Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Hungry 4 day old won't feed

27 replies

BarrelOfMonkeys · 11/01/2009 08:28

We had a rocky Day 1 but were feeding with MW help on day 2 as baby would not latch. Position was said to be fine but baby didn't quite get the idea for a bit. Day 3 seemed to have got the hang of it but she's been refusing to latch again since midnight. Waiting for MW to call and let us know when she can come round but desperate for any tips. Baby just gets cross when breast is in front of her now, won't take it at all, let alone latch... help!

OP posts:
madmouse · 11/01/2009 08:32

poor you that sounds stressful

you need someone expert rather than me, but by now baby will be fairly frantic with hungermaking it impossible to latch on. Sometimes giving baby your pinkie will remind them about sucking and calm them down a bit. You can then try latching again.

I would say a visit for your mw is a must not an option. For you as much as babe.

SamJamsmum · 11/01/2009 08:33

The helplines open in about an hour so give one a ring and talk to a bf counsellor.
Until then I would take off her top and yours and snuggle up together under a blanket. Skin to skin time is really important. Don't try and latch her on for a bit but just be together. Then maybe hand express a few drops so she smells some milk and put some drops on her lips. If she initially gets cross being near the breast have her a bit higher and gradually slide her back nearer the breast after a while. She might be tired and could do with a snuggly skin-to-skin nap. When she wakes up she might be more responsive. You could take a bath together too.
Good luck.

foxytocin · 11/01/2009 08:34

biological nurturing: go to bed with your baby. Prop yourself on pillows to be reclining and relaxed. put your baby skin to skin on your chest. No tops either of you.

let your baby nuzzle and give as limited help as possible for him to find his way to your nipple. he can latch himself on if he is left to it.

Was he handled a lot by MWs trying to 'help' him latch?

good readup and pics here.

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 11/01/2009 08:38

Thanks, finger thing has been calming her but she seems to be beyond it making much difference now, last time i tried she wasn't sucking much at all. Still strong enough to fight the breast though. She's skin to skin asleep on my upper chest at the mo, still waiting on MW to return call.

OP posts:
SamJamsmum · 11/01/2009 08:42

Correction - the NCT helpline should be available from 8am. Try them now. Numbers here.
www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=4

SamJamsmum · 11/01/2009 08:44

[http://www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=4]

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 11/01/2009 08:45

Thanks Foxytocin - had her in bed with us since 2, tried letting her find nipple on her own but she doesn't, or if she does she turns her head aaway. I haven't used anything scented etc she might be objecting to, MWs didn't handle her much, ended up expressing some colostrum into a syringe which then gave her more of a clue. Tried waving nipple under her nose with expressed colostrum on end, tried tickling her lip with nipple with colostrum on end... not interested even when calm. Don't know what changed between her last feeds and now, we were doing quite well, big gap from an hour long feed yesterdat at noon til about 6pm, but then we seemed to be doing 20 mins every couple of hours - 8, 10, 12 - now nothing.

OP posts:
SamJamsmum · 11/01/2009 08:45

That was a pathetic attempt to make it a link so you wouldn't have to cut and paste! Try again

SamJamsmum · 11/01/2009 08:46

Giving up!

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 11/01/2009 08:46

Thanks SJMum - calling them now! Will look at link too..

OP posts:
Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 11/01/2009 09:35

Lots of suggestions but nothing working, think she may be too lethargic to feed now. Rung hospital (I only got sent home yesterday due to feed issues) and they've said if MW doesn't get back to us in next half hour to express and bottle feed her something. Are we going to be one of those mum-baby feeding 'teams' that just don't work?? It was starting to go okay though, I don't know what changed. Frustrated and tired mum and babe combo can't be helping though, so trying to keep calm.

OP posts:
madmouse · 11/01/2009 09:58

barrell, am cross with hospital just telling you to express
can you express? if you can try putting something in a very small cup and feeding her from that. or a plastic syringe.

but you need more hands on help, had any luck with the bf advicelines? has that mw of yours rang back yet?

it is far too early to worry that your bf wil not work, both of you are still learning!!

foxytocin · 11/01/2009 10:16

keep her skin to skin, not just 'in bed with you'

hand express and syringe feed, even if just a few mls at a time. can someone go out and buy you a 5ml syringe?

also, take a bath together. someone needs to be there to hand you the baby and take her back. it is called re-birthing, i think.

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 11/01/2009 12:20

Thanks all, just had midwife over for 2 hours and managed to get 20ml expressed fed via syringe. Oh the relief to at least get something fed to her! Will try the bath thing later - MW thinks that the latching should become less of a problem backed up with some expressed milk at the start of a feed to calm her down first. But to feed her expressed if she won't take the breast and gets stressed, just to make sure she eats. We're to do this every three hours (or more frequently if baby asks) for today and then MW back tomorrow to see how its going.

Thank you everybody for your help and advice. I'm going to try and grab some sleep now while baby dozes. This feeding thing is almost more stressful than the birth!!

OP posts:
megandtyler · 11/01/2009 12:38

have you checked that she dosen't have a tongue tie?

SamJamsmum · 11/01/2009 18:26

I don't think being advised to express is a bad thing but I don't think a bottle is at all a good plan - you really can just stick with syringes.
My son refused to latch on from about 12 - 72 hours and I used a double electric pump and syringe. I didn't feel confident enough to rely on hand expressing and got good results with the pump. I always offered the breast first (didn't do as much skin-to-skin as I should have I'm sure). I used to do a bit of syringe skin-to-skin and have the breast near and continue to have it around. Then at around 72 hours (we had been home from 24hrs) he just latched on himself and never looked back. I kept that last syringe filled with colostrum in the fridge for days just incase.
At this stage the priorities are getting milk into her and getting your supply up and running. Hope it goes well tonight. How are your sleeping arrangements?

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 13/01/2009 18:32

Thanks SJMum. We're sleeping skin to skin in bed and trying lots of skin to skin in the daytime when syringe feeding. She won't take cups either, and have tried offering breast first, dribbling some milk down the breast from the syringe to get her to take it, using the pump to get the nipple out, feeding in the bath, etc but no joy so far. (Definitely no tongue tie). We've been expressing for the past 48 hours on a nightmare schedule of every 3 hours to express and then still trying to demand feed a baby that snacks on about 10ml every two hours from the syringe - think the syringe hurts her gums and she gives up after a bit. However midwife says she's now not dehydrated and the slight jaundice she had has gone which is a relief.

Milk supply seems to be okay so far - fingers crossed - and today's midwife has suggest nipple shields which - please god - seem to have worked for the last two feeds and she actually got a decent 30 min feed before coming off on her own. Taking each day as it comes, we're hanging in there!

OP posts:
SamJamsmum · 14/01/2009 06:55

That's great that she is now feeding at the breast. Do you have any local bfing support?

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 14/01/2009 15:35

There's a clinic on Friday I'm going to try and get to. Nearly 24 hours of feeding via the shields and we're all feeling much less stressed. Not ideal to be using the shields but so much better than battling with the syringe and expressing - headed in the right direction at least. Thanks so much for the support. Actually got more than 2 hours sleep last night and feeling much better about things today.

OP posts:
bubbleymummy · 14/01/2009 15:41

That's great news! It does sound like you're getting there. Hope you enjoy the clinic on Friday.

SamJamsmum · 14/01/2009 20:16

Sounds really positive. If she is feeding well with the shield and you are comfortable and it's clear she is getting milk that is GOOD. Modern thin silicon shields are really not the nightmare that shields once were. You can always work on getting off them in a wee while.

Alibear1 · 14/01/2009 22:56

BOM - this is exactly the problem that I had with DS and he is still exclusively-BF at almost 6 months.
We used a shield for about a week I think to give him the idea and then stopped using them because I (and BFC) felt that my supply wasn't upping enough.

You are doing well to battle on with it, it is so tiring and anxiety- provoking.

fruitbowl · 14/01/2009 23:08

Just wanted to say best of luck. You are doing a brilliant job sticking with it even though it's been hard. Good for you. My DD and I had real trouble in the beginning and I used the shields for a bit. I know sometimes it doesn't stimulate the breast to make as much milk but like you I was just desperate to get something down her! We BF for a whole year in the end!

She is so lucky to have you as a mummy. well done!

xx

Original poster
BarrelOfMonkeys · 15/01/2009 00:42

Thanks for the encouragement, its really helping me grit my teeth and get on with it. Keep telling myself it must get better! One day at a time. Celebrating the small victories - she's 12 hours off her one-week birthday, so that's something to aim for. Then next to aim for the clinic on Friday...

OP posts:
Alibear1 · 15/01/2009 22:45

Good for you - small steps Oh and a piece of advice that a friend gave me that I'm sure I've seen on here - never give up BFing in the middle of the night, it's never so bad in the morning!