Help! first time mum with no idea what to do next

[campergirl30]

Hello everyone,
Hope I can get some advice on what to do with my 14 day old ds. We had a difficult delivery - I lost a fair amount of blood- but he seemed to latch on post delivery fine. We got home and he was constantly latched on and suckling. Would never come off of his own accord and then when I took him off he was irritable ++, crying constantly and wouldn't sleep. Me and my partner were going crazy with sleep deprivation and not knowing what to do. The midwives came and confirmed he was latching on well. At his weigh-in, a week post delivery, he'd lost 14% of his body weight. I felt dreadful - I'd been starving him! Now I'm breast feeding for 45mins followed by top up formula (he typically takes an ounce) and then he sleeps for a couple of hours but now he's being sick++ after each feed and is irritable if you lay him flat (??reflux). I love breast feeding but it doesn't seem to satisfy him at all and I dont know what to do. Please help! Any suggestions would be gratefully received

First of all, you had not been starving him Who has advised you to top up with formula? I would question wether that is really necessary. If he is irritable, my main tip is to get a wrap sling and just carry him around. My ds is as irritable as they come and from the first week whenever he is in a sling he'll calm right down. You can also bf in one

Congratulations on your son!

Almost constant feeding is normal in the early weeks, best advice anyone gave me was to (if possible) forget everything except feeding the baby and getting enough rest yourself...Make yourself a den on the sofa (make dp bring you tasty morsels on silver platters ) sleep when the baby does....and watch box-set dvds when feeding....

The more top-up you give him, the less you will produce, so I'd try to feed more, and maybe cut out a few of the top-ups.

Hi i dont have much advice, but the weight loss how much did your little one weight at birth?

Please try some of these helplines.

You are not starving him at all my ds lost over 10% of birth weight but soon piled it back on.

IME feeds get shorter but in the early days feeding can take a while. Just take your time. everything else can wait.

I would also question the formula top ups as IMO could affect your supply?

Do you have any support? I'm sure someone more qualified than me will come along and give you some more advice soon, if not i'll bump the thread all day for you.

Hang in there x

campergirl, what a difficult time you've been having

Frequent feeding is very common, but constant feeding is sometimes a sign that the baby is not feeding as effectively as he might be and you were let down by the midwives - this should have been spotted before the weigh in. 14 per cent weight loss (assuming the scales and the weighing were both accurate - digital scales not spring balance, baby naked) does need action straight away but this does not necessarily have to mean top ups of formula (though it may include these, temporarily, in serious cases).

What is happening now - formula after every feed - is not supportive to bf, but it can be turned round. It will help to speak to someone about this and to work out a new regime with your midwife - possibly expressing, feeding more often using at least both sides each time, breast compression, and winding down the formula use.

This will boost and maintain a good milk supply. Hope this helps.