Difficult switch from Colostrum to Milk advice appreciated

[MrChris]

Hi, first post so please forgive me if I'm not up with the lingo.

My DW has just started the switch from colostrum to milk on day 3 since our DD was born. However DD has stopped playing ball and is not having a proper feed at all. We get a few sucks followed by her pushing away crying and refusing to go back to the breast.

This has carried on all day and my DW (who is already quite emotional due to the hormones released around day 3/4), is finding it all a bit stressful.

Is it common for babies to reject milk for the first day or so? We have expressed some and she drank that from the bottle, but DW doesn't want her getting too used to bottles at this stage.

Have tried various nursing positions, but with no luck. Any suggestions?

Hi, I'm no expert on this and I'm sure someone more experienced will come on with loads of advice for you, but it could be that the milk is maybe coming out too fast for your dd. I know you've tried different position though. Have you tried lying down with her? It also might help to express a little first then put her on the breast? I would definitely recommend phoning NCT breast feeding counsellor or La Leche league. They will be able to give some really helpful support for your DW in the meantime. She's very lucky that you're being so supportive too! You should be able to find the numbers for those support lines easily on google or in the piles of leaflets that you get during pregnancy! Hope it gets easier! xxx

your DW should go to bed with the baby, get lots of skin to skin and unfettered access to the breast.
and definitely call one of the helplines, or ask the MW for advice.

giving a bottle can make it difficult as latching on to the breast is differnt to drinking from a bottle, so best to try to perservere with the breast

howbreastfeedingworks.com has advice and all the helpline numbers

and kellymom.com is a good resource

and congratulations to you both!

All my 3 DCs (and me!) found the initial transition when my milk came in a bit of a nightmare. You haven't mentioned the state of your DW's breasts but mine were engorged like solid footballs and the babies just couldn't latch on. It was agony for me and distressing for them. Do you think this could be the problem? What helped?? Hot (as hot as she can bear) flannel on the breast before a feed then try and hand express off some milk first so the breast is a bit softer and doesn't squirt so violently and choke them! I found that each time it settled down after about a week. Best feeding position - lying on my side in bed with the baby next to me so s/he could come on and off comfortably.

Congratulations on your new baby!

We had this problem too - I was engorged and dd couldn't latch on properly. It was a complete nightmare as I was so hormonal, I think i just sobbed for about 24hours while desperately trying to feed screaming baby.

Anyway, fabby midwife helped me to feed laying down and to express some milk before a feed to help DD to latch on. This made things so much easier and we're still going strong nearly 7 months later

Hope your DW is feeling better today, and things are improving, and well done for being so supportive. I don't think we'd have managed without my lovely DH's support in the early days.

I hated day three! It's when my breasts really hurt and I felt most hormonal and weepy

I think that I self-expressed a bit of milk off to make me feel a bit more comfortable and so that my dds didn't get squirted at when they tried to feed.

I do remember that it is difficult feeding on day 3 because there is so much milk and your breasts are so engorged. But it does get better!

Hope you feel better...it can be hard going.

Thanks for all the advice, the helplines were a good suggestion and we got some good ideas from them, however the posts here about self expressing some milk before trying to latch on proved to be the solution. Whilst DW's breasts aren't 'footballs', or even noticably engorged, just taking a quarter ounce off first got my DD interested enough to have a good solid feed - thankfully!

One note I'd make to anyone who finds this thread in a similar position is that we also gave DD a small bottle of water around feeding time which helped get her more alert before the main feed (and staved off any minor jaundice she may have been developing).

Thank you all for the help once again. I'm sure I'll be back!