4 days old but is it too late to switch to breastfeeding? feeling guilty...

[studentmum1]

my dd2 is 4 days old, i have so far bottlefed but i have felt totally guilty for not even trying to breastfeed that i now wish i had at least tried to. i bottle fed my dd1 and haven't a clue about breast feeding... have i left it to late? please help! its upsetting me now to think that i've made the wrong decision!

Good Luck!

If it seems to be going OK with frequent feeding for a while to encourage your supply and your milk is coming in OK you could try a breastfeeding tincture or tea - see www.borndirect.co.uk - might encourage your milk to be as productive as possible.

Good luck again - thinking of you!

some fennel tea might help, too.

nettle tea is supposed to be good for supply as well. Good luck, really pleased you're going to give it a go, very exciting!

Good luck. Lots of skin to skin and cuddles at the breast in bed should help.

It's certainly not too late - some women's milk doesn't come in until day 5.

I know people who have got it going later than this.

good luck, My milk came in on day 3, and my Ds2 was in SCBU for 10 days and only started feeding on day 6, I was expressing before then, but until my milk came in, I was getting drops off. I think you should be ok.

well done for giving it a go already studentmum. here is a site for morale support.

you can also try www.breastcrawl.org in the early days when you can or if you are struggling to latch on from time to time. A few mners have tried it in the early weeks and have found that their babies instinctively know how to latch.

Just spotted this.. how are you doing?

I really, really hope things started ok for you last night Studentmum.

hope last night went ok and good luck for the coming days

any news?

How is it going?

I would definitely recommend the Breast crawl, especially if you are having latching problems. I did this when DD was 3 weeks old.

Hello studentmum

Just wanted to let you know that I was in a similar though not identical position.

My new baby was bf for about 10 days then I gave up and she was fully formula fed for at least a week. But I did manage to start breastfeeding again. I was able to crank it up from nothing, with help from MNetters (see the thread I started which is at www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1364&threadid=445370#9015537). I found that the best thing to do was to put her to the breast as much as possible- no routines, just lots and lots of time on the boob. Also talk to your MW or HV to find out if there is any breastfeeding counsellor or group near you.

DD is now 17 weeks and has only one (or sometimes two) bottles a day. I finally enjoy breastfeeding and find it convenient, but I would also say try hard but if it doesn't work for you then don't beat yourself up about it.

I hope that that helps. Good luck.

As kiskidee says you could try breast crawl / biological nurturing. I was recently lucky enough to watch a DVD of babies who had been mainly bottle-fed in their early days attaching themselves to the breast by using their instincts.

Here is some info.

Basically you lie on your back or in a reclining position, topless with naked (or just a nappy) baby. Baby will nuzzle around for a while - be patient it could take some time - but gradually, just like any other mammal - will find her way to the breast, open her mouth wide and latch herself on.

You might well find it very helpful to call a breastfeeding counsellor.

Oh and fwiw, I didn't get to bf ds until he was about 3 days old... and am still bfing him at a year.

Oh go for it....nothing at all to lose, and if it does not work out in the long term, you would have at least had some intimate bonding time.

I agree with lots of skin to skin, nuzzling. I hope it works for you

How did it go studentmum?