Breastfeeding help!
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I'm glad you're getting it sorted. Look into pace feeding when you are using a bottle. You can also try nipple shields. My friend used them for 9 months and because it felt similar to thw bottle, the baby did not mind bottle or boob.
I think I’m going through this also at 19 days old. Am combination feeding at about 60/40 boob to bottle and baby only still latches on one side. Fed baby before first tie assessment so have arranged a follow up appointment
Sorry you’re going through this. I’ve also had a rough time with BF so far. Won’t go into my story here but it’s been a nightmare at times My baby had to have formula at hospital as he WOULD NOT latch. What changed everything for me was nipple sheilds. Baby latches amazingly on them. We have other different issues lol, but the sheilds mean he latches great , and has no trouble distinguishing bottle teat and shield . I hope one day we can scrap the shield but we’ll see. But they’re just great even if we can’t We’ve been combi feeding ever since as boob never seems to be enough for him , plus formula take a bit of pressure off me. He usallly has 1-2 formula bottles a day and the rest is expressed milk or direct boob (with nipple sheild) Honestly BFing has been such a journey already and he’s only 3 weeks old , new problems arise and I’ve cried and wanted to throw in the towel …but atm I’m trying to persevere I hope this helps you in some way at all. It’s so tough! 😢
Just to add that I’m 100% convinced that if I had tried to solely BF my son from day 1, he would not have gained weight nicely like he has. Formula and expressed milk have kept him on track. My boobs were / are not enough. Hoping that will change one day
Oh Elle I’m sorry you’re going through that! Honestly, I’ve learnt that for “the most natural thing in the world” this breastfeeding thing takes some hard work and isn’t a natural skill! I never expected to be on such a hard journey! The weight loss worried me but I guess you’re right as until today I was strictly BF alone. You want to do what’s best but on this journey it all gets a little blurred and I feel like I don’t even know what’s best anymore! I’m glad you’ve found a way to make it work! We tried nipple shields today for the first time and he wouldn’t have it. Did you find this worked instantly or did it take time and practice? X
@Conchi yes I have been trying the paced bottle feeding and skin to skin to make baby aware I’m still here lol! He didn’t like the nipple shields when I tried them but I guess I could try them again x
@Sarah I know it’s mad , all other animals BF no problem lol🙄 not like it’s essential to survival of a species ha I don’t understand why it’s not easy .. Yeh … I’m never sure he’s getting enough from my boobs, pretty sure he’s not most of the time .. The nipple shields did work immediately yes 🫤. It’s like he recognised the teat as like a bottle and sucked straight on. Did your baby not latch to the shield at all? Could try turning it round the other way maybe, or just keep trying 😕 make sure you have the right size too. Maybe squeeze some milk into and on it? Hope you can figure it out!! Make use of community BFing hubs and specialist teams as much as possible!! That said I’ve had very conflicting advice ha, some advise the complete opposite of others. Gah , it’s such a maze😭
I had this with my first. We got her tongue tie cut privately when she was 5 days old. I pumped exclusively for around 4 weeks and then we were able to latch, it just took us a while to figure it out and honestly at the time I didn't think there was much support out there! We then did a combination of pumping and breastfeeding until she was 7 months old. Good luck!