Help with Breastfeeding Blues?

[Pixiedust2017]

Hi everyone,
Sorry I am not sure if I have posted this in the correct place or not.
My little girl is currently 2 weeks old. She was born at 37 weeks 5 days after my waters broke. I had an epi and oxytocin in delivery, which I have subsequently learnt is associated with latching issues. Since being born she has struggled to latch correctly and has struggled to suck whilst on the breast. After becoming hypoglycaemic at 3 days old with jaundice the midwives at the hospital suggested that I give formula to keep her sugars up whilst we continued to try to breastfeed.
Since coming home, she still will not feed. I have been expressing via pump anywhere between 8 and 10 times a day (depending on time and how tired I am etc.) but I am not making enough milk to meet her requirements and am still having to top-up with formula.
I am taking 2 fenugreek capsules twice daily and have just made a batch of lactation cookies with brewers yeast and flaxseed meal in them (We couldn't find any fennel seeds in the shops today whilst out :( )
We are still trying to breastfeed twice a day. I am following the advice from the La Leche League Book "the womanly art of breastfeeding" and letting my little one find the breast herself, which she does successfully but she is still unable to latch correctly most of the time and if she does manage to she will suckle for about 5 sucks and then stop as if it is all too much effort for her to continue.
If I touch her head whilst she is at the breast like I was taught in hospital or use the C hold around the shoulders she just cries and then becomes too stressed for us to continue trying so I am not able to help her get a deep latch.

So I guess I am asking the following:
Has anyone else had similar issues before and managed to get their little ones onto the breast?
Is there anything else I can do to increase milk supply in the mean time?
Does anyone know if "power pumping" actually works?
Or does anyone have any advice in this area?
Thanks in advance for your time :)
~Pixie~

You're doing really well to get as far as you have. Keep it up and get to a proper breastfeeding clinic as soon as you can. My ds has never latched properly but from a similar start to you we got to ebf by 6 weeks by using nipple Shields. My nipples are just too flat for him.

My ds never ever latched on.
I had support in hospital, from the midwife, from the breastfeeding specialist and the la leche league. He couldn't work out what to do, and neither could I.
I pumped, so he was getting milk, but my supply dwindled and I was put on anti biotics that were contraindicated, so I stopped.

But, I ruined y first few weeks wth him because I was so anxious and determined he and I would work it out, and we didn't. In all honest, my advice would be to drop some pumping, take care of yourself and use formula.

I am now pregnant again, and my plan is to see if I can get this one to latch, if not, pump a bit, but I'm not torturing myself and pumping dozens of times a day when forumla is perfectly fine.

Both of my babies came home from hospital not latching, and we got back to 100% direct breastfeeding in both cases.

I expressed as much as I could, used nipple shields if they helped, tried at the breast at each feed, did paced bottle feeding using Medela Calma teats. I also was relaxed about using some formula if I hadn't managed to express enough. Even if you don't express as much as you need it still helps to stimulate supply.

I could have written the exact same thing a couple of months ago. My little one was born at 38 weeks and i had an epi and 4 drips of oxytocin and she was born via c section. I was too high on drug so i never got to experience her like no skin to skin when she was born i was too numb and couldn't hold her property and later on i was in to much pain to hold her. Suffice to say we didnt give breastfeeding a try until we got home.

Well once we got home i was expecting her to latch on and feed from the get go but nope she wouldnt even look at my breast she would cry so much to the point that she would make herself sick. I tried everything skin to skin etc but she just had a really strong aversion to my breast. So I pumped once or twice a day and in a day i could only ever pump 4oz maximum. She loved my milk but only in a bottle for the rest of her feeds she would have formula. But we kept trying to get her to latch at least once a day. All the pumping and crying (both me and her) became so stressful that i didnt enjoy being with her. I suppose it hurt my feelings that she would reject me like that. After about 3 weeks i gavw up. No trying to get her to latch or pumping i went cold turkey also my milk was drying up. My mum after a few days pushed me to give it one more try. She held my breast and manipulated my nipple in a way to make it easier for her to latch. And just like that at 1 month old she latched. Of course I wasn't producing enough milk so formula was her main diet.

Overtime.she preferred my breast more then the bottle and nearly at 4 months she hates taking the bottle and we exclusively breastfeed and boy is it hard. All those late night feeds to get my supply up and feeding every 2 hours does take a toll honestly formula feeding is so much easier but i m glad we got here. She seems more.content on.my milk less reflux.no more colic type crying no uncomfortable burping.

So my advice to you is work on getting the latch right And forget about pumping to increase your supply that is secondary. Once your baby latches all those cluster feedings will bring your supply up to the baby's demand. It helps to have support. My mother is one of the biggest reason for my success with breastfeeding my child. she was always there holding the baby while i tried to get her to latch, looking after her while i pumped. Take all the help you need. It is do able even though the .midwife who discharged me told me to give up as if my baby hasnt latched on by now at 3 weeks she probably never will and pumping wont maintain my supply. And I read negative things every where on the internet but don't give up. Work on getting the baby to latch and suck and forget about how much milk you have.

P.s. to maintain what little supply i had i used to eat cumin seeds every morning on an empty stomach. Basically you takw a teaspoon of cumin seeds pop them in your mouth and drink lots of water to wash it down. It like taking a medicine no need to chew.

Sorry for any grammatical mistakes since i typed this while she was feeding