Can I start breastfeeding?

[Hotpinkangel19]

At 8 weeks old? Is it possible???

Have you kept your milk supply going? I breastfed my daughter for a day and gave up but kept pumping and went back to it when she was about 5 weeks old and she does it perfectly fine, just takes a bit of getting used to xxx

It's not impossible but it could be a lot of work. I'd start by expressing regularly and as often as you can, ideally up to 8 or more times in 24 hours.

You'll also need to get your baby used to latching on, which may take some time. You would need to try to get your baby to latch at each feed, and see if they will give it a try. You could also look to use teats like the Medela Calma ones that slightly mimic the breastfeeding action (baby needs to maintain a suction to get any milk), rather than a free flow teat.

Once your baby will latch you then need to gradually shift from a little bit of a feed, then a bottle towards a longer feed and a smaller amount via bottle.

As pp have said. Also if you are having difficulties latching on , nipple shields can help to get you started if baby is having difficulty due to be used to the bottle.

It depends how your supply is. Have you kept it going by expressing. If your milk is fine it maybe the latching on baby may struggle with at the beginning.