Milk came in and lo having hard time staying latched

[Kern]

My baby is now 5 days old and breast feeding has been a challenge. Every day something new comes up. My milk came in last night an I have large breast. He didn't have a problem latching and he still doesn't initially. But halfway through or towards the end of his feeding on one side he loses the latch and has a really hard time relatching. I know he is starving as he roots and gets very angry.

I try hand expressing to see if maybe I'm engorged but get very little. Is that why he has a hard time relatching? Unfortunately, my pump is not here yet so I'm left with feeding and hand expressing.

Also, any tips for a ftm trying to make this work. I always feel guilty that he's not getting enough.

 

[BigAl]

Stupid question, but have you tried winding him thoroughly? Would he take the other breast?

Keep trying to get him to relatch, maybe try rugby hold?

 

[Marythefairy]

As previous poster said could be wind. My dd would get cross and latch on and off like she was desperately hungry but actually needed to do a big burp. This is especially likely if your milk is just coming in because the faster and fuller flow will change how they swallow and mean they might take in more air. Sometimes it would take 5 mins of different winding positions to bring up the wind then she would fall asleep or relatch calmly and feed some more. Definitely worth a try.

 

[pinkpolkadot]

As pp said rugby hold is good if you are engorged but if he is latching OK until well into the feed then mybe it is more likely wind. It can be really hard to get up when they are tiny, we had to use loads of different techniques and wind a few times throughoit the feed.

 

[MoominJ]

Not sure if it will be the same for u but my lo used to finish one boob and then fuss at it. It turned out he'd had enough of that boob and if I swapped him to the other he would be off again

 

[newlywed2013]

Following. I still have this problem. The nurse had me using a nipple shield and we are trying to get rid of it.