Breastfeeding - where am I going wrong?

[Syp832]

I’ve just given birth to DS2, he is only 2 weeks old and I really want to breastfeed him but i have no idea how to do it.

he was jaundiced and very sleepy when born so wouldn’t breastfeed and I ended up having to top him up with formula when he was 2 days old. Ever since then breastfeeding has gone on a downward spiral and I don’t know how to get it back. He is currently bottle fed with expressed milk and formula about 50/50.

he is 2 weeks old but has only ever breastfed for 10mins or more about 3 or 4 times because he was too sleepy. But he is now beginning to wake up and be more alert, so I think he could feed well if we could just work out the latch.

it doesn’t help that the first 2 weeks of his life were hectic because we moved into a new house and had to get some urgent works done, so we haven’t had much chance to just sit skin to skin and focus on feeding. I’ve also had a toddler at home with me for the first two
weeks. But things are a lot calmer now and toddler will be going to childcare, so I think we should be able to focus on feeding. I just don’t know how to do it. I’m currently pumping but only getting 30mls or so at a time, although baby is small at 6lbs so maybe that’s not too much of an issue.

does anyone have any advice? Or like a step by step plan I can follow to get us breastfeeding? I spoke to a lactation consultant whose main advice was just to pump regularly and try putting baby to my boob but not to force it. I just don’t see how that will get us breastfeeding.

i never managed to breastfeed my eldest due to PND, and him also being too sleepy /jaundiced to feed. I just really wanted to do better by my second son, but it feels hopeless right now.

My grandmother never produced enough milk to feed my mum and auntie. The difference for her was she had a sister with babies the same age and plenty of milk who lived close by so she would breastfeed my mum and auntie to top them up.
Feed issues are as old as time it's just our village has changed!
My dad was very premature and was fed condensed milk. You wouldn't know!

Take a fed days to give it ago and if it doesn't work out it's no reflection on you, you have given it a damn good try. My daughter was breastfeed then formula fed and she thrived in both situations probably slightly more on formula than breastmilk to be honest.

Oh op it’s so hard in those early days, and they feel endless. Your oldest will be ok for a few days, it’s hardly anything in the grand scheme of his life.
you’re doing amazing and no one can say you aren’t trying! Perhaps give yourself a goal, like 3 more days as you are, then cut a formula bottle and add in one more expressed or breast feed for a few days, check baby is still pooping, then one more and so on.l, so it feels like you’re working towards something rather then endless triple feeding.
Go back to the feeding team if that made you feel more confident, I went so many times in those first few weeks

All that said, if you want to stop, stop!
do give yourself some grace, take any help and rest you can get, it’s such early days

Some of this advice is wrong OP a breasted baby can go days and days without pooping as they use so much of the milk.

If you can afford it I would highly recommend a consultation with a well reviewed lactation consultant. I've breastfed two babies and have also had struggles but found that the only people who knew what they were talking about were the LC's.

Not until they are 6 weeks old.

OP you’re doing a great job. Keep going! Your baby has a tongue tie so just pump when you can, some is better than nothing. If it’s too much to do every feed that’s ok- your baby is still getting some milk and hopefully more now the tt has been snipped!

my friends who have used oesteopaths have noticed a different with 2/3 sessions