Breastfeeding questions!!

[Strokes55]

DD2 is 9 weeks old now and I’m confused as to whether what we are doing is right or not!!
We have had troubles with feeding from the beginning, with tongue tie being snipped af day 5 and pain and cracking to nipples for myself persisting even now but slowly improving. Latch is still not ideal and she tends to slip off after a few minutes - ?due to fast letdown. She also has a possible dairy allergy so we are starting an elimination diet for that! I have had a bout of mastitis and am really keen to avoid it again.
My questions mainly are: after she has been feeding for up to 30 minutes, the majority of the time I have to take her off the breast as her latch has slipped and the pain is too much, however I am still able to hand express milk from the breast. Is this putting me at risk of mastitis again as she is not draining the breast properly?
My other questions are that over the last couple of days she is more unsettled and feeding more frequently (every 90mins) - is this a growth spurt or is she not getting enough from me?
Thank you!

Hi OP. Re you still being able to hand express, I wouldn't worry too much as (as far as I know) milk is made on demand so your breasts are never truly empty. Cluster feeding is definitely a thing and will happen on and off around growth spurt. I'd just go with it as much as you can and things should settle down. As long as you're still seeing plenty of wet nappies and weight gain, try and trust your baby to know what they need. Sounds like you're doing really well!

That sounds rough! Have you tried feeding laying down on your side on the bed? That's the only way I really got feeding going. I was too tense sitting up holding the baby, my back and neck hurt and I'm sure it made it all go wrong. When you're both laying down you are both supported and can relax.

Also, the reason for the fussing (and for your pain) may be that she's not getting to the creamy hind milk. I ended up feeding in 4hr blocks on each side, so no matter how short the "feed" was I put DS back on the same side repeatedly over a 4hr period. This helped to stabilise the whole supply and helped to really drain each breast.

Sounds like a growth spurt. To check she is getting enough you need to focus on output, is she weeing and pooing enough and putting on weight.

Have you been doing the exercises with her to make sure her tongue tie doesn’t regrow?

As soon as you realise the latch is not good then take her off and try again. Dont wait until it is too far painful. My DD is 18 months and I still sometimes have to do this with her. I find as she falls asleep then her latch slips. Try feeding in different positions, rugby ball is good and watch YouTube videos of the flipple technique. As long as you have a good latch, feed regularly and don’t wear tight fighting bras then mastitis isn’t coming. Keep an eye out for lumpy or sore boobs and if one boob does become sore feed on that side while rubbing it.

Tongue tie and poor latch can give the same symptoms of CMPA. Make sure you are taking a calcium supplement and don’t replace the dairy with soya as the protein is very similar so many babies with CMPA are also allergic to calcium.

Sorry to hear it’s so painful. When she slips off the latch can you maybe slip your little finger in to break the latch and try repositioning her? The cluster feeding sounds very normal (gruelling I know). Both of my babies fed almost every hour during the day in the first few months and several times at night.

@Thatwentbadly

Sounds like a growth spurt. To check she is getting enough you need to focus on output, is she weeing and pooing enough and putting on weight.

Have you been doing the exercises with her to make sure her tongue tie doesn’t regrow?

As soon as you realise the latch is not good then take her off and try again. Dont wait until it is too far painful. My DD is 18 months and I still sometimes have to do this with her. I find as she falls asleep then her latch slips. Try feeding in different positions, rugby ball is good and watch YouTube videos of the flipple technique. As long as you have a good latch, feed regularly and don’t wear tight fighting bras then mastitis isn’t coming. Keep an eye out for lumpy or sore boobs and if one boob does become sore feed on that side while rubbing it.

Tongue tie and poor latch can give the same symptoms of CMPA. Make sure you are taking a calcium supplement and don’t replace the dairy with soya as the protein is very similar so many babies with CMPA are also allergic to calcium.

Not allergic to calcium! Allergic to soya.

Please be careful before you block feed as @Throughabushbackwards has suggested as this can impact your supply if you are not regularly emptying both sides. Block feeding is normally recommended for people with over supply.

I wouldn’t be worried about being able to hand express after a feed as breast milk is constantly being made as it’s removed from the breast so boobs are never really empty (although they can feel that way sometimes!) they’re more like a river flowing than a jug. The flow may slow down but isn’t ever gone if that makes sense?

If baby is having enough wet nappies and gaining weight then she’s getting enough. I think the guideline is 6 wet nappies per day. If she’s doing this then the frequent feeding sounds normal to me.