Struggling to BF

I’ve always wanted to breast feed it’s the only thing I was sure about. Baby is now 5 days old and won’t latch ( I’ve spoken to midwife who showed me how to do it and best position for baby etc) but it’s just not working and I’m tired of crying cause it’s not happening. So I opted to pump and put the milk in a bottle which I’ve done for 2 days but it’s physically and mentally draining my body to do this and I feel silly cause it’s only 5 days in. I’ve brought some formula incase my supply doesn’t increase or it gets too much but how do you introduce formula to a Bf baby to be their main milk supply?

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last month

Have you tried nipple shields? Honestly the thing that saved my bf journey, my hospital support was non existent.. you’ll hear a varied amount of opinions on them from the midwives but if it works for you then do it. We’re weaning off them so my little boy starts on then and then when he breaks I whip it off and put him on my nipple. Exclusively pumping is so exhausting! I did not enjoy it but enjoyed my partner able to feed & then I tried nipple shields :). My issue was (or is) that my little boy doesn’t open his mouth wide enough or suckle on the nipple as he’s used to the stimulation of a bottle (from not latching but obvs needed feeding).

last month

Have you tried to latch them after a little of your expressed milk? When mine stopped latching and being fussy it took 5-10ml to get them interested and then he would latch. Sorry if you’ve already tried this

last month

I had problems with breastfeeding and I sought support from la leche league - it honestly was so so beneficial for my emotional health as well as the practicalities of breastfeeding. Might be worth a look??

last month

Nipple Shields helped me. Couldn't get him to latch without, I still have really painful feeds as he still isn't latching properly but it helps with the relentless of pumping and feeding x

last month

Second vote for nipple shields. It helped our latch instantly

last month

Did you try nipple shields? My baby struggled to latch in the hospital, and the breastfeeding consultant got us using silicone nipple shields. It's going really well. All the best x

last month

I'm sorry to hear it isn't working. You can just replace a bottle of breastmilk with formula. I combi feed and have done since day 3. So I breastfeed and give formula once or twice a day. My baby now happily has formula and breastmilk (either on the boob or expressed)