped. Rugby being the most effective if baby is have flaily hands and arms (mine certainly did). That and going back to basics for latch (getting the C shape with your hands on the boob) and using breast compressions for keeping baby going. This also helps you in draining off milk so helping your body to signal to make more.
Kathryn Stagg is a lactation consultant and she does a lot of fab and easy to follow videos on YouTube.
Lastly, most importantly, remember that a fed baby is a happy baby. It's a marathon not a sprint when it comes to BF. I slipped into a cycle of getting very stressed which in turn does impact your supply, which certainly didn't help. Took me to week 10 before BF clicked for me and my little girl (and boy did we have dramas before then)
Good luck and remember you're doing great!!

Thank you @Silver31 and everyone else - 'it's a marathon not a sprint' is my new mantra! I've already seen a massive improvement in his feeding just by following some of the advice from this thread so I'm much more hopeful about our chances already. It's so reassuring to hear from other mums who've had a similar experience.