Starting breastfeeding after a week

[Catsarethebest85]

My baby is 8 days old and so far I have been formula feeding but for the last few days I’ve been experiencing so much mum guilt for not breastfeeding and a few times have had the overwhelming urge to try and feed my daughter myself.

I tried expressing some milk this evening and still have a supply so I know with pumping I can increase this enough to feed my baby.

Has anyone experienced starting breastfeeding a week or two in? I have flat nipples which makes things so much harder and my baby struggled to latch both times when I tried in the hospital. It’s the closeness that I want to experience, not the benefits of breast milk.

If anyone has gone on this journey, please let me know how you got on! I’m really torn with what to do - stick with formula feeding which my baby is thriving on, or starting to combi feed as I don’t want to give up the freedom formula feeding affords me when my husband can take the reins!

TIA!

Not quite done this as I was breastfeeding then DC got very sick at about 4, days old. Then I got very sick. She was being tube fed, I couldn't express or anything as was too ill and couldn't breastfeed as she was in an incubator and being tube fed. Anyway, I pumped a bit when I got better and tried breastfeeding. We ended up mix feeding till about 3 mo which was better than it could have been

Yeah defo try.

We formula fed both of ours for the first week as it took a while for my supply to kick in.

Put baby on you before every formula feed so she gets the taste for it - pinch a bit of boob between thumb and finger (near the nipple) so baby takes more that just nipple.

Then one day she'll just feed without you even realising

Hi op, just wanted to pop on and say that your area should have a lactation consultant or infant feeding coordinator who you can get support from even after being discharged from hospital. They can also loan you hospital grade pumps etc if you don't have one. Speak to your hv or community midwife about your plans and ask for a referral to be made, they're normally very quick at getting back and will be able to help you devise a personalised plan to feed the way that you want. I'd also recommend joining a breast feeding support group to learn more from other mums who are bf/combi feeding. It's really nice being able to comfort baby so easily, my wee one needed his heart rate checked the other day and I fed him to settle him and it was amazing to see how fast his heart rate settled just from that closeness, but you will be your dcs safe place regardless. You can work it to suit you and your family, I ebf for a month but now I express a few bottles a week so my dh can do some feeds and I can get more rest or a break when I need one.

What I would say is that you've nothing to feel guilty about, you're still feeding your child and it sounds like they are thriving because you're doing a fabulous job. Just be gentle with yourself 8 days pp you'll still be full of hormones etc so just be kind to you.

It's not too late though, some women find their milk takes almost a week to come in so if it feels right for you, then get some support and have a go. Initially I needed the midwifes in hospital to physically show me how to get a good latch so linking in with someone rather than struggling at home alone is really helpful and even now 4 weeks later I still linked in with our lactation consultant this week just to check a few things. Good luck!