Combi feeding issues - any tips?

[NewKidOnTheBlock99]

Hello,

My DD is almost three weeks old, we’ve been trying to breastfeed and it’s not going well. I find it really painful and no matter how much we try, we just can’t get the latch right. Even if she goes on right, she’ll slide down in to an incorrect latch within a minute or two - I’ve seen 3 consultants now, none of whom have been helpful. From birth we’ve been giving her bottles also to give me a break (formula & hand expressed breast milk 1-2 a day, some days not at all) she takes them well! Now the issue is, I’m close to giving up the boob & tried pumping yesterday & HATED it so the only option is formula. She’s over 9llb 10 & we will give her 150ml of aptimel but she either only lasts 2 hours (midwife said she should be going 4 with that amount, which is over guidelines for her age) or she screams to go on the boob assuming for comfort & a dummy won’t do it!

Anyone got any tips on how to stop her wanting the boob after a bottle? She threw up constantly yesterday because she ended up over feeding!

Thanks

Has she been checked for tongue tie? It sounds like she’s struggling to feed efficiently. Is anything dribbling out of her mouth when you bottle feed? Have you tried different dummies? It can take them a bit to get the hang of a dummy, it falls out constantly at first! One tip is to put it in then tap the end until the baby is properly sucking. The newborn bit is so tough. I wonder if she’s cluster feeding but obviously with a formula feed she doesn’t need to in the same way she would with the breast but possibly she hasn’t quite cottoned on to this.

3 consultants and nobody helped? Can I ask what they were saying? I found the midwives were a bit hit and miss but the breastfeeding support group in my area were great.

@Flangeosaurus yes, so had a tongue tie and we got it shipped at 3 days old! One of the consultants said she doesn’t look like she puts her head back to latch so see a osteopath but would that really make much of a difference? Yes, she dribbles when bottle feeding! What does that mean?

So with all the consultants they seemed to think she looked correct 50% of the time but it’s more that it hurts me and I have had a couple of correct feeds so know it doesn’t feel right! So they all seem a bit stumped, also they just keep saying try biological feeding position and I just can’t get on with it.

It’s just tough because her feeds are getting longer (used to be 5-30mins max and yesterday she wanted to feed for an hour) and I just can’t handle the pain for that long :(

Dribbling when bottle feeding may mean her tongue tie hasn’t been fully dealt with so worth getting rechecked. Has anyone suggested nipple shields? If you want to continue BF they can really help get you through this bit and you can wean off them later if you want. Have you got biggish boobs? My sister has very big boobs and needs to support with her hand to get in the right position so something to try perhaps. I’m astonished none of the consultants have anything more helpful to suggest! Do you have any BF groups near you? Might be better to talk to other mums and see what ideas they have.