I feel like I’m in hell

[Al991]

My baby is 5 days old and I feel like feeding issues are genuinely ruining my life.

Since she was born my baby has been struggling to latch on from the beginning, often rooting around on the breast unable to latch and becoming extremely distressed over it.

I can tell she’s not getting a good latch because even though she’s sucking it’s more suckling than anything - I can tell it’s not deep enough from the couple of times it has been and the fact she tries to feed 24 hours a day and is always always hungry.

I mean 100% of the time she wants to be on the breast. If she’s not she screams the house down. She never sleeps. I sleep on average 2 hours in a 24 hour period.

I have been in contact with midwives and
Infant feeding workers every day and we never seem to get anywhere. They just say feed every 2 hours, and top up with pumping/formula. I know she’s not latching properly but they’ve looked and says it’s ok - it’s not.

My baby is miserable, I’m losing my mind. Me and dp don’t have a relationship anymore we just scream at each other.

i just want my child fed and happy.

We have a tongue tie referral so I’m hoping to get the procedure, but don’t know if it will help or how we will survive until then

I’m approaching my 70s but I feel so much for you. This takes me back to when my child was born. He fed for hours but was not satisfied. My nipples became cracked and so painful. I had to wake him every three hours to feed, as he was premature. He cried and cried. My friend suggested he was hungry and she recommended putting him on formula. It was amazing. He drank a full bottle straight away and he was such a contented baby from then on. It then turned out that I had been given medicine due to high blood pressure following pre Eclampsia when pregnant and these medications were diuretics which meant that my body was unable to produce sufficient breast milk. Honestly don’t beat yourself up if you decide to stop breast feeding. It’s not for everyone.
No matter how prepared you are, caring for your first new born is a complete shock and it’s so exhausting when you can’t sleep. I remember calling for my mum to travel to help us. She stayed for a week and her help and experience were invaluable. I think it took me a month before I was able to be showered and dressed before the midwife arrived.