Advice/help needed

[dula]

Hi all

Just need a little advice/help please.
I had my son on the 5th of Dec after a very long crappy labour he was delivered by emergency C section, which I have found hard to deal with. My plan was always to breast feed for 6 months and I was so determined to do this, especially after not having the birth I planned it - made breast feeding him even more important to me than before. I felt more pressure to get something 'right' as I had failed to give birth .

However he won't latch on and never has, I was in hospital 5 days to try and get help, but was discharged having to express every 3 hours and top up with formula. He was 9lb, so eats quite a bit and I can't keep up with him. I am also anaemic following surgery, which they said can reduce milk production. I have had an nct councellor come to try and help and also being to a breast feeding drop in at the hospital. He will suck with a nipple sheild, but isn't really getting much as still needing a bottle after. I feel like I am constantly feeding or expressing and don't know how much longer I can do it.............I feel like I can't enjoy my son or go out and do anything because of the constant cycle of feeding.

I just wondered if anyone has been in a similar position and can offer any advice, I have decided to give it another week and see how I feel......

 

[Sherlock]

You sound like you are doing so well, despite all the problems.

I am not able to offer much advice. Fenugreek and oats are good to help increase your milk supply. As its lots of time skin on skin, cuddling and letting baby demand feed, little and often. Maybe take to bed for a couple of days and just spend lots of time with LO and letting him feed as and when. Relax, unplug the phone, watch a few movies and see how things go.

I'd also wonder if maybe he is starting to prefer the bottle as its far easier to feed from in that it requires no effort. I'd maybe make him work and feed from the boobs and try to not resort to the bottle of EBM unless you really have to. Nipple confusion and teat preference can really stuff up establishing breastfeeding (hence the advice being to BF only for the first 6 weeks). Offer your breast only and keep presevering with it.

I don't know much about it but has anyone looked to see if he is tongue tied perhaps? Others here have had problems getting their babies to latch and have found them to be tongue tied. Its an easily treated thing and can then make latching and feeding much easier. Worth looking in to.

Also there are some ladies here who overcame problems with their babies latch and feeding and hopefully they will be able to offer some advice to you.

Good on you for giving it another week. Keep trying and hopefully once your LO has figured things out then maybe

 

[babynumbertwo]

Have you considered giving the top ups with a cup rather than a bottle to avoid nipple confusion. If you give a bottle baby may find it even more difficult to latch on. You could ask your midwife if she thinks this might help and if so, she should be able to show you how to do it. As Sherlock says, have as much skin to skin contact as possible to build up your milk supply. Also, consider hand expressing a small amount of milk before attempting to latch baby on. A strong let down and / or a very full breast can both be difficult for a newborn who is still getting used to feeding. Good luck x

 

[ninjawomble]

Hun I just want to say well done for preservering so much. I planned to bf and had a similar labour to you (long, crap, ending in c section), but Isla wouldnt latch at all, and I tried expressing but was amounting to nothing. I had to give up after just a few days (she wasnt feeding at all and this distressed me)and turn to formula.
You've done so well thus far, try what the girls have advised here, and congratulate yourself for doing so well

 

[heles7]

hi and congratulations on your little ones arrival!


As the others have said, the best thing is to concentrate on boob feeding and cut all out all bottles and or dummies. All babies suckling should be from you to get the feeding well established. If you baby isn't getting enough nutrition, there is a device you can get called a breast supplementer (have a quick look on google). Basically it's a container of milk (ebm or formular) which you wear around your neck while feeding and it has a v thin tube which you stick to your boobie and baby takes this into their mouth whilst feeding so they are only getting to feed from you but gives them that extra milk they need while things are becoming established.

For more advice about this you should ask you HV to refer you to the area infant feeding co-ordinator as soon as you can. She should be able to go through your case in detail and work out a very detailed plan specific to your needs. If she recommends that you might benefit from using a supplementer - she may supply you with one for free or i would be happy to send one to you which i used once or twice. Obviously id send it sterilised and ready to use!

You mention the constant cycle and it is like that in those early weeks but don't despair! It's completely normal for babies to feed little and often and the best thing you can do is let them and enjoy the closeness and skin to skin as often as possible. You've got all the time in the world for going out later