5 week old not breast feeding 'properly'

[WobblyPig]

My 5 week old doesn't seem to do breast feeding. We had a slow start with tongue-tie and a cold and difficulties breathing through her nose and latch-problems. Most people suggetsed I went to formula but decided to express and bottle feed.

This has turned out to be very hard work abd so I keep trying her back on the breast but she never stays on for long ; always gets very windy afterwards and develops mucousy green poo. She always seems to be still hungry and will take up to another 100ml of formula afterwards as a top-up if offered. I have gone dairy -free and cut out orange juice; chocolate; grapes; onions; garlic etc.

I don't understand what is going on. Can anyone help?

Problem is I have a 2.8 year old who is playing up like you wouldn't believe since baby was born and spending the time needed to breast feed seems impossible. Maybe I am being unrealistic and just need to give in to the formula business.

I found putting DDs back on same breast if they had not been on for long helped with the green poo thing- I think it is something to do will having too much sugary foremilk- although that is a lay opinion I have no bf qualifications- it helped with us anyway.

Presuming someone has checked your latch etc? Is she putting on weight? Usually helpful qualified people dive in and offer advice at this point, good luck.

RE older sibling have you tried the 'breastfeeding bag?' ie bag of exciting toys that only come out for older child when and only when, you are feeding? I expect you have a lot on your plate at the moment - delegate the putting together of said bag?

She is putting on weight with lots of nappies etc but that's because I am mainly bottle-feeding her epxressed milk but I would much rahter breast feed normally but can't seem to get her to eprsisit with a feed without falling asleep and then needing to feed again withint the hour and developing htis green poo and gasiness. I wish I could just sit on hte sofa and give her the time she needs to feed but I can't with my eldest around who needs to run around and do stuff. He also resents me speding all the time with the baby.

Sorry full of typos - feeling worn out.

Wobbly.

In order to successfully establish breastfeeding you will need to stop suplementing with formula. You need to feed feed and feed as much as baby wants in order to allow your body to come to work out how much your baby needs.

I really think you could do with some rl support, look up your local lll supporter or similar as someone would really need to see what you and babe are doing together.

Babies are greedy little creatures and will often take formula as it is easy to access.

Please seek some rl support tomorrow. Let us know how you get on

I was just off to bed but saw your last post - don't give up just yet You've done incredibly well to get as far as you have considering the problems you faced early on.

What's your HV like? Could she come over and check the latch to see what it's like? If not her, then maybe a breastfeeding counsellor from the hospital. An Mner called hunkermunker has a great blog about breastfeeding and I'd recommend Kellymom for troubleshooting issues like the green poo.

So far as practical things are concerned - I'm six months into bf DS (having failed to bf 4 year old DD) and I've found cbeebies and nick jr to be invaluable, especially in the early days I know it's hard because you feel like you're ignoring them but once things become more established, you could drop back into a more normal (less TV oriented) routine!

Do you get much help at home? Is your DS going to nursery? It might help to do what they call "babymoon" i.e. spend a day/couple of days (or whatever time you can find) concentrating solely on feeding DD. As much skin to skin as possible, baths are always lovely for this. Someone bringing you sandwiches and tea in bed - well, that might be a step to far

It's really really hard expressing all the time - it's exhausting and demoralising and that must make it more difficult. Do get some support sorted - search some threads in the breastfeeding section - La Leche, NCT etc all have helplines. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along in a moment who actually has experience of ringing them!

Good luck whatever you decide to do and just remember what a great start you've given your DD so far

HV is a man - who admits to knowing nothing about breast feeding. DS not in nursery and no help at home. Would have loved to spent time with new baby but Dh is self-employed and didn't take very much time off after birth.
Thanks for support and advice. Just wonder how other mums manage it.

Definitely look beyond your HV then if he admits he's not experienced - he should be able to point you in the right direction if nothing else. Is there a breastfeeding cafe near you? I've no experience of them myself but apparently they're fabulous for helping you build your confidence.

You sound very isolated - I know the feeling as I've no family around to help either. I must admit to neglecting my DD a lot during the first couple of months but it is worth it in the long run. Children are resilient - they do adapt although sometimes it is a pain I agree.

I think you need to plonk DS in front of the telly one morning and ring around your hospital, La Leche, NCT and see if someone can come round (or you can go to them if it's practical) to help you.

I might be totally wrong (and hopefully Tiktok or one of the other MN experts will come and correct me) but I was told green poo was a sign that they were taking too much foremilk (the first more watery milk) and not enough hindmilk (the second more creamy milk). I think this advice might be a bit outdated now. Do you feed her on one breast or both sides? I found in the early days that it was better to feed DS fully on one side for about 40 minutes (sometimes an hour) to make sure he got the full benefit. If he came off and on again, I persevered until I thought he was full. I also compressed my breast while he was feeding to try to increase supply (you can google to get some videos of this).

One final word (and then I'll go I promise). Sometimes the only time i got to myself was at night when I would literally strip us both to underwear and co-sleep to try to get him to feed more and for longer. It meant DH was relegated to the sofa but I think it made a big difference. Might be worth a try

Some good ideas here , Wobbly. You might want to think about complaining officially about an HV who knows nothing about breastfeeding. It's good he admits it, but shocking that this very important, central aspect of care for clients is missing. I wonder if he knows 'nothing' about immunisation?

Green poo is normal in an otherwise healthy baby. It is not a sign that anything needs to be done to change it, unless the baby is showing other signs of distress. Yes, it can be a reflection of the baby getting less fatty milk, but that doesn't matter a bit - as long as the baby is thriving, of course. The baby will get the calories and the fat he needs by taking a greater volume of milk. This is ok!

Wobbly, you do need RL help, I think, to help you work out what to do to get your baby back onto the breast. You can discuss things like expressing more often to build up your supply; doing extended skin to skin; not pressurising your baby to feed, just enjoying being in a position where he might be 'enabled' to take the breast. I don't think there is any evidence you need to change your diet - if this was an issue it would happen with ebm.

It can be misleading to judge breastmilk intake by the size of the formula bottle taken afterwards - again, a good discussion with someone in real life will help you explore all this.

Hope this helps.