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[Angel2Fire]

Please can someone help me. Since Chaise was born I've been trying to breastfeed but he just wont latch on! After 2 days I agreed to him having a bottle as he just wasn't getting any milk.

I'm still trying, and I'm expressing but I don't make enough for a full feed. When I take him in the bath I can sometimes get him to latch on when I use nipple shields but otherwise he won't.
He gets really stressed out and impatient and then I give in and give him a bottle.
The last midwife to advise me on it said my technique was good and that he just won't do it... but maybe someone knows how I could encourage him to?

I'd love to be able to breastfeed, and I'm worried that if it doesnt happen soon I'll lose my milk as I just dont have time to express all the time and bottle-feed him.

Thanks

 

[magicvw]

Hi again - I haven't heard anything yet from my champion - may she's too busy?

 

[Sarah88]

Please can someone help me. Since Chaise was born I've been trying to breastfeed but he just wont latch on! After 2 days I agreed to him having a bottle as he just wasn't getting any milk.

I'm still trying, and I'm expressing but I don't make enough for a full feed. When I take him in the bath I can sometimes get him to latch on when I use nipple shields but otherwise he won't.
He gets really stressed out and impatient and then I give in and give him a bottle.
The last midwife to advise me on it said my technique was good and that he just won't do it... but maybe someone knows how I could encourage him to?

I'd love to be able to breastfeed, and I'm worried that if it doesnt happen soon I'll lose my milk as I just dont have time to express all the time and bottle-feed him.

Thanks

Hiya hun, not sure how much i'm able to help, but I would like to pipe up and give some advice. First, try to stop giving him a bottle. Switch to cup feeding (use a small plastic cup or even a medicine cup works). That way he won't get nipple confusion. We had to do this with Savannah for a couple of days because she wouldn't latch on. Babies are very capable of feeding from a cup but it is messy.

Secondly, try to get in contact with a local Lactation consultant. Possibly do a search on Lactation Consultants + your area or find the national association for them. My mum is a LC and she couldn't get Savannah to latch, it ended up that we hired a lady to help. The only difference with her and mym mum was that this lady was alot more forceful in getting Savannah on. She would literally shove her onto the boob. I also found bathing with LO was excellent to work on the latch. Could you not use a nipple shield more often until he gets the hang of bfing?

 

[magicvw]

Please can someone help me. Since Chaise was born I've been trying to breastfeed but he just wont latch on! After 2 days I agreed to him having a bottle as he just wasn't getting any milk.

I'm still trying, and I'm expressing but I don't make enough for a full feed. When I take him in the bath I can sometimes get him to latch on when I use nipple shields but otherwise he won't.
He gets really stressed out and impatient and then I give in and give him a bottle.
The last midwife to advise me on it said my technique was good and that he just won't do it... but maybe someone knows how I could encourage him to?

I'd love to be able to breastfeed, and I'm worried that if it doesnt happen soon I'll lose my milk as I just dont have time to express all the time and bottle-feed him.

Thanks

Hiya hun, not sure how much i'm able to help, but I would like to pipe up and give some advice. First, try to stop giving him a bottle. Switch to cup feeding (use a small plastic cup or even a medicine cup works). That way he won't get nipple confusion. We had to do this with Savannah for a couple of days because she wouldn't latch on. Babies are very capable of feeding from a cup but it is messy.

Secondly, try to get in contact with a local Lactation consultant. Possibly do a search on Lactation Consultants + your area or find the national association for them. My mum is a LC and she couldn't get Savannah to latch, it ended up that we hired a lady to help. The only difference with her and mym mum was that this lady was alot more forceful in getting Savannah on. She would literally shove her onto the boob. I also found bathing with LO was excellent to work on the latch. Could you not use a nipple shield more often until he gets the hang of bfing?

Hi there! I had problems with my no.1 with latching on, for ages. This time round I was watching some other mums in hospital and copied them and it worked really well - basically I was doing the poking the nipple onto the bottom lip thing, until his mouth opened, but what I wasn't doing was kind of rolling his entire body towards the nipple. Now he latches on great, but I know that the angle of his body has to be tilted right in towards me, and his head has to be exactly right in the crook of my arm, or he won't. Don't know if all babies are this fussy, but thought I'd share! Good luck hun. xxx

 

[Samantha675]

Hi! :wave:

My little man was born on Saturday and came home yesterday. In hospital he was on 3-hourly feeds until midnight, then a break till 6am. I was keen to keep this regime but it only lasted for 1 feed! He then got hungry again in an hour and has been feeding from 1-3 hours since then, including overnight where he fed at 12, 1, 2 and 3.

He was in a separate nursery in the hospital, so I don't know if he woke up in the night or not.

I could really use some help getting him off to a good start rather than this constant suckling. I bf my daughter for 6 months but I was just guessing what to do & the start was rocky. I really want to try to get things running smoothly more quickly this time, so would love a champion to give some hints!

Thanks girls!

As difficult as it is, nursing on demand is the best way to go. LOs have their own schedule as to when they are hungry, and it can be difficult to get them on a schedule to start with.

 

[magicvw]

Thanks Samantha675. I would rather have some kind of timetable and be flexible around that though - extra feeds for when he's extra hungry is fine with me. What I want to avoid is having no structure at all or having him just suckle for comfort. Sorry, I see by your tickers that you don't really believe in that!

I'd really appreciate any tips from mums who have managed to get their babies into some kind of routine

 

[Sarah88]

Routine is great but don't expect your bub to follow it at a week old.

 

[alice&bump]

magicvw - at first its best to feed on demand so you learn when they need feeding. breastmilk doesnt fill them up uas much as formula, therefore its hard to say they should be going 3 hours between feeds or whatever. even if its just for a week or so i'd say let LO feed when they want just so you get a rough idea of when they need feeding. in the old days mind, they used to say every 3 hours, 10 mins on each side was enough. tbh i'm not sure anyone on here breastfeeds in a set routine, i think its more on demand. obv as the babies get older its easier to say they'll feed at this time, this time and this time, but newborns its a lot harder!! hope someone can help with the routine tho xx

 

[magicvw]

Thanks girls! He was born in an old-fashioned hospital where they go on 3-hourly feeds from day 1 and you're not allowed to do otherwise (gave birth in Bulgaria). We weren't even allowed to see the baby except at feeding time. So I know he had that routine for at first 3 days anyway, so it seems like a step backwards iykwim...

 

[Mervs Mum]

I've PM'd you hun. If you want to do it that way then of course, it's totally your choice. I appreciate that some people like the 'old fashioned' (your words not mine ) way of baby rearing but it doesnt really work well, as far as BFing goes. It's generally accepted that demand feeding, especially a just a week old, works well with BFing. My MIL was from the old school of 10 mins on either side then leave them for 3/4 hours. When she saw how I was BFing on demand, it took her some time to get her head around it. She actually says now she wishes she'd not had her children under that regime - like you have described where you are 'told' how to raise your baby. She said to me 'it's no wonder my babies cried so much if I'd left them for hours when they were hungry'. She thinks (and I agree) that one of the reasons that my LO is such a happy, easy baby is because I let her settle into her own routine naturally. For me that started to roughly fall into place about 3 weeks in and got more and more predictable over the coming weeks and I've been able to set my watch my her for months

 

[Samantha675]

Then I would nurse every 2 hours as it takes about 2 hours for breastmilk to be digested. Longer than that, and he may get very fussy and hungry.

 

[Shifter]

Please can someone help me. Since Chaise was born I've been trying to breastfeed but he just wont latch on! After 2 days I agreed to him having a bottle as he just wasn't getting any milk.

I'm still trying, and I'm expressing but I don't make enough for a full feed. When I take him in the bath I can sometimes get him to latch on when I use nipple shields but otherwise he won't.
He gets really stressed out and impatient and then I give in and give him a bottle.
The last midwife to advise me on it said my technique was good and that he just won't do it... but maybe someone knows how I could encourage him to?

I'd love to be able to breastfeed, and I'm worried that if it doesnt happen soon I'll lose my milk as I just dont have time to express all the time and bottle-feed him.

Thanks

Hi hun! I'd be happy to be your champion, as I went through a difficult beginning, using nipple shields for 2 weeks while we tried to get Jack to latch. I'll PM you.

 

[magicvw]

Thanks for all the comments esp. from Mervs Mum

I've been thinking about this a lot - and I think the problem is that I live in a country where feeding to a regime is the normal practice and I have probably been brainwashed to a certain extent. When I had no.1 it was the same, and because I never managed to get her to feed on the clock I considered myself a poor breastfeeder. Our instructions in hospital were to ignore cries during the night or give sugar water only and that if we fed on the clock the baby would adjust to that. I thought I was a failure (although I fed for 6 months) because I would be out in the park at say 3pm and total strangers would come up to me and tell me off for not being at home feeding at that time. After it happens several times you start to believe you must be wrong and they must be right....

This time round I was thinking I have to get baby onto this regime earlier so it's not like last time, but after reading your helpful comments, MervsMum's lovely PMs and doing a bit of googling, I realise that it is much better to feed on demand. It seems obvious once you start thinking about it that feeding on demand is better, but I guess we should never under-estimate the power of cultural pressure. I will feed Eddie on demand, but I am pretty sure I am going to come in for a lot of criticism - including from his paediatrician.

Here in Bulgaria we are not allowed to feed immediately after birth - the babies are whisked away. My first feed was 6 hours later. However, that was an improvement on when I had my no.1 as she was a c-section I wasn't allowed to bf for 3 days. This is the kind of bf culture I'm up against here!

Thanks again for your fantastic support and good luck to everyone

 

[alice&bump]

wow hun i think given what you're up against you did an amazing job with #2 and are doing an amazin job now!! you know where we are when times get tough hun! and of course when things go well too!!!!xxxx

 

[Samantha675]

Wow Magic, that is just crazy. I am so sorry you have to deal with so much opposition.

 

[magicvw]

Well actually I consider myself lucky as I have access to you lot and to, let's say, more progressive thinking! Almost every single mother I have met here was told that she didn't have enough milk by the hospital nurses or paediatrician, and that they should use formula. I'm including myself too - that's what they told me when I left hospital with no.1! I wasn't feeding her well because I couldn't get her to latch on, so they concluded I didn't have milk, despite the fact that it was practically shooting across the room from my engorged boobs!

 

[Mervs Mum]

Crazy!! I'm glad I could help a little. I think another very important thing to remember about BFing is that the reason that demand feeding fits so well is because your boobs work on supply and demand. They will make EXACTLY the right amount IF they get the cues everytime. I am absolutely at the sugar water!!! That's like something from a Victorian era!! At the end of the day if you spoke to a paediatrician/HV/MW over here their head would probably blow clean off their shoulders at the idea of a newborn being given water let along sugar water. Breast milk, especially in the early days, doesnt just give anti bodies. A newborn gut is what's known as a 'virgin gut' and BM and in particular colostrum is designed to introduced a lining of exactly the right flora/bacteria which protects your baby against gastro infections and the like. Sugar and water.....

Stick to your guns hun. If you want some more reading outside of the net I can recommend some good books for you. I know they may take a while to come but at least you can smash the Dr round the head with them next time he talks antiquated BS!!

 

[Bec L]

Hi,

I was wondering if you could help me? My little boy was born 5 weeks prem and was in scbu for 2 weeks. We are now home and he has gained good weight but I am really struggling to settle him through the night. Not sure if he has colic but would love to chat to someone. Also, he doesn't seem to feed for very long (only 20 mins) but he is gaining weight. Is that ok?

Thanks

Hi
Really sorry for the delay in replying - I only just saw the message from Rafwife.

Am happy for you to PM me if you want to discuss things in detail.

We used to have problems getting Poppy settled at night too. It wasn't a colic issue, she would just not settle when we put her in her crib after feeds. She was also up for feeds pretty regularly - sometimes every hour but mostly every 2. I think because they are so little and so prem this is to be expected although I know it's not the case for everyone.
With regards to the 20 min feeds, sounds like he is doing fine if he's putting weight on. How often is he feeding? xx

 

[Jelly Bean]

Hi, I want to know if what I've been doing is okay?

LO gets up at 3 AM and 7 AM these days. Both times he gets a big bottle of EBM from the night before. Then he and I get into bed and I nurse him (the position is both of us facing each other, on our sides, lying down). We always fall asleep again for about 5 hours. I leave my boob out because he wakes up intermittently and nurses a little, then goes back to sleep each time (usually I don't even wake up when he does this).

Is this position and habit okay? I've really seen an increase in my supply.

 

[Mervs Mum]

If it's working for you then yeah it's fine! It's a loooong time since we were doing night feeds but this it exactly what we would do. We do pretty much the same now in the morning - she comes in with us and I lay on my side with her tucked up to me and let her just help herself while we doze off for another hour or so.....I LOVE those times