Breastfeeding

Hi, I was breastfeeding for 4 days after giving birth and after a night of cluster feeding, my boobs were so are and needed a break. I expressed and bottle fed her instead to give myself a break, and realised that I wasn’t really producing that much milk (so what i thought was “closer feeding” was actually just my baby girl trying all day to get enough milk). After that, i decided to combi feed with formula and now i’m much happier and so is she. She can also latch on and breastfeed still when we want, as we have been doing pace feeding using the bottle. I’m not sure if this helps but try not to think of feeding as all or nothing. You have plenty of options. Even if you tried exclusively pumping just for a day to test it out, i’m sure your LO will still be able to breastfeed afterwards so there’s no harm in giving it a try?

Hi Sarah, i am exactly in the same position. My baby was born on Tuesday. Having difficulty in latching and getting enough milk. I was not able to express also much. My midwife yesterday suggested to start feeding her with breast milk and when she has enough from the breast supplement her with a bit of formula. That ways she stays up full for longer until i am able to give her the quantity of milk she needs.

Hi Sarah 🙏 my baby was born on 25 March and on day 3 dropped 11% of his already low birth weight. For 3 weeks I expressed and fed him BM through bottles but it was exhausting honestly. Now using nipple shields which have worked really well. Also sought lactation specialist help and she said she would only recommend the shields once supply is fully established. Hope this helps x

My little girl is 10 days old, I really struggled with feeding as she just wouldn’t latch and when she did it was painful for me. I was given a nipple shield by the hospital feeding team which helped. She was also found to have a tongue tie which has now been treated so hoping this also helps. Does your hospital have a feeding team that can see you to help out and advise further? As feeding for that long and so close together sounds exhausting for you. You definitely aren’t failing him, you also have options of either expressing and breast feeding or doing a few days of exclusively expressing and then re trying breast feeding if you wanted to. I found breast feeding got easier around day 5/6 as more of my milk came in and its consistency changed which made it easier for my LO to get it out and through the nipple shield as it was becoming thinner and less like colostrum

Have you had baby weighed - is he putting on weight? Their stomachs are so small at this age remember they don’t need that much. Be strict with the latch, if he isn’t on properly take him off and re latch. My baby girl is three weeks old and my supply is in now. But it took riding through a lot of pain teaching her to latch. The frustrating thing is the more baby is on the nipple the more likely for milk to come and that’s the cluster feeding. It’s really hard, around 5 am I’m raw. In the first week (baby was five days old) my midwife advised I offer both breasts and then top up baby with no more than 35/40ml if expressed if I’m concerned. I did that for the first two weeks and she was waking every 2-3 hours. But now she will sleep a little longer to wake for feed (im no longer waking her because she’s above birthweight) Ultimately, a fed baby and happy mum is most important. You’re not failing him. It sounds like you are doing everything you possibly can. Xxx