How long before successful newborn latch? Tips? Breast and bottle feeding together

[starstarstar]

I'm 38 weeks pregnant with my second, my first was formula fed for a few different reasons. My milk didn't come in whilst I was at the hospital and I was told that if I wanted to go home they would have to give me a bottle of formula. Nothing, not even colostrum, was coming out so my LO wouldn't latch and I felt almost forced into it. I had no idea that it can take a while for it to happen and didn't have the support so I went straight to formula.

I want to try again this time, although I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself because of last time. I'd at least like to try and breastfeed for a while but would ideally like to express and use a bottle at times. I know this isn't ideal for some but wanted to know of others experiences. Soooooo......

1. What tips do you have for breastfeeding when baby has been born and possibly won't latch?
2. What are your experiences with breast/bottle feeding together?

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

 

[Laurans]

Hiya starstarstar! I breastfeed, express and use formula!!

I had a c section at 38 weeks, as I'm diabetic and baby had low blood sugars he had to be fed as son as possible after birth! He wouldn't latch and so they gave him formula. I told them I wanted to breast feed so they gave him formula from a cup!
Unfortunately someone gave him 30 mls on the 2nd night so I was told that I would need to produce that amount to keep him satisfied (as now his stomach was stretched and also because he was a big baby!) as my milk hadn't come in I also had to resort to bottle feeding in order to be discharged! It was soul destroying spending 1 hour expressing and getting only 0.3 ml colostrum!

However.......I now have an arrangement that works great for me! I breastfeed, express (although at 7 weeks doing this less now!) and formula top up!

So here's what I learnt/did and or what I would do differently next time
1. Express colostrum/start pumping before birth (must get go ahead from dr I guess in case of starting labour!) this way if you don't want baby to have formula you have a store of colostrum ready plus I wondered if milk would have come in quicker!
2. If baby does have formula make sure they are giving only the recommended small amounts! My hospital has guidelines on this but went outside these guidelines by giving my baby 30 mls! If baby is left a little hungry then you can keep trying the breastfeeding, the more baby latches the more your milk will be stimulated!
3. If you do have to 'resort ' to bottle feeding formula in hospital don't give up!.... Keep trying breastfeeding at home where there is less pressure etc! It took my little one 5 -7 days to latch properly
4. Try a nipple shield...this is how I first got my baby to latch (guess it's more like a bottle teat that he was used to) and then after a few days was able to discard the shield!
5. Fenugreek capsules from holland and barratt to increase milk supply!
6. Lots of skin on skin contact, limit visitors if u need more time to establish feeding
7. Keep pumping every few hours...unfortunately impacts on ur sleep so that on the beginning even when baby sleeps you have to get up and pump!

Anyway, such a long response but I just wanted to answer fully cos I went thru same kind of experience as you. I'm not sure if some babies are by nature more flexible because I hear other people talk about nipple confusion etc etc but my baby successfully had bottle teats (of more than one variety) breast, nipple shield and dummy! He's gaining weight beautifully!

Any questions just pm me!

 

[starstarstar]

That's really, really helpful Laurans! I'm going to bookmark this so I can keep coming back to it for encouragement! Thank you so much x

 

[Insomniash]

Hiya starstarstar! I breastfeed, express and use formula!!

I had a c section at 38 weeks, as I'm diabetic and baby had low blood sugars he had to be fed as son as possible after birth! He wouldn't latch and so they gave him formula. I told them I wanted to breast feed so they gave him formula from a cup!
Unfortunately someone gave him 30 mls on the 2nd night so I was told that I would need to produce that amount to keep him satisfied (as now his stomach was stretched and also because he was a big baby!) as my milk hadn't come in I also had to resort to bottle feeding in order to be discharged! It was soul destroying spending 1 hour expressing and getting only 0.3 ml colostrum!

However.......I now have an arrangement that works great for me! I breastfeed, express (although at 7 weeks doing this less now!) and formula top up!

So here's what I learnt/did and or what I would do differently next time
1. Express colostrum/start pumping before birth (must get go ahead from dr I guess in case of starting labour!) this way if you don't want baby to have formula you have a store of colostrum ready plus I wondered if milk would have come in quicker!
2. If baby does have formula make sure they are giving only the recommended small amounts! My hospital has guidelines on this but went outside these guidelines by giving my baby 30 mls! If baby is left a little hungry then you can keep trying the breastfeeding, the more baby latches the more your milk will be stimulated!
3. If you do have to 'resort ' to bottle feeding formula in hospital don't give up!.... Keep trying breastfeeding at home where there is less pressure etc! It took my little one 5 -7 days to latch properly
4. Try a nipple shield...this is how I first got my baby to latch (guess it's more like a bottle teat that he was used to) and then after a few days was able to discard the shield!
5. Fenugreek capsules from holland and barratt to increase milk supply!
6. Lots of skin on skin contact, limit visitors if u need more time to establish feeding
7. Keep pumping every few hours...unfortunately impacts on ur sleep so that on the beginning even when baby sleeps you have to get up and pump!

Anyway, such a long response but I just wanted to answer fully cos I went thru same kind of experience as you. I'm not sure if some babies are by nature more flexible because I hear other people talk about nipple confusion etc etc but my baby successfully had bottle teats (of more than one variety) breast, nipple shield and dummy! He's gaining weight beautifully!

Any questions just pm me!

That is so similar to my situation, only I wasn't diabetic yet my little one ended up hypoglycemic too when he was taken via c-section at 38 weeks (because he was frank breech). They ended up force feeding him through a tube in his nose 60 ml every two hours if you can believe it! They also forced me into consenting to him being bottle fed. His natural schedule because they had stretched his stomach so much was 120 ml every 4 hrs. He was spitting up multiple times after every feed it was ridiculous. It has been a massive struggle transitioning to breastfeeding because of this demand and my milk supply is still trying to play catch up. I also had to use a nipple shield at first to get him going on the breast, but now in a little less than a week we are doing great without it. Although it wasn't intended for me I appreciate your advice.

Also, totally following this thread

 

[Laurans]

Starstarstar.. Your most welcome, and let me know how you get on!!! Whatever u do will be just perfect for you and your little one anyway! Wishing you a happy and healthy last stretch of pregnancy!

Insomniash.... Can't believe they were giving your baby 120 mls, that's unbelievable! Well done you for persevering!

Interestingly, I know they say your milk supply is decided in the first 4 weeks (which felt like added pressure to get it right in the first month!) but I'm sure mine has increased a bit in the last few weeks! Iv actually stopped the fenugreek now and only pump/breastfeed once in the night but Luca breastfeeds more in the day and seems to be wanting less formula!

Will be watching how you ladies get on!
Xxlaura xx

 

[Insomniash]

Starstarstar.. Your most welcome, and let me know how you get on!!! Whatever u do will be just perfect for you and your little one anyway! Wishing you a happy and healthy last stretch of pregnancy!

Insomniash.... Can't believe they were giving your baby 120 mls, that's unbelievable! Well done you for persevering!

Interestingly, I know they say your milk supply is decided in the first 4 weeks (which felt like added pressure to get it right in the first month!) but I'm sure mine has increased a bit in the last few weeks! Iv actually stopped the fenugreek now and only pump/breastfeed once in the night but Luca breastfeeds more in the day and seems to be wanting less formula!

Will be watching how you ladies get on!
Xxlaura xx

I had no clue about the first four week deciding your milk supply. My son is 17 days old now, and because he didn't gain properly last week (mind you he didn't lose either) I am allowing him more formula because the Dr wants to see him gaining better by friday. I still prioritize breast feeding, but I am making sure to top up more frequently with formula. I am settling into the fact that he is going to be both breast and formula fed for the foreseeable future, but I figure as long as he is getting the benefit of breast milk I have to be okay with that.

 

[Monzter79]

As for supply being determined in the first 4 weeks, that's a bit oversimplified IMO. So don't let that stress you!! I had to combi feed my baby. Had low blood sugar after cesarean etc... Breastfeeding, pumping and formula at hospital.. He lost over 10% in two days! was jaundiced etc... developed bad nipple damage because I went so crazy feeding and pumping at hospital so they wouldn't take him from my room. Had to supplement him and pump to heal and improve supply. Couldn't EBF until 9 weeks, and my supply is now good. I much prefer bf over pumping/bottle. (Most days ;-))

If your baby won't latch, order a LC to see you in hospital as many times as it takes. Pumping and BF Is actually really hard. I feel like it's one of those things where if you get into a good groove with bf and are ABLE to do both (bottle and breast) fabulous! But, it can be difficult to achieve, so my advice would be to stay flexible!

 

[newlywedtzh]

It breaks my heart to read stories like this where the medical field sabotages (even if well meaning) the breastfeeding relationship. Yes they are doctors and are medically trained, but many doctors are not trained in breastfeeding. Lactation consultants are the true experts. And in majority of the cases, supplementation is really unnecessary.

I have become somewhat of a breastfeeding advocate and wrote a good blog post about what to expect when breastfeeding. The early weeks are rough as I really have not heard of any baby being born with a beautiful latch. It takes time and practice- but the struggles are only temporary (usually the first 3 weeks), yet the benefits a lifetime.

Here is the post I was talking about:
https://backtobiologymothering.blogspot.com/2015/03/what-they-never-tell-you-about.html

good luck! and find support early on!! I always say "It takes a village to breastfeed"

 

[redneckhippy]

My LO was hypoglycemic at birth and had IV glucose. They gave me the option of giving him formula so he could come off the glucose drip, but I made the decision to have him stay on the drip a little longer rather than come off but require formula. Fortunately the ped was supportive of that choice and by the end of the next day he was able to stabilize his sugars and didn't require formula. It was tough having him on the IV, but I decided the short term difficulty of remaining on IV glucose was worth it to me rather than the potential longer term breastfeeding difficulties of giving him formula so early. We still had enough of a difficult journey with breastfeeding, so I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the additional difficulties. Maybe if it happens again this time you could discuss with your ped whehter she would be ok with the baby receiving glucose a little longer rather than going to bottle feeding formula?

 

[noon_child]

If you leave a mother and baby alone it is normal and natural to take between 45minutes and 3hrs for a baby to want to latch. The average is I think about 1hr 10minutes - but this is an alert baby with no drugs in its system from labour. Introduce drugs and babies can take even longer to follow their instincts to suck.

I'm so sorry your hospital was so unhelpful about encouraging breastfeeding. If you think that you may have a labour where there are interventions (so perhaps you can't have an hour or more of skin to skin straight away, or baby may be very sleepy) perhaps you could look at learning how to hand express colostrum. You could do it now to have a stash ready (not all pregnant women can) or just practice so that when LO is born you can syringe or spoon feed your colostrum until LO is alert enough to latch by itself.

 

[ay2808]

With dd1 I had a 3rd deg tear so by the time I came back from theatre it was a good 5 hours before I could try and feed. Lo was very sleepy and just wouldn't take enough milk so the hospital recommended topping up with formula (20ml I think). Each feed I got her to latch both sides, express onto a tea spoon and then top up. This took up to 3 hours as she was so sleepy but as soon as I got home and had the midwife come round to help this made the world of difference. From that day on she was exclusively bf until nearly 2!
This time luckily the birth was better and dd2 latched an hour later and fed for 45 mins. She was slower to gain weight but I kept at it and she is following her percentile perfectly. I introduced a bottle of expressed milk at 6 wks and she took it fine.
I hope this time round is better for you. Please seek lactation help as it definitely made all the difference for me. X