Breast feeding experts plz....

[Flower08]

Hi

My baby girl is 4 days old I had her delivered c section and started breast feeding straight away!!

Milk came in properly yesterday,

When feeding her I’m trying to put as much of my Areola and nipple in as much as her little mouth could possibly take.
I’m not in pain so she’s not just latched on to the nipple, and she does have milk most of the time around her lips when breast feeding.

Me and my partner have been topping her up at night time with ready made Cow and gate. I’m wanting to try just keep her on the breast now as changing her to formula has upset her little tummy :(

I’ve acquired today a tommee tippee electric pump and tried expressing. It is second hand ( I know who from ) and i have steralised it before using before anyone may judge :) well..:: nothing has expressed :( I’ve changed the battery’s as wasn’t very strong and it’s still expressing nothing. Now I’m able to draw milk by using only my hands so something is there, I have just contacted to community feeding team and left a msg for some advise. But kind of thinking I’m not giving her enough.

Would she tell me I wasn’t when suckling ? Would she cry or pull away or just carry on suckling?

She tends to suckle fast, slow down, and gradually falls asleep which then can lead her waking up 15 mins later for another feed or a hour.

I’d love to hear some advise from experience as I’m a complete novice and she is my first baby.

Thank you

The green poo is really normal and will stop soon enough.

My advice is ditch the formula, don’t worry about pumping yet, and get breastfeeding really well established. Maybe try pumping in a month or do.

I know it’s hard but your baby is so tiny and you are best person to nourish her. The sleep deprivation is brutal, but this will not last forever. Getting the breastfeeding really well established will help you in the long run.

The general advice is not to pump until feeding is established eg 6 weeks or so.
Also topping up with formula is not needed at this stage. Her tummy is about the size of a large acorn/ small plum, so very frequent feeding is normal.
The trapped wind is very painful. Been there! It is horrible so lots of sympathy for that.

I’m giving the formula a miss definitely she’s up again for another feed and that’s been less than 10 mins. So this frequently can be normal ? I can’t actually hear her swallow sometimes either. Trying to do my best but find it so hard :(

It can be normal. Feeding can be quite tiring to begin with so they feed little and often. But it can also be a sign of not transferring milk properly, maybe due to tongue tie or another issue. Does it hurt when she's feeding?

Although, if you're concerned then you should raise it with your midwife/HV and maybe also ask for or arrange a qualified lactation consultant to check you both out.

Don't be dispirited though, breastfeeding sometimes takes a little while to settle down and feel problem free.

Very frequently feeding and cluster feeding is so normal for a tiny baby. Their tummies can’t take in a lot but they may need to feed often. It’s nothing like what you see in the media. Best thing I ever did with my newborn was get a tv box set, get super cosy on the sofa and let my baby feed as much as she wanted.

Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job and congratulations OP.

I understand your concern OP. I've struggled to breastfed 2 babies and went through much of what you're describing. In my case though it turned out she wasn't getting enough milk from me which led to permanent top ups.

Is she being weighed?

Oh god - I remember these days of constant worry. I worried about whether ds was getting enough, worried that he was constantly at the breast, worried when he wasn't at my breast. The sleep deprivation was hideous. I also tried to express and found very little came out. With hindsight I realise expressing created more stress and detracted from my resting time than just bfing would have taken.

I second an earlier poster's suggestion of your dp having baby to let you sleep and only bringing baby up to feed (in bed) and then take away again.

It was so much easier with dc2 when I felt no pressure (from myself) to do anything other than feed and rest.

...and yes to box sets! Some expert told me never to have a tv on when the baby was in the room. I couldn't work out how to read (turn pages) and bf at the same time so i just sat in a quiet room for weeks on end staring at a wall. Needless to say i learned my lesson for dc2 😀.

I pumped and it was awful! I'd get a few drops and that was it! I tried a manual and I also used the hospital grade double electric pump! Just didn't work for me.

I started using a haaka which suctions onto the other boob while you're feeding. It's brilliant and only about £5 from Amazon. I'd get about 50ml per feed just from catching the drips.

I still have about 30oz in the freezer just from using the haaka.

Sirlee how did I not know about these before now?! That looks like a game changer!

Agree with folk saying not to bother to pump. But also feel like if you want So o give one bottle before bed so you get a better stretch of sleep, do it. Don't feel like it will ruin your bfing relationship. It won't if you trust that you are making everything else your baby needs.

Trust your instinct in regards to wet nappies. Try and get those ones with a wetness indicator as they take away some of the guesswork.

My wee boy never did enough wet nappies without a formula top up, so that's what we did. I breastfed and formula fed him until he was 10.5 months when I started working more and couldn't be bothered to pump at work and didn't want to do hundreds of night feeds anymore.

You sound like you are both doing well though. Most breastfeeding newborn behaviours are fairly normal, but do trust your instinct with wet nappies.

The frequent feeding is needed to establish supply and it is especially important to feed through the night as that is when you produce hormones at their highest level to stimulate supply. At this stage, formula really could damage your supply

But: you should be feeding and Dad can do anything else, especially as you recover from surgery. So feed. Dad winds, does nappy, cuddles, sings, walks, sling etc and only returns for feeding. Get advice on positions for Post-CS

Thanks GIerg

What’s bothering me most is she latching in then she’ll fall asleep if I need a minute I’ll put her in Moses basket to just have a rest and this is whilst she’s asleep and she screams as soon as she’s in it

flower that's totally normal newborn behaviour. Babies want to sleep on you and not in a cot or basket. I'd just let her sleep in your arms when you can.

@Flower08 I also had a limpet baby who fell asleep on the boob all the time...

I found it really helped to make a safe co-sleeping environment so we could lay down and if I fell asleep he wouldn't fall out of my arms. Light covers up to waist only for you. Pillow out of the way. Baby between me and the wall. Sleeping bag for baby (if any bedding at all!)

It's tough going honestly, but being able to feed laying down helped (I do have massive, floppy boobs though which made this easier 😂)

Don't feel guilty or bad about giving some formula for a bit of extra sleep. I found combifeeeding made me much less anxious about breastfeeding (which in turn made breastfeeding more successful).

I used to give the bottle before bed, but limited it to maximum 120ml and breastfed if he was still hungry after finishing it. I don't think I ever fully replaced feeds with formula honestly, so maybe I just did double work... but combi feeding definitely saved my sanity! Especially as he definitely wasn't getting enough breast milk.

I did find co-sleeping to be the best solution for getting rest. I basically had our sofa bed folded out for the first 4 months of DSs life and laid down at any opportunity. Even if I didn't sleep, laying down helped with energy and also meant I could just let babe feed through his naps. He was a proper sleep-eater all the time we breastfed...

I hope your breastfeeding journey goes well. Take care of yourself. Eat well, drink plenty and lay down as much as you can.

I'm here if you need combifeeding support, though not an expert at all, I just feel like I managed to do it for a long time and stopped breastfeeding when I felt we were ready to and I think combifeeding as an option is often overlooked.

Enjoy squishy newborn cuddles! They are so precious and so fleeting. My babe is 12 months now and he's running everywhere and making tonnes of mischief and I don't know where the time went and can't believe he was ever so tiny!

incywincy I know!! I was complaining to my midwife how my other boob just leaked and I was going through so many breast pads and it was shame that is was wasting milk and she told me about the haaka!

Honestly, it's the best baby product I've ever bought. I always had enough milk from the haaka in one day for 1.5 / 2 bottles a day (6/8oz) so DH bottle fed DS the expressed milk at night-time. I had so much left over, I froze loads and also made breast milk ice Lolly's for DS (which has been great in his heat!!)

No pumping, you just suction it on to the other boob whilst feeding and it does the job.

Have a look on Amazon for Haaka

There's another one called the Nature Bond which was slightly cheaper when I was buying mine but is the same thing. I used to get so much out with it, id use it on the other breast when I was pumping as well. Just bare in mind it is classed as a pump, it isn't just catching the drips, so the same recommendations apply with regard to not using it too early on. (If anyone does want to catch the drips you can use collection shells).

Morning ladies

Just had a lovely lady from a breast feeding community come out to see me, she’s basically said everything is normal I’m feeding my baby girl fine I just needed to pull her in a little more
Again I’ve had no sleep and had a little cry when she got here lol but I know it’s not forever and things will get easier I’ve just got to hang in there. Thank you again for your advice and replies xx

So glad things are going well for you Flower 😊