Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Breastfeeding - Confusing advice from midwives

15 replies

mandymac · 30/06/2005 18:23

Hello

DD now 8 days old and seems to be a very slow/sleepy feeder. Am seeing different midwives for checkups and getting conflicting advice regarding this. Midwife 1 says OK to take DD off breast after hour and a half or so and hand to DH to settle (to save nipples from falling off). Midwife 2 says leave her on until she comes off of her own accord . As I am naturally quite attached to my nipples and trying to keep them in good repair, I am keen to go with advice from Midwife 1 and take her off at some point.
Any thoughts on this one?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Twiglett · 30/06/2005 18:24

ignore midwife 2

Aero · 30/06/2005 18:24

I think an hour and a half is a long time to be on the breast tbh and I'd go with midwife one speaking from bad mastitis experience!!

hercules · 30/06/2005 18:24

I wouldnt trust mvs to be honest for bf advice. Speak to a bfc. Are you aure your latch is okay?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

kama · 30/06/2005 18:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

daisy1999 · 30/06/2005 18:27

ignore mw and listen to mumsnet!
11/2 seems a long time to me.

Twiglett · 30/06/2005 18:27

I would actually say an hour and a half may be a bit extreme too .. 40 mins??

lucy5 · 30/06/2005 18:29

Are you sure she is actually feeding? My dd used to do this at first and I cottoned on to the fact that she was just having a little nibble and by god my boobs were sore. You will get the feel for it, best of luck!

NotQuiteCockney · 30/06/2005 18:31

First, you would be better off posting in the Breastfeeding area ...

Second, as others have said, it would be wise to see a BFC to get things checked over.

Third, is your baby weeing and pooing ok? Is she generally alright?

As others have said, an hour and a half is a long time, is she feeding off and on in there?

Ameriscot2005 · 30/06/2005 18:36

I didn't need to do this, but a friend was advised to tickle her baby's feet to keep him from falling asleep after only a few moments at the breast. It seemed to do the trick for her. What was taking an hour before, was replaced by a 10 - 15 minute feed.

edam · 30/06/2005 18:37

Personally agree with Twiglett, ignore m/w 2. Some m/ws don't actually know much about b/f.

edam · 30/06/2005 18:38

Ooh Ameriscot reminded me, you can blow on their faces as well to keep them awake and feeding. Or, once they've got sleepy and finished, change their nappies so they wake up and then offer the other side.

Tinker · 30/06/2005 18:44

Tickling their cheek keeps them sucking as well.

tortoiseshell · 30/06/2005 18:57

mandymac, I'm an expert in keeping babies awake to feed - ds was a terror and would fall asleep after only 2 sucks. How is your dd's weight gain? Ds was very slow, so I had to work really hard to get him to feed for longer, but if your dd is putting on enough weight it could be she is really efficient.

Things I found worked were...

blowing on cheek, tickling feet etc to start with.

THEN, undressed ds, put him back on, THEN lay him down on cold changing mat (feels really really cruel), put him back on, THEN throw cold water on his face (just a few drops, you don't want to drown her!). If you keep switching sides, then there is a more ready supply of milk to keep her interested and awake, rather than having to work harder for the later milk. This goes against the advice to keep them on one side per feed, but if she's falling asleep before she reaches the hindmilk anyway, then it will be beneficial - it's mentioned in the La Leche League book 'The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding' (!) as 'switch feeding' and says you should switch to give at least 2 goes on each side (this is only for a sleepy feeder, not general advice).

You can also express a bit of milk to top up at the end of a feed, but tbh I found it a real pain having to sterilise everything all the time to extract the 1/2 oz of milk that didn't really make a lot of difference!

I would have thought 45 mins to an hour would be plenty - they're only supposed to go 3 hours anyway (which is beginning of feed to beginning of feed) and they do need some sleep/kicking around time! The key thing is that she is actually feeding, not 'nibbling' - you should probably be able to hear her swallowing.

Hopefully tiktok or mears will see this and give you some qualified advice! Congratulations on the baby btw!

mandymac · 30/06/2005 20:51

Oops, didn't realise there was a breastfeeding area, new to mumsnet.

She is certainly producing plenty of nappies (thank god it is bin day tomorrow) . Weight seems OK, she was 3.42kg at birth and 3.40kg at 6 day check up, which m/w seemed happy with.

Trying the tickling, putting down, blowing etc, which gets her sucking for about 30 seconds then have to start again.

Worth mentioning that these really long feeds are at 7pm, 10pm and 2am. In the mornings ie 5.30am and 7am she is quite happy with 30 -45 mins.

I don't mind feeding her for 1 1/2 hours if thats what it takes, just didn't want to be made to feel guilty for taking her off eventually .

OP posts:
JiminyCricket · 30/06/2005 21:35

my dd used to regulalry feed for an hour - in the end i decided she was just a hungry baby, but in the meantime collected some useful advice - nct bfing counsellor (found their helplines excellent) told me to get tough and any time I felt the feeding was 'fluttery' or sleepy, to slip my finger in to break the latch and take dd off the boob, then obviously if she wanted more to put back on but that this would encourage a more active feeding and make sure she wasn't just falling asleep or comforting herself. At the end of the day get all the advice you can, but only you know you and only you know the baby and you will choose to do whatever feels right, so don't worry if its not what others advise. As long as baby is healthy and happy in the long run its ok x

New posts on this thread. Refresh page