Latching on

[MummyIwanabe]

Our babies are currently 8 weeks old nearly and will be technically 37 weeks on tuesday. As of yet they still do not latch on. I'm expressing but finding it hard to express 8-10 times a day as my nipples are sore from the plastic funnels and the thought of expressing so often is difficult. I am going to try to increase my expressing though as the babies are drinking more and more and I now can't keep up with the demand unless I express more.
I'm just wondering when everyone else managed to breast feed? What age was your baby both in weeks and gestation?
I'm wondering how long I can keep going with the expressing as the other day when I offered Max my boob he tried but got frustrated and as soon as a bottle teat came near his mouth was wide open!!!
I've tried the nipple shield too in the hope its similar in terms of the teat but again no joy! Would love to be able to try to breast feed and just wondering whether if I give up when I'm so close I may regret it...

Any advice welcome on whether any of you managed it

 

[lozzy21]

Niamh was 6 weeks actual age, 4 days adjusted when she latched on. If you can help it stay away from nipple shields, they can cause more problems than they fix.

 

[AP]

I can't help you on bf'ing a preemie (i didnt manage with Alex, but her latch on even a bottle was poor, she was almost home on tube feeding ) but, can you get a bigger funnel for your pump while you continue to express? It defo helped me a great deal.

I know a few girls on here managed to bf their preemies like Lozzy so im sure they can offer help!

 

[lozzy21]

Have you got any Lansinoh? I never needed to use it but friends sware by it, another trick is to rub some breastmilk on your nipples when your finished pumping. Let them get some air when you can as it all helps heal quicker.

 

[Srrme]

I expressed the whole time Elias was in the NICU, which was exactly 60 days. I hand expressed, because the pump just didn't get as much milk out, and because the pump hurt afterward.

As soon as Elias was discharged, we began exclusively breastfeeding. He was 2 months old, he was discharged January 16th, and his due date would have been February 3rd. The first time we tried it, he was frustrated too, but that's to be expected, and he very quickly got the hang of it. (Also, the first time we tried, we were still in the NICU, but once we got home, and we were both able to relax and go at our own pace, he did MUCH better.) He's still a massive booby monster.

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

unfortunaltly after expressing for 7 weeks my milk ran out!!! so we never go to laching on but even feeding on a teat was hard for Ellie she was tubefed til 2 days before she came home xx

 

[katy1310]

Sophie was born at 27 weeks and she first latched on at 36+1 - I remember the exact day because it was my birthday!! We did have a few problems at the start and ended up using a nipple shield but I just persevered and we managed till she was 5 months old. I did have to top her up with expressed milk for a while and then formula after a few weeks because I was so scared that she wasn't eating enough! I wish I'd stuck at it more though - I think with her being my first baby and so premature I was just really nervous and scared.

What kind of pump do you have? I started out with a tommee tippee one and it reaaaallly hurt, then I moved onto a medela one and it was so much better because you can get different sized funnel thingies (can't remember what they are called ) I lost a vital bit of it one day and DH had to rush out and get me a new pump but all we could get where we live was another tommee tippee one or an avent one so he got the avent one and I actually found it the most effective of them all - I got loads of milk with that one!

Stick at it hun, you will get there xxxx

 

[toothfairyx]

We started breast feeding at exactly 34 weeks and he didn't really have any issues with it as he is a proper greedy guts. But Lansinoh cream is amazing for sore nipples and I also found that using my pump by hand was better for me than on the electric settings which just ended up hurting me.

 

[confused87com]

i started trying at 33-34 weeks, he got it pretty quickly and was breastfeeding well by 35 weeks. he wsa borna t 29 and was rooting from 32 weeks. Eqach baby is different tho and i knnow babies who are older in gestation and still not rooting

 

[Marleysgirl]

We never did get a successful latch and manage breastfeeding. It ended up being the only thing keeping Andrew in NICU, they wanted his feeding established by one definite method before he was discharged and they kept encouraging me to try B/F. In the end out of frustration, I gave him a bottle and he took to it immediately.

We came home, tried again and again, with and without nipple shields, but to no avail. I expressed for a further 4 months after coming home before Andrew went onto high calorie formula.