Breastfeeding support

[Tibbycat]

Hello,

Looking for some help. We have the most beautiful 15 day Old baby and I'm ebf. This is our second baby and I pumped with our first for six months. I have large boobs and latching and remaining Latched in is a struggle. I never want to pump round the clock ever again. It nearly killed me.

Currently my little man is snacking. He falls asleep on the boob after between 10 seconds and 7 minutes and we've tried everything to keep him awake. Stripping him off, rubbing hands and feet - generally irritating him to get him to stay awake but it only lasts for a couple of seconds. Just doesn't work. So he eats for 5 odd minutes then nods off on the boob. Sometimes he stays asleep, other times wakes up.

Currently he snacks all Day most hours (he's feeding 15-17 times a day) until 2-4am - he has two, two hour ish naps in the day too. After nodding off in the early hours he will Sleep for 2-2.5hours and then is awake every hour to 1.5hours to snack and it starts over again.

The bf support worker recommend shields to help him latch on as his weight gain was poor - we have done that but now my supply has dwindled. I have dropped the shields for the last 24 hours to help increase supply but he's just snacking alway.

Feel terrible guilt at the thought of introducing formula and the fact I'm hardly seeing my five year old. After 2.5 hours sleep I'm useless to the world. I was so tearful this morning and spent all day in Bed, hubby took baby for 2 hours and held him so he'd nap on him, giving me time to sleep. We're all full of cold, coughing up a lung and I think my breastmilk is really helping to keep baby safe from catching the bad bugs. He has a slight cough occasionally but touch wood, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

I'm having baby weighed tomorrow and thought I'd chat to the health visitor at the same time. Just not sure what to do.... opinions welcome.

I don't think I could take weeks more of 2-4am sleeps, especially after my hubby goes back to work next week. I'll have to be up at 6:30am for the day with my 5 year Old and soon, be driving him to school each day.

So hard. I can't be the only one in this predicament? Thanks for reading, sorry it's long.

Edit: I tried pumping to top up and got less than an ounce off.

Why do you think your supply is low? If DS is snacking, is your body just providing what your baby wants i.e. little and often? I could never pump but had enough milk for DD. It sounds like your priority needs to be more sleep. Can you give your DH a shift when you sleep and he either distracts DS or gives formula? Worth getting advice about mixed feeding if you take that option, as it obviously can affect supply. You are doing great but it sounds really tough!

Hi, sorry I can't post a long post but breast compressions really helped me: it aims to make the feeds more efficient by getting the milk in faster and might help your baby stay awake.
I found the page below extremely helpful.

www.breastfeedinginc.ca/informations/breast-compression/

Also, giving a bottle of formula as a one-off to allow you to get a few hours sleep is not the end of breastfeeding - for me this allowed me to recharge my batteries and reapproach breastfeeding. Baby may well sleep longer/seem more settled after a formula feed, this doesn't mean that you are not producing enough milk though. If you are going to give more than occasional bottles (we gave about two bottles per week with my first) then do get advice on mixed feeding.

Good luck!

Have you had him checked for
Tongue tie? You may need several people to check. My DS2 was exactly like this and it took me weeks to get it assessed (midwives, A&E, paediatricians and HV all missed it) whilst trying things like top up and breast compressions (I paid for a private lactation consultant to look eventually). Weak latch and poor weight gain plus short snacks are very typical and the problem gets worse as baby struggles to get the milk and the energy it needs to feed. One suggestion given to me was to feed milk from a syringe first to give DS2 energy to feed for longer. If you pumped for your first you may have had similar issues.