Breastfeeding- not receiving the help we need

[Millie890]

Hi. I just want to know if anyone is experiencing the same thing we are currently going through...I'm absolutely at the end of my tether with community midwives. My baby is 2 weeks old, I really don't think she is getting the milk she needs from me as she is constantly chain feeding, for example last night she fed from 9pm until she finally fell asleep at 4am. She woke up at 7am and since then she has had another 4 feeds. I can only feed her from one side as she won't latch onto the other. Since she was born she hasn't yet gotten back up to her birth weight so our first few weeks have been spoiled by the stress of having to go to the midwife (a different one every time) every few days to get her weighed. Just for them to say "just keep trying and feed her more often" and not give me any practical help. I can't possibly feed her any more than I am and they just won't help me. I'm worried that my baby is hungry all the time ☹️☹️. Just can't bear this! Today they're sending round a student and a MSW who is an absolute wet wipe and looks and behaves like a school girl, what good is she when I'm worried about my child's health?? This is a living nightmare. Are 8 hours feeds normal in a 2 week old?

If you are massively stressed you can also pump and then bottle feed the expressed milk x

Sorry I don’t think this is good advice. Baby is clearly trying to establish OPs supply and she hasn’t said she wants to stop breastfeeding directly.

It would be much harder to fully establish supply by pumping than just letting baby feed, let alone the time it takes to do all that pumping and with a baby who clearly wants the comfort of sucking and physical closeness.

@PinkPlantCase I said also pump, not instead of breast feedimg. Pumping which feeding on one boob can definitely boost supply the body thinks it has twins. Then there is spare milk to give to baby so she can be sure baby has had some.

While*

Make sure you are pumping from the side she’s not feeding from, you can’t just leave the other side. Otherwise it sounds as though you are doing great

OP - sent you a pm

Tongue tie sounds quite likely if she can only latch on one side. Unfortunately midwives, HVs and GPs are not trained to spot tongue tie despite all the NHS pro BF rhetoric. A BF counsellor might be able to.

Did you manage to speak to one of the BFing Helplines @Millie890?