Jaundiced not quite 2 day old, struggling to latch - not my baby but friends

[Fizzylemonade]

Ok, have just received very stressed text from my friend, her milk never came in with her first baby due to latch and now she has a daughter and again struggling to latch.

She is exhausted and has gone to bed, she is very upset as because of the jaundice she has given her baby a bottle of formula. All she has said is that she can't get her to latch properly.

Just quickly looked on LLL website there is no-one near to where we live (south Leeds) Any other suggestions?

She, like me, has large areola (sp?) and large breasts probably an D-E cup usually. I know this is no obstacle to feeding.

Am going to take round my BF pillow as I found that helpful for the small period that I fed for. I also gave her the BestFeeding book by Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher, and Suzanne Arms so we have that as a reference point.

I had the very same - I pumped for the first week. I would pump, then try DS at the breast as my nipple was a better shape after pumping, then if he didn't latch i'd give him the bottle. After a week I think he was abit stronger to be able to do it, I still topped up with EBM for maybe another few days, then he totally was breastfed. As the MW said, as long as you get it into them some way or another, try not to worry about latching... I have big boobs and very large flat nipples, DS was tiny but we got there in the end highly recommend the Avent Isis hand pump - you get your own knack to doing it. Also she can pump every x hours and build up a good supply and then when it's abit more settled she can skip some pumping sessions for sleep (or at least pump all tucked up in bed ) Pumping I found was better sitting upright with a V pillow behind my back.

here more numbers, down right hand column + advice. ds didn't latch on till 5 days, he had jaundice too and it was ok in the end, but giving a bottle of formula and going to bed will not help. lots of skin to skin, so her baby should be with her in bed, nappy only and no top for her.

oh that sounds so bossy, not meant that way at all.

Until she can get a pump (although tescos usually stock them if she is near a 24 hour one) she could sterilise a spoon (something I did in hospital and the first day at home I think) but this will obviously get abit more tedious as babys appetite increases.

My baby was jaundiced. I didn't get much info on waking him but it's a fine line between letting them rest enough so they've got energy to feed and waking them from their deep sleeps so they take enough milk.

All I can suggest is that your friend calls one (any) of the advice lines (numbers listed here) and ask for help, also she needs to ask her midwife for help and see if she can be put in touch with any NHS feeding advisors or something. It's important she gets help ASAP, as you know.

I kept my baby in a moses basket under a windo so he got loads of daylight, which seemed to help, and tried to minimise interference from clucking visitors etc which wore him out when he needed the energy for feeding. I would feed one side, then strip him down and change him before feeding on the other side to keep him awake. All this hinges on getting a latch to start with obviously, and that depends on positioning. BF pillow is a good idea, also worth trying the rugby ball position. I found myself having to 'shape' my nipples by pinching them with my fingers in order to get my DS latched on.

The worst time was day 3-4 because my breasts were filling and therefore making my nipples flatter. Expressing a little first can help (also makes you smell milkier, apparently - truth in that or not I don't know!).

ABM listing of support groups

oh yes, feeding positions - tucked under the arms so to speak was good at first (if your sitting the baby is say latched onto your right boob, tucked under your right arm, feet facing the back of the chair).

Would also suggest she trys lots of skin to skin with her baby,(as fishie says), in bed is easiest with baby in just a nappy and no top foer her, and also having a bath together, both good ways to stimulate milk supply/let down.
Giving formula at this v early stage isnt recommended as can affect milk supply adversely.
Milk often doesnt come in till day 3 onwards so no need to panic, but the more she can feed the quicker the milk comes in.
Both my DSs had mild jaundice (its quite common I think) but I just fed them loads and it passed in time.

Fantastic MN as always, thank you. I have a medela breastpump - electric so I will dig that out for her (I only bf ds2 for 6 days before he was taken into A&E for blood tests due to jaundice) I pumped milk for weeks so he had mixed feeds. Wish I had known about MN then.

Have checked out the numbers and we have the ABM one near us so thank you.

I am happy to help her but know her dh is a little reserved about certain things not BF but I am not sure how he would feel about his wife getting her baps out for me!!

I did help another friend with her latch but we are much closer.

Thank you again, will suggest the positions and the nakedness.

I know that I was told to get milk into my child and it was suggested that I get formula into him with a bottle. She may have the same MW arrrggghhhhhhh. Wish I had held out.

Am truly grateful.

i have bf dd for 16 mths now. we had real trouble at the start and she got some formula before we got it resolved. it really was a case of keeping trying with big boobs to fight the position that worked best for us. i found feeding her in the bath really helped - we were both more relaxed.

hope she is ok. the early days can be hard.

My DS had bad jaundice when he was born - went into SCBU for a day when he was 24 hours old. We had to stay in hospital for a week, and feeding was a battle for the whole time - just couldn't get him to latch properly without help. The day we came out, he didn't feed for about 12 hours because I just couldn't make him latch. I don't think he actually latched by himself till he was about 3 months old. But he's three now and still breastfeeding.

We weren't given any magic tips. He got formula plus whatever I could express until the hospital were happy my milk was in and he was feeding properly. After that it was just persistence. We did try different positions, but none was consistently better. There were a lot of tears of frustration when he just kept refusing to latch. But it worked out in the end.

(I'm a HH cup btw, and although the size made it hard to be discreet, and hard to see what he was doing when trying to latch, they don't cause problems with the actual feeding.)

How's your friend doing, Fizzy?