Should I carry on breastfeeding or admit defeat

[ExcitingTimes2021]

Iv posted quite a bit over the last few weeks about my struggles with breastfeeding. Basically Iv been trying and trying and trying but just can’t get a good latch and baby is now 9 weeks old. Wet and dirty nappies are ok. Weight gain so far has been ok although slowed the last two weeks. Because of the poor latch she seems to only want to feed for 5/10 minutes but it’s literally every hour still. At 9 weeks I would have thought she would be stretching out the feeds a bit more by now. Iv tried to get her to feed longer but she either just falls asleep or cries and won’t take any more breast.
Iv contacted local support groups, la large league, health visitor, friends who Breast feed and I just can’t seam to get any improvement with her latch and now she is bigger feel like we have gone past the point of being able to improve it. She doesnt sleep so feel like my whole day is spent feeding, changing her nappy as she still poops after every feed and then trying to get her to stay asleep.
Are things ever going to improve or should I just throw the towel in, admit defeat and give formula? The lack of sleep and the stress of feeding is really taking it tole on me now x

Apologies if you are aware of this and have tried it but thought I would share it as this really helped me get a deeper latch and I only heard about it after I had my second baby

bornandfed.com/sandwich-hold/

It’s up to you. There is no wrong answer here. Is the latch sore/uncomfortable? Has she been checked for tongue tie? The feeding for only a 5/10 mins might not be a bf issue it maybe just your baby and change to ff might not change that.

It sounds like you’re really committed to making bf work but is it all or nothing? Also, if weight gain and nappies are fine what is the latch issue? For comparison my DD is 11 weeks and ebf. During the day, feeds are rarely longer than 10 mins and she’ll often want to feed again within 90 mins or less of the last one. She’s started having longer naps some days but that’s very recent. I’ve also started to realise that if DP has her she’ll go longer between feeds.

You’re probably exhausted so it’s difficult to see things clearly but you can experiment without having to make any big decisions. Can someone else to look after her for a few hours so you can sleep for a bit (I find morning better than evening when often cranky anyway) or trying one or two ff to see what difference it makes.

ParadiseLaundry I was given this advice with dd3 and it worked brilliantly I struggled really badly with latch previously so if latch is your problem give this a go. It is hard going sometimes I completely understand op.

I exclusively pumped as my wee one would not latch at all, even had a lactation consultant try help, apparently I wasn't doing anything wrong.

I tried again at 12 weeks, it's been a few weeks and he's amazing at it now , at first I had to angle my nipple in and almost tickle his mouth with it to get him to take it, then I started sandwiching it in now he just leaps for it himself 🙈

Hi Op,

Have you tried a nipple shield ? This is the only thing that worked for us. Unfortunately still didn't get to breast feed for long due to having to go into hospital when little man was 6 weeks but did improve breast feeding over those first few weeks.