Newborn, very colic & won't latch on to feed... HELP!!

[Mattu]

My 5 day old baby is having trouble latching. She is very eager to try & even latches on at times for a few seconds, but then gives up after a few sucks, so I am expressing and feeding her with a cup or syringe provided at the hospital.

Today I figured out that she is also very colic and is troubled by it so much that she only sleeps in arms or on my or my husbands chest. Due to her colic/wind I feel she gets very frustrated when I try to get her to latch on and gives up easily. She cries her lungs out, can't get her to calm own & lands up burning so much of her energy. And trying to feed her via cup or syringe means she is gulping and panting down loads of air, so it's a vicious cycle for colic & not latching to feed.

It's also very difficult to get her to burp to get her wind out.

Has anyone any advice to help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Hi sorry cant help but you might get more answers in the breast feeding section.

In that case I might try a breastflow bottle as they take in virtually no air - plus nature of bottle means nipple confusion much less likely. Are you using infacol? Have you got a hospital grade breast pump? (best for expressing- can be hired from nct).
Try lots of skin to skin and maybe even feeding in bath. I always get best latches in bath. Is her nose blocked at all?

Good luck. I am struggling to feed a 4week old myself so I feel your pain. X

Speak to a bf counsellor but I found nipple shields helped with latch of both my girls. Gradually weaning dd2 off them but it was only way I could get dd1 to feed. The medela ones Are good as fit closest to nipple and allow more skin to skin.

The above posters both had good advice. Don't worry too much about her not settling unless she's being held--That's pretty normal for a 5 day old. In addition to a bath, you might try settling her in a sling, where she can just latch on as and when she needs to. Good luck!

Please check in her mouth to rule out tongue tie, as it can affect newborn babies' ability to feed. Our second baby had it and wasn't detected until he was almost 4 weeks old, was nearly tearing hair out by then (mine not his). So with third baby took no chances and checked it ourselves right after she was born and bingo, she ended up having it, too. With both our tongue tied children we opted for a quick procedure to have it cut and all was normal after that in the feeding department.

Oh and I would also recommend taking her to a cranial osteopath to help with feeding, winding, sleeping... But that's me always wanting to take the most natural/alternative route (except for the tongue tie procedure;-)).

Thank you so much everyone for your advice & support.

I had a breast-feeding consultant visit us at home today. My baby was hungry and was not getting enough milk via the cup/syringe method and even though we thought she was full, she really wasn't. So now I am pumping with the Medela electric pump & feeding her in a Medela bottle with their feeding breast like special nipple (a much more increased doze) as well as trying to practice latching on. And we seem to be already getting somewhere.

I shall also be attending my local breast support drop in Center for more 1 on 1 help and hopefully in no time we'll be totally breast-feeding only.

Thank you!

That is good news

Thank you ladies we've successfully latched on :-)