Refusing to latch on

[eirewego]

My gorgeous little man is 6 days old. Having difficulty getting him to latch on, one feed he does it after a little work, the next I spend 2 frustrating hours with hi, fighting against me and I end up having to give him formula which I am really reluctant to do!
Is this normal? Can anyone advise me what to do?
The midwife has advised me to feed him every 3 hours, but this little man just isny palying ball!

eirewego - great your little boy is here

No,it's not normal for bf to be a struggle, though it's not at all unusual in these early days.

Time tabled feeding ('every 3 hours') is never the greatest idea, and what works better is keeping your baby close and helping him self-attach rather than struggling - check out biological nurturing, which helps you and your baby work together when he is keen and alert and able to feed (rather than waking him artificially from a deep sleep and then having a tussle).

A call to any of the bf helplines would be good as well, as this issue is so common.

I had real struggles with my first son. It was a difficult time and found feed times very stressful.
I called NCT helpline and La LEche LEague. Went to a BF cafe and all were very helpful.
Try and do lots of skin to skin contact. Stay in bed and just have lots of snacks, fluid and your baby close. Your find it easier picking up your babies natural cues and feeding before he becomes too frantic.

I also found holiding in the football hold a lot easier to get him to latch on too as could see what I was doing better and his mouth seemed to open wider.

If I could not get him to latch on I would express then put the milk to give him to ensure my supply stayed up to my sons normal demands.

By 2 weeks in my son latched on but we did have problems with a shallow latch for the rest of our bf relationship and I did seek lots of help for it.
My 2nd DS was completely different and came out latching on correctly straight away and ready to go.

Also have a look at youtube and search Jack Newman BF videos. I think he's got some on latching which are quite good.

Hope it gets better for you