FTM to one week old

[chooseausername]

Please can I ask for some help/advice on the following points? I think they may all be related but I can feel myself starting to get frustrated now.

1. Breastfeeding. My baby keeps latching for a few sucks and then coming off. This repeats and she keeps getting frustrated. She also seems to almost play with my nipple with her mouth rather than latching on. I am trying to feed her regularly and looking for the signs that show she's hungry but it is every time and it is especially worse at night. There have been times where I have caved and given her a bottle because she is in such a state but I don't want to do this regularly. Is there something I can do to help?

1. Wind. She is such a windy baby! I regularly wind her during and after a feed but you can hear the gurgling inside her and I know this is upsetting her. We have tried giving her the wind relief stuff (I've gone blank on the name) but this didn't help either. When she was born, she was full of mucus and didn't have the best start so I worry that this will just continue. I've spoken to my midwife and was told that it's normal. It just seems like a lot.

1. Colic. Is it too early to have this? She cried from 6pm-1am yesterday and was inconsolable. Any ideas that can help soothe her?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I hope my paragraphs have worked too!

This sounds exactly like my baby and he has tongue tie and it's made harder as I have flat nipples. I find nipple shields have really helped but I've had to push for a lactation consultant appointment. I would recommend bringing up baby not being able to latch at every appointment and keep asking for help. I'm hoping once my little one has had the procedure I can ditch the shields!

Hi.

Re breastfeeding.

Your milk might not be in yet. I had a c section and it took about a week/week and a half for mine to come in.

Trying expressing every 2/3 hours for a few days. Feed formula in the meantime.

Our daughter was inconsolable at the breast from days 3 and 4 as i had no milk. It was heartbreaking. She didnt feed for 12 hours solid. Breast consultant said to express every 2/3 hours and keep trying to latch her on.

We are now successfully combination feeding and i have a good supply.

Good luck. It will get better.

Infacol builds up for a few days to build up so if your baby is only 1 week old and I assume you didn't start it day 1 then you could maybe Keely trying it for a few more days.
If she is crying for long periods she is likely gulping in air. It could be a vicious cycle of being uncomfy due to gas then crying and creating more. Also poor latch can add to being gassy.

Is your milk in properly? Has she been weighed since she was born? How much weight had she lost?
Just keep on at breastfeeding..she needs to suckle so your body knows to keep making milk!

You could also use a pump to stretch your nipple out slightly the try her on that

Oh and I used to squeeze my nipples to get some milk on the end so he got a taste and kept going.

Thank you so much for the replies. They have actually brought me to tears so I am clearly emotional today.

I asked about tongue tie at my last appointment. They had a look and said that she doesn't have it so it doesn't look like it could be that.

She was formula fed for the first day and combination on day 2 because she would not latch at all. They said the mucus was making her feel full so she didn't feel like she needed to feed. I think this is what's playing on my mind. I feel like that may have compromised breastfeeding but it's good to know that that's not the case. She was weighed on Saturday and only lose 6% which they said was really good so she must be getting something?

I think my milk has come in now but only just, thinking about it. My next midwife appointment is on Thursday so I will keep powering on and hopefully it will improve. I will pump some more in the meantime as well.

Thanks again. Honestly, it means so much!

Keep going. Its hard but it sounds like you're doing everything you can 👍🏻😃

You are under midwife care until at least day 10.
What are babies nappies like? Are the weeing and pooing? Any nitrates? If you are concerned about this then do ring the hospital tonight and ask to be seen. If your happy if the above then ring the hospital and say you are having feeding issues and need to see midwife tomorrow. Ask them to see you every day until you are happy with feeding/handed over to HV. Don’t wait until Thursday.

See either LLL counsellor or a private lactation consultant if she is not latching properly.

6% weight loss is great. If she is hangry then maybe give enough formula to help her calm down and then try to get her to latch again. Search for the ‘flipple technique’ on YouTube.

First give yourself a pat on the back, breastfeeding is hard work but I can honestly say it was one of the most rewarding phases of my life so far. However long you manage to do it for it all counts. The flipple technique is worth a Google to improve latch. You will definitely know once your milk has come in as your boobs will feel very full. Sometimes baby will struggle to latch on as your boobs are too full. All you do to combat this is express a bit off by hand if you need to. Fussing at the breast is babys way of upping your supply. Just go with the flow, seek as much help and support you can get and eat shed loads of hobnobs as oats improve milk supply. 💐

Does she calm eventually OP? I wonder if she's frustrated before your let down. The flutter sucks are normal, I think. I would check your positioning and latch, but if baby is gaining weight and your nipples feel ok, then I wouldn't worry too much at this stage.

Your extra emotional because this is your milk just coming in now!!
Do you have a wee hand pump at home you can use? This is what my midwife told me to do and it was great. I went from no milk to filling a good bottles worth as a one off. This reduced the size of my breasts and allowed baby to latch for a but although we did have problems and he basically bottle fed for the first 2 weeks of his life. Now we are a lot better at breast feeding and he refuses a bottle!

You will get there, just don't give up bf if that's what you want to do. I was very close to but so glad I didn't.

Sorry just saw you do have a pump..that's good. :)

Just to say you can get help on the telephone from La Leche League between 8am and 11pm www.laleche.org.uk/telephone-helpline/

Worth reading their resources if you haven't already. You're doing brilliantly. Good luck x

You say they had a look for tongue tie. How did they look?

Did someone peek in her mouth, or did they perform an oral assessment, letting your baby suck on a gloved finger and feeling around the mouth?

If it was a simple peer in, then that person hasn't had tongue tie identification training and shouldn't be diagnosing.

It's worth seeking out your local infant feeding lead at the hospital to request a full assessment.

Hi I'm a FTM too but have been breastfeeding for nearly a year and a half now. Have you tried phoning the national breastfeeding helpline? Google the number. I've phoned them up loads of times in the early weeks and really found them helpful.

Is there a breastfeeding support group in your area? I'm not going to tell you you shouldn't do this or that but please be aware that formula before 6 weeks (or whenever supply is established) can really affect supply / breastfeeding in general. Have you tried looking on YouTube for some videos of what a good latch looks like / latching on tips?

No clue about wind or colic, sorry.

Congratulations on the baby.

DD is extremely windy, I use a mixture of winding techniques that I found via the infacol YouTube page. See if using those regularly helps as well. And Gripe water when she's a month old will help too. I know it's 3 weeks away, but if she's still the same then then it's something else to try.

Thank you all so much for your replies!

I googled the flipple technique, tried it and she was latching so much better. I was doing something similar but I think my 'flip' ended up more as a place, if that makes sense.

I think her frustration is due to not enough milk. When she started fussing, I squeezed my nipple and there definitely wasn't as much coming out. I'm going to up my pumping today too to try and encourage more. I've the numbers for support too and I'm going to ring my midwife today as well as speak about it tomorrow.

I'll also look at the winding techniques online!

In regards to the tongue tie, they checked that when they were doing her assessment e.g. legs, reflexes, eyes etc before we left hospital...

Ah I feel much more positive today! Thanks so much!

Just to add re: tongue tie. I was told my daughter didnt have a tongue tie multiple times by different professionals but finally at 7 weeks we were referred and she had a significant posterior tongue tie, which was divided at 8 weeks.

I would also find your local breastfeeding cafe, they can help with latching etc techniques