Feeding question from FTM

[Crosby]

Hi all

Im new here, just had my first baby 4 days ago and im struggling with feeding.

Thing is i always wanted to BF but in the first 2 days i hardly had any colostrum and my girl was so hungry in the hospital so i made a decision to switch to formula temporarily.

We are home now and my milk is coming in gradually but she doesnt want to take the breast, she screams every time she gets my nipple in her mouth.

So i an pumping it (medela elec pump) and giving it to her in the bottle as an extra to formula. However i have only been able to do this twice today (day 4) and only 10ml each time, other times didnt produce good results.

What do i do? Religiously pump before formula feeds (im having to start an hour she is due a feed) its gonna be fun at night lol, will this pumpin help the volume in the future?

Have i got any hope that she will take the breast once the good milk flow is established and roughly how long is this going to take

Thanks all mummies

 

[Teri7489]

Congratulations on your new baby

Establishing feeding is difficult and takes time. For me I couldn't get my son to latch on but we didtn give up. I decided to exclusively pump to build a supply which meant pumping every 2 hours day and night. I initially only got 1oz from both breasts but by week 4 I was getting 4/5oz. Now first pump of the day I can get 14oz. I kept trying to help my son latch and he did it at 4 weeks old. I didn't use formula at all until this week as he is so hungry and I'm not making enough for him so hes had a few cheeky bottles of of it.

Keep trying, its frustrating but you will get there. If it doesn't work out bf, then exclusively pumping is possible (I'm on month 5 now and use the pump and bf ) and if that doesn't work then formula is a good option. Relax and enjoy the special time with your sweet baby. Xxx

 

[Teri7489]

Oh and after a few weeks you won't have to pump every 2 hours. Initially it is suggested to do it 10 times per day. I'm down to 5 per day (none at night as my son sleeps 11-8) but when my supply isn't enough I do it at 3/4am as its the best time to boost supply and it goes right up after a few days xxx

 

[mara16jade]

We had the most horrible latch issues! I'm talking baby screaming, crying, hungry and trying to latch for 45+ mins each time. One night my DH ran out and got a Medela nipple shield and it saved us. I should have tried it WEEKS before I did instead of driving myself crazy and worrying sick that my ds wasn't eating enough.

I used the shield for a few months and then quickly weaned him off. It never affected my flow and he never had any confusion between boob or bottle. We're still bf'ing at 18.5 months and I'm just now starting to think about weaning (he only bf at bedtime).

Best of luck. It's hard. It's harder than we ever could have expected. Just remember that if your baby's creating the appropriate amount of diapers - you're milk is enough. There'll be a 3 week growth spurt and then a 6 week (the 6 week was crazy for us). And it may seem like your baby is ALWAYS wanting to feed. It's normal.