Give Breastfeeding Another Try?

[Amythyst]

Ok! So, I just had my baby last Friday via c-section. I have PCOS and at the time absolutely squat was coming out of my breasts. We made the decision in the hospital to just do bottle feeding. I'm not too pleased with bottle feeding at this point as the baby seems very distant from me - doesn't even really like to be held by me and after getting 2 oz of formula in a sitting he still is hungry! He's only 9 days old so I can't see how he'd still be hungry after 2 oz.

So, today, I actually have some stuff coming out of my breasts when I squeeze them. I'd like to give this another go if possible? I tried giving him my breast a little earlier and it was a disaster. In the hospital bed, it was sort of easy to get him in position to latch on but even with a nursing pillow here at home in our rocking chair I could not get him into position. He is also a HUGE squirmy boy and always has his hands in front of his face. So, I actually worked up a sweat trying to get him to do it.

He did latch on a few times and did suck from each breast a little bit. But he would always pull off of it like "ewe what the hell is that?!"

Is it possible to go back to breastfeeding at this point? If so, can someone give me some pointers on positioning and how you get a squirmy baby to latch?

Also, what do you do if your nipples aren't hard?

 

[noon_child]

Everything you describe is normal newborn breastfeeding behaviour. Your LO has instincts about nursing that Mums can sometimes misinterpret as fighting because we think it is solely our job to latch our babies.

The squirming is him trying to position himself to feed, his hands in front of his face is him trying to feel where the nipple is with his hands and massage the breast to stimulate letdown, the pulling off could be that he wasn't ready to latch - hadn't worked out if he was in the correct position yet so he feels rushed and has to pull off to start again. If you google biological nurturing, laid back breastfeeding etc. you will see ways you can use his instincts rather than fight them.

 

[ladders]

With Hands I tuck the bottom one underneath her and I hold hands with the one on top because my little one likes to grab something when feeding and can sometimes get in the way. But it's lovely holding hands while she's feeding. Definitely keep trying because once he gets the hang of it you'll be away.